Diehard Gleeks know that Mr. Shuester, oops, we mean Matthew Morrison, has a solo album coming out. The “Glee” star’s solo album features Morrison duetting on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with Gwyneth Paltrow, aka Holly Holiday, as well as a collaborating with Elton John on a medley of “Mona Lisas and Madhatters” and “Rocket Man.”
To whet your appetite, Morrison”s label, Mercury, has released this very low key Paltrow-less video of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Watch it here. You can buy it on iTunes starting today. Although to use the word video is really a bit of a misnomer, since it”s a collection of stills of Morrison playing the song up against a gross, dingy white background. This has the production values of one of those little flip books that you used to have as a kid: you know, the kind that would kind you would flip the pages as quickly as possible to make the ballerina dance.
[More after the jump…]
And, quite frankly, if they”re going to do something this cheesy (although it may be intentionally so), why not just throw a few stills of Paltrow in there? We especially like the photo, which gets repeated more than once, of Morrison rocking the uke like it”s a Stratocaster with his foot pushing against the credenza. We”re guessing that since the album is coming out on Mercury, which is part of Universal Music Group, and Sony Music”s Columbia Records puts out all the “Glee” albums, that using any “Glee” footage of the two was verboten.
Morrison”s self-titled album comes out May 30. First single, “Summer Rain,” debuted on Billboard”s Adult Contemporary chart last week.