Take that Adam Lambert! Russell Crowe proves he CAN sing as he posts studio version of Les Miserables song online

He took the criticism with surprisingly good grace.
But it appears Russell Crowe was determined to have the last laugh on his critic Adam Lambert after he posted a studio recording of his showpiece Les Miserables song online.
The actor, who plays villain Javert in the hit musical, even went to the trouble of hiring a pianist to play along so he could play a mulligan and cut a fresh version of Stars.

Perfectionist: Russell Crowe went to the trouble of recording a studio version of his showpiece song in Les Miserables and posting it online following criticism

And posting the new version on YouTube seems to have paid off with the admittedly partisan listeners, who lathered the notoriously bad tempered actor with praise.
One listener called Crispy Unicorn said: 'This was absolutely stunning. His voice is so rich and lush - a total pleasure to listen to.'
It remains to be seen whether the low key tune, which featured just the 48-year-old's voice and a piano, will be enough to convince American Idol loser Adam that he had it wrong.
He was not keen on the fact Tom Hooper’s film version of the award-winning musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer features 'live performances' of all the songs, with the tracks not dubbed over.

Hataboy: Oscar winner Russell will be hoping his new cut has put Adam Lambert in his place once and for all

He attacked the decision to cast the film based on acting rather than singing, and said 'with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals.'
In a now notorious Twitter rant, he wrote: 'Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers. It's an opera. Hollywoods movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority. (Dreamgirls was good).
'I felt like I should ignore the vocals and focus on the emotional subtext- but the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out,' he said.
'The industry will say "these actors were so brave to attempt singing this score live"but why not cast actors who could actually sound good?'

An officer and a gentleman: Many will be surprised Russell, seen here as Javert in the film, did not live up to his bad tempered reputation

Even his own fans lashed out, but steadfast Lambert defended himself, saying: 'Sorry for being so harsh but it's so True!
'I'm so glad we are all discussing this now! Look-I grew up w this musical and so my expectations are quite high. Didn't mean to b negative.'
Movie fans waited with bated breath to discover Russell's reaction, but the Australian star was surprisingly conciliatory, and even pointed the finger of blame at director Tom Hooper.

He tweeted: 'I don't disagree with Adam, sure it could have been sweetened, Hooper wanted it raw and real, that's how it is.'