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album: St. Elsewhere
artist: Gnarls Barkley
label: Downtown / 2006
score: 77
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by Tim Mathiesen
There has not been an album in quite some time that has produced so much hype.
The wonderfully catchy single "Crazy" topped the European charts for weeks and was one of the most
downloaded song on iTunes for a few months earlier this year. Danger Mouse has been quite a successful
DJ in the last year with his involvement in the Gorillaz album, Demon Days,
and his Cartoon Network's Adult Swim collaboration along with MF Doom on The Mouse and The Mask
as the duo, Danger Doom.
The Gnarls Barkley project isn't much different. Danger Mouse teamed up with odd ball rapper/singer, Cee-Lo as
Gnarls Barkley to create an album over a span of about four years. This album is more of a throwback
to 70's funk and soul than a hip-hop/rap album. It's fun and crazy all the way through, although, at times, sounding
quite random. The remake of Violent Femmes' song, "Gone Daddy Gone" is
interesting, but doesn't sound much different than the original, which also hurts the album as a whole.
Over all, the album is very refreshing in the midst of the current repetative R & B trend, and the creativity
gives it a boost of respect artistically. The negative aspects that hurt the album are the several filler songs
that appear random and incomplete.
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