Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere: B+
After what seemed like an interminable wait, StE finally dropped here in the 48+2. In a year where we have been piling up beats oriented albums such as Go Team's, Mylo's and J-Dilla's -- this one stands out in terms of its great sense of using old school beats and funk, with incredibly soulful vox from Cee-Lo
This is not to say that it is a retro soul based effort -- I think the best description is experimental, with great soul and funk foundation. If you like things like Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz, or any of the three artists listed above, this will be a great pickup
The standout tracks are the ubiquitous 'our song of the year' Crazy -- which is just brilliant in its simplicity. Smiley Faces is a great 70s soul jam with snappy clean percussion beats. We really like the blend of crashy cymbals and clean guitar sound of Just A Thought ... the late 80s style rhyming of Feng Shui
All around the album is very solid, the only tracks which are skippable perhaps are the ones really out on the sonic edge, like Transformer and Necromancer. I also didn't really get the appeal of the VF cover "Gone Daddy Gone" ... to me, it was ehhh.
I found that I really liked the funky disco of The Last Time, the epic sounding Storm Coming, the psychedelic funk/soul of Who Cares? and Online ... even the creepy weirdness of Boogie Monster was cool.
What I do find interesting is how these guys have taken over the UK charts -- especially in this era of all this frenetic Arctic Monkeys music in the UK. Good gravy, if Steve L. recommends another AM soundalike on Music Exchange, I think I will discontinue my pod sub ... but thats besides the point.
We recommend this album as a changeup album, I don't think that it will shake out as the best album of the year ... but it is different and enjoyable enough to fill time when you want something that is great to listen to, yet is really off the mainstream