Glee: The Power of MadonnaVARIOUS ARTISTS

Glee: The Power of Madonna

[Columbia]

So long has “Like a Virgin” been a camp classic that to see it performed on TV by characters actually contemplating their sexual awakening is astonishingly moving. That’s the kind of reinvention that Glee, the music-packed hit show about a high-school glee club, does best. It’s no surprise, then, that the standouts on this EP featuring the seven songs from the show’s April all-Madonna episode are the frenetically catchy mash-up “Borderline/Open Your Heart,” and an all-male take on “What It Feels Like For a Girl” that aptly echoes the original artist’s gender-bending feminism. More straightforward covers like “Express Yourself” feature stellar vocals but seem less essential. As a whole, The Power of Madonna can’t quite capture the emotion of the episode itself, or the carnival-like fun of the show’s other three compilation albums.

–Katie Dodd

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