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Editorial Review:
With its cinematic origins The Odd Couple is the natural title for the second album by a pair who seem to spend as much time in wardrobe as the studio and whose recordings are often compared to film scores. Their greatest hit, 2006's "Crazy" was even built around a chunk of a spaghetti western soundtrack. Yet after the success of 2006's excellent St Elsewhere, the collaboration of singer Thomas "Cee-Lo Green" Callaway and producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton has become a permanent institution. The Odd Couple certainly lives up to expectations, and though there is no obvious smash to match "Crazy", it's a smoother affair than their often hyperactive debut, the unsettling "Open Book" aside. Highlights include the excellent, agitated lead-off single "Run", a smart slice of off kilter pop-soul, and its most obvious successor, the instant classic "Surpirse". "Going On" manages to weld an eighties pomp-pop introduction to a surprisingly vulnerable Cee-Lo performance while the plaintive, bluesy "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" catches him at his most soulful. "Whatever" is a cute, rather bratty sixties pastiche halfway to Britpop (though no Englishman ever used the expression "y'all") while the warped bubblegum pop of "Blind Mary" and the more traditionally ominous "Would Be Killer" are opposite sides of the same twisted coin. Informed by rap and dance, but occupying their own unique genre, Gnarls Barkley continue to soundtrack the movie that, so far, exists only in their heads. --Steve Jelbert
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Proof they are anything buy one-hit wonders! What an exceptional sophmore album! I had heard 'Run' on the radio many times, found it to be a really likeable piece of music, so i decided to give the album a chance. I was blown away! It exceeds any of my expectations, and has to be one of my albums of the year. It doesn't have the problem of St. Elsewhere in which one song overshadowed the rest, in fact in contrast I can honestly say that any song on the album could be released as singles, they are all THAT good! The album starts with the... more info
The Odd Thing about the Odd Couple I couldn't wait to listen to this new album - but after the first play I really didn't like it at all and was pining for the excellent St Elsewhere album. In fact I couldn't find a single track which I liked - although of course the incredible layers of production and imagination are still very much present in this new album.
So I left it for a day or so and then realised that it had started to work its way into my subconcious. It's safe to say I'm pretty obsessed with "Going On" and "Run" and can't... more info
Deep and dark The new album from Gnarls Barkley picks up very much in the same vein as St Elsewhere, with an eclectic blend of deep grooves and highly experimental production styles and beats from Dangermouse, and Ceelo's sombre lyrics fused with his unique, bombastic and heartbreakingly soulful delivery. The album has so much heart and reverence for 60's soul, pop and psychadelia, as well as embracing cutting edge experimentation that it's hard not to find something to love about it. Admittedly some of the tracks are... more info
