Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple
The dynamic duo are back. That would not, in this case, be Batman and Robin, but rather Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green (though I’m sure they’ve donned tights at one point or another).
The Odd Couple
The title aside, this isn’t such an odd coupling. The results this time out are far more consistent, in part because both musicians seem to have settled into a groove, and also because they both stick to what they do best. Brian Burton (that’s Danger Mouse, to you) brings the same trickster sensibility that livened up “The Grey Album” and the Gorillaz (among others), giving a postmodern twist to some decidedly retro-sounding soul; sometimes it seems like shades of Stax, and at others a vaguely paranoid Paul Weller.
Cee-Lo Green (I get the feeling that only his mom called him Thomas Callaway), meantime, still can’t decide between dark and light, joy and pain, or sacred and profane, so it all goes into the pot. As with the best of his work (both solo and with Goodie Mob), his lyrics are more cryptic than cut-and-dried. Rather than setting up a series of easy dichotomies, he realizes that these “opposites,” often as not, are two sides of the same coin.
I won’t belabor the album track by track, nor will I try to pin down its genre. I’ll simply suggest that you listen to it, loudly and often. “Run” (the first single) and “Going On” will sound great on your car stereo or local dancefloor, while “Who Will Save My Soul” will give you goosebumps (think of a certain soul elder statesman that shares Cee-Lo’s last name). If you’re expecting the second coming of “St. Elsewhere,” you’ll probably be disappointed; if you approach it with ears and mind open, though, it’s one hell of an album.
Tags: Cee-Lo Green, Danger Mouse, Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, soul