Mar 18, 2008
[one_half] [button type=”btn_border” url=”http://www.amazon.com/The-Odd-Couple-Gnarls-Barkley/dp/B0013H8QEG” target=”on” button_color_fon=”#00867a” ]AMAZON[/button] [button type=”btn_border” url=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-odd-couple/id276168665″ target=”on” button_color_fon=”#00867a” ]ITUNES[/button]

Track 03 – Going On

Arranged By [Choral Performance], Conductor [Choral Performance] – Danielle Luppi*

Chorus [Choral Performance] – Cantori Moderni di Alessandro Alessandroni*

Double Bass [Upright] – Josh Klinghoffer

Written-By – Brian Burton, Peter Dunton, Thomas Callaway

Track 08 – Surprise

Acoustic Guitar – Clint Walsh

Double Bass [Upright] – Heather McIntosh

Electric Guitar – Josh Klinghoffer

Percussion – Steve Nistor

Written-By – Bobby Feldman*, Brian Burton, Gene Allen (2), Ron Dante, Thomas Callaway
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Please, read the entire review on www.pitchfork.com

Since Gnarls Barkley jumped into everyone’s consciousness on the back of a single called “Crazy”, would you forgive me the groaning joke if I said their follow-up sounded a little like someone prescribed mood stabilizers? That’s the gripe you’ll probably hear from most people:The Odd Couple is flatter, in both directions. The joy of this duo’s debut was a kind of erratic, anything-goes lightning-bottling; its chintzy, slapdash qualities were more than made up for by the number of bottles containing honest-to-god scraps of actual lightning. Hit the big time on the strength of one of those, though, and the world has big-time demands. It was inevitable that these two would have to fight past their idiosyncrasies (producer Danger Mouse’s short attention span, singer Cee-Lo’s ease with throwing vocals together on the fly) and deliver something more focused, something that doesn’t require so much sorting through. They’ve done that, to an extent– not by any huge, transformative leap, but a little. And much like your average SSRI, it means less of the unpredictable magic and the sideways song-notions that sold the first album.
It’d be cruel and point-missing to pick on them for this– as cruel as it’d be to tell your friends they’re more “fun” when they’re off their meds. More importantly, there are times, as DM’s beats trail by in their muddy, tasteful way, where Cee-Lo sets to work developing something terrific, even if it’s not the shiny pop thrill a lot of fans might want. What Cee-Lo seems to be after is a kind of restrained, gut-searching soul music, packed with even more self-doubt and self-laceration than the first record. Get over the lack of colorful pop baubles, and you’ll notice that the best work here comes in the form of low-key cuts about isolation and uncertainty, like “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”. Oddly enough, that means this album will be a grower– dead opposite the flash and fade of that debut. […] [/one_half]