Gnarls Barkley – ‘The Odd Couple’

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Reviews

I will tell you the truth from the start, I can’t get enough of the latest Gnarls Barkley Album ‘The Odd Couple’, the thoughtful lyrics, the eclectic mix of musical styles and the dependable yet playful way the whole project is put together. This CD was always destined for high rotatation for weeks in my car, I even went as far as to download the backwards version from the official website www.gnarlsbarkley.com So now that I have confessed my bias I will impartially review this modern masterpiece.

Gnarls Barkley – Run

When the name ‘Danger Mouse’ is involved in a musical venture, it is a guarantee of quality. His past efforts include the sublime “Ghetto Pop Life” collaboration with Jemini, the ‘Danger Doom’ project with MF Doom and ‘The Grey Album’ (which mashed up Jay-Z and the Beatles). Cee-Lo has also established his reputation in his work with the ‘Goodie Mob‘, “Dungeon Family” and solo tracks like “Closet Freak” and “I’ll Be Around”. The combination of these two accomplished artists works so well, and won’t disappoint any long time fans. Not since ‘Dan the Automator’ and ‘Del’ combined to bring us Deltron 3030 has such a brilliant marriage of talent used an off-beat theme given each artist the room to explore and experiment their already perfected skills. (FYI: Deltron Event 2 coming soon)

Cee-Lo likes to play around with words and write from the perspective of other persona’s, creating songs like “Whatever” that explores loneliness through the eyes of a social outcast. The type of character that seems to be highlighted by media after every American high school shooting. Not afraid to get a bit deep and meaningful, all types of human emotions are explored and analysed. Even if you don’t really care what the songs are about, you will still love the sound.

Favourite tracks include: “Blind Mary” a fable of vision-impaired love and the depths of beauty set to the sounds of hand claps and retro keyboard tones. “Surprise” a surf rock influenced lesson warning of assumptions and misconceptions. Also special mention to “Going On” a catchy but intense song that combines church organ and killer beats, in a tale of departure and separation, and “Run” a fast and furious challenge to inertia in all its laziness.