ST. ELSEWHERE

Gnarls Barkley1.) This song shows a nice blend of hyper drum programming and gospel style vocals--reminiscent of rapid drum moments from Cee Lo's two solo albums, but not quite reaching the tech grandeur of Bombs over Baghdad.2.) This song, as my friend Big E would say, is a complete monster of a single reaching its peak and walking away in just three gloriously unflawed minutes.3.) This song is immediately gorgeous, perfectly rolling off the end of Crazy with all the depth of the darkest moments of Demon Days, but with Cee-Lo's solid-gold crooning blanketing the track like fancy linens. Although this track possesses some amazing atmospheric wind sounds, it refuses to linger as it adopts the same painfully short song length as the last two. At this point the album is moving along so quickly that I have to stop it to finish typing. Each of these gems, thus far, could be set to repeat for at least 15 minutes a piece without me getting tired of them. This song could best be described as shimmery with a rich aftertaste (laughing at myself, though it's SO true).4.) Now we see a big mood shift to this amazing Violent Femmes cover (actually written by Willie Dixon, I think). This song demonstrates a playful side just as successfully as the seemingly more sentimental songs that proceed it. Already in less than 15 minutes this duo has shown a range that completely pulverizes anything similar that might have come before it. Attempting to meld the interests of indie music with those of neo-soul, or possibly even R&B, is no small task indeed and yet they make it feel entirely effortless. Furthermore this specific song seems to put Cee-Lo's whole catalogue to bed. He sounds better than he has ever sounded in his entire career. The mood of this song bathes the listener in a comforting sense of calm sentiment. This is the point when Cee-Lo finally joins the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder. Congradulations C, my man, you have officially arrived!5.) OK, here comes more playfulness and humor like "Daddy's Gone" provided earlier. Some talk of monsters and vampires, thematically reminiscent of "Dracula's Wedding" from The Love Below, except here Dangermouse creates a uniquely subdued sound environment filled with muted organ notes and distant muted drums in a minimal pattern. The song wraps up with a line from Cee-Lo saying something about getting head, which solidifies the humor of the track without distracting or stopping for the sake of telling a joke.6.) Alright Dangermouse, flipping it again hunh? On this one we hear a twinkling chime-like melodic part reminiscent of a cross between 50's elevator music and something you might expect from the Neptunes. Both nostalgic and somewhat mainstream feeling at the same time, but once again keeping things painfully short. Without exaggeration, every one of these songs could play at least twice as long without becoming even slightly overplayed. Cee-lo's voice here shows more of his talking-rap approach with only very slight hints of melody in his voice.7.) This song begins with Cee-Lo in a mock-capella feel. Dangermouse teases by dropping a distorted drum part and then muting it back repeatedly, as a Spanish guitar minds it's own business underneath the mildly rampant drum overlay. These drums play out in uneven chunks pausing repeatedly again-and-again. Cee-Lo's singing approach here is unique. He has done something similar to this before, but here is feels absolutely brand new. Dangermouse continues to experiment as the track advances, letting the drums flip and turn as Cee-Lo pauses from singing. DM is also utilizing an interesting phased synth part here and there, and the song ends with many interesting little sound effects creating a confident yet experimental tone.8.) This is a mode many die hard Cee-Lo fans will not walk away happy without hearing: fast drums and a rapid rap-sing approach. However, they continue to reinvent each other by lacing the track with layers of pitch shifted vocals in the background coming in and out in high and low pitches. Yeah, this song has a fresh almost Asian mood to it's quick clicks and flute tones that seem to freshen up the listening experience again.9.) The sentiment returns with gorgeous back up singing, only to be interrupted periodically by a P-Funk-esque voice paired with the playful programming which has reared its head periodically throughout the album (some kind of 50's film noire sample involved). Well matched by Cee-Lo's best effort to be cute and adorable for ladies, delivering lines like: "It's deep you could be so shallow," which I must admit I grinned at too. Here we see some more of their mutual love for the organ, but also a moment where the dynamic and passion of the album suffers very slightly for the sake of trying something different through sudden periodic mood shifts.10.) I have no clue how to describe this. It has echoing disco-ish flutes and starts with a truly new vocal style from Cee-Lo: one in which he sing very soft in a very low Berry White kind of voice. Towards the end of the song we can just make out the frumpy little synth that has been bumping along underneath the whole time-another element reminding me of George Clinton & co.11.) If the album ended now I would ball my eyes out, and alas not only does it not end, but the reinvention continues with an odd necrophilia themed lyric layed over a lackadaisical piano and the shuffling stomp of more distorted drums, this time paired with an uncommon yet natural sounding vocal distortion. The vocal style is more of Cee-Lo's spoken-word-ish approach and not so much really fully singing or rapping, but just talking. Also an interesting touch is the jazz guitar solo morphing with organ-like fringes. The noodling piano is so peculiar with this morbid theme and the jazzyness of it all wrapped around an irrie tone and these distorted textures. This track is quite unique, but a welcome addition.12.) Here comes that great singing again, without distortion, but with a drum presence very similar to the previous song, though even more glitchy and sudden. Oops, I spoke too soon-Dangermouse drops some crazy fast woodblock that sounds equally Florida/booty and Outkast/tech. Cee-Lo is creating a vibe like something huge is coming crashing down, in terms of the emotion in his voice. There is something hilarious about the booty beat mixed with a serious vocal attitude.13.) Here we lighten up into a softer electric-jazz with that odd guitar sound that they have fallen into three or so times on this album so far. This is somewhat sentimental, but with cleaner drums and a much more casual tone like perhaps he's thinking about a woman while he's brushing his teeth or getting dressed quickly. It is laid back in the melody but upbeat in the drums. I really have this overwhelming feeling like this is a driving song because it feels rushed but introspective. Quite a peculiar place to end. Then you hear a film projector flapping, which is matched by the film projector sond in the intro.Clocking in at just 37 minutes, I doubt anyone can resist the urge to push the play button again once the CD ends (but I am admittedly a wierd guy). This album is infectious on a level only rivaled by the greatest soul albums ever released. This is the Super Fly or Inner Visions of our time, and you should make no mistakes about that. I can't wait for someone to tell me that they don't like this, so I can look at them like they are a damn fool who lost their ever loving mind!!!! You could probably play this for your mom (except the necrophelia song--that's a bit much) and yet it is the most cutting edge work to come out in at least the last five years. I am ecstatic about my purchase to say the absolute least. I can't believe this is on an indie label that I have never heard of. I bet all the major label execs are foaming at the mouth to take a big bite out of this cash cow (or maybe not--who knows). At any rate, with no guest appearances at all, Dangermouse and Cee-lo certainly have quite an achievement on your hands (insert standing ovation here). I would not hesitate for a moment to say that this is easily album of the year material-no question at all.

For better or worse, fairly or unfairly, Thomas 'Cee-Lo' Calloway and Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton's Gnarls Barkley project, appropriately entitled St. Elsewhere given its escapist tendencies, will long be judged by its surprisingly familiar single, "Crazy", which shares more than a title with Seal's more modest moment-in-time hit. Both songs are colored by quiet desperation, sorrow, confusion, hope if not euphoria, exhorting more fearless, honest and faithful lives in which "miracles happen as we sleep" and "as we trip". But whereas Seal so perfectly captured that virtually global sense of rebirth, taking tentative new baby steps, feeling swept up and away by the breathtaking whirlwind of change that brought down both the Berlin Wall and Soviet Union but daring to defy conventional belief, Cee-Lo proffers, with blithe resignation, that any personal salvation or rapture lies in abdicating from the insanity of our times or, rather, how sanity is so conveniently defined, something that points to the primary musical origins of St. Elsewhere in one year: 1969, when disillusionment, sadness and a more cynical outlook upon the killing of what surely had to be one of Calloway's "heroes", MLK and Bobby Kennedy, had begun to seep through 'The Dream's slowly widening cracks and into popular music. In the process, Cee-Lo explores themes of manifest destiny, liberation, fear, the price exacted for awareness, sacrifice, self-destruction, deviancy and disassociation. Parents and their children alike have been forever subject to the rueful tones of Verse 2 as Calloway seems to play protagonist and 'devil's advocate' at once, asking himself as much as anyone the timeless question, "Come on, come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?" More than anything else, the generation and genre-crossing massive popularity of Gnarls' "Crazy" is, I suspect, a sort of commiseration and discovery of common ground, the acknowledgement that a lot of things have gone horribly wrong in the past quarter-century.If you were to ask me, musically speaking anyhow, one point on the grid was 1979's "Rapper's Delight", a godawful trifle which I've suffered bitterly ever since and triggered a very bad attitude about rap/hip-hop from the outset - it, more than any other recording, symbolizes the industry's slouch into pushing mere product, audacious or not. And in that time, I've so often lamented the dearth of truly soulful music, artists that inspired credible comparison to such immensely talented trailblazers as Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire. For every briefly encouraging "Yo Little Brother", "Gangsta's Paradise" or "Hey Ya" there was six times the utter, unlistenable dreck like Newcleus, Dre or 50 Cent (truly an overstatement of value, that last). If the Eighties were largely a hit-or-miss affair where 'soul' is concerned (Prince, for all his obvious talent and popularity zenith of "Purple Rain", never really became a culture-changing force) in its twilight those ideals began to be revisited, particularly by British artists such as Seal, Roachford and rough-hewn, harder-rocking Stateside entities such as Guns n' Roses and Lenny Kravitz, paving the way for both Public Enemy and Nirvana's greater 'authenticity'. As the Brits always seem to demonstrate a much deeper appreciation of true American soul artists, this and "Crazy" catapulting to Number One on the strength of downloads alone fifteen years later came as no surprise. And if Outkast's sprawling 2003 double set Speakerboxx/The Love Below suggested just how vital and dynamic urban music could be, then St. Elsewhere insists upon it.That said, the disc (especially "Gone Daddy Gone", the reworked Violent Femmes ditty, and "Who Cares?", vying with "The Last Time" for viability as a strong third single, not to mention a more industrial-sounding WAR with Eric Burdon nowhere in sight on "Go-Go Gadget Gospel") evokes fond memories of a slightly different, late Eighties record, also sonically rooted in 1969: Truth and Soul by Fishbone (along with the funkier, not-unexpected Sly and Clinton markers, a predominant influence is Blood, Sweat & Tears - go back, listen to "Ma & Pa" and "Question Of Life" and tell me I'm wrong!) as both albums echo with generous amounts of dub and frequently reconcile seemingly disparate sounds into something eminently listenable. For Gnarls Barkley, this feat can be laid at the feet of Danger Mouse, known for his gift of creating extremely diverse and coherent aural collages. As for Cee-Lo, he aspires to be both Impressions Curtis Mayfield AND Jerry Butler - suggestive of 'The Iceman' is "Boogie Monster", a cheeky and tremulous homage to.....the one-eyed nocturnal beast? No, but several are-they-or-aren't-they-double entendres, Cee-Lo's smirking concession and salacious cackle at the end all confuse the issue; thus, "Boogie Monster" still succeeds in drawing pre-adolescent correlations between innocence, sex and death. His voice closely resembles Benny Latimore of "Let's Straighten It Out" fame on that track and Norman "Hurricane" Smith elsewhere - tell me he couldn't drawl "Oh Babe, What Would You Say?" and anyone would notice much difference - as well as Al Green and Fred "Rerun" Berry at the mic (fittingly, one set of Gnarls onstage alter-egos is that African-American TV icon and his "What's Happening!" friend Raj) but even so, he possesses a really unique combination of styles.The duo performed an absolutely spine-tingling version of "Crazy" on Britain's 'Top Of The Pops' last April with a far more somber arrangement, minus the very distinguishing, drier bass line, replaced by a slow, brooding march, dripping staccato organ and string notes. Those links to '69 were only emphasized; pithy, angelic, yet somehow unsettling vocal accompaniment typical of many Sixties AM classics ("Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity", Tom Jones 1969 hit "Love Me Tonight" and "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" by Stevie Wonder, likely one of Cee-Lo's "heroes" that LIVES, rather than loses, their lives "out on a limb") graced it as with the follow-up single, "Smiley Faces", a song reminding me of a more forlorn "Games People Play" by the Spinners (UPDATE: it's July 2014 now and, having just gotten a Delfonics best-of collection, can tell you that Gnarls actually derived it from their, sure ENOUGH, 1969 R & B hit "Funny Feeling" - the common denom with both acts, late Sigma Sound maestro Thom Bell) just one of a few occasions where distinctly Seventies sounds intrude. Other such examples would include Chi-Lites-inspired harmonizing on the title track and a very Ernie Isley-esque guitar loop in "The Last Time", not to mention intermittent flute in several places (an instrument never so commonly heard with R & B as in '74 & '75). For that matter, an unlikely potential candidate for one of the earliest hip-hop recordings and doubtless sampled many times over is, of ALL things, "Burning Bridges", the Mike Curb (!!! how 'whitebread' can you get???) theme from a madcap, star-studded 1970 Clint Eastwood WW II movie called 'Kelly's Heroes'. Lest anyone think I'm giving Calloway's voice short shrift or insufficient props, that startlingly impassioned exhibition was doubtless among the greatest soul performances - ever, but you can decide for yourself on Youtube. Clearly, Cee-Lo was feelin' it!Of course, my focus upon the disc is as an aficianado of melody (and admittedly, there isn't a whole lot of rapping on this effort, so my praise may be regarded as a bit disingenuous by some) nor could I hope to speak with any credibility about from precisely where the beats, though impressive (especially the ridiculously difficult, and thus probably computer-generated, quadruplets on "Go-Go Gadget Gospel") were selected. Which further sheds light upon St. Elsewhere's widespread appeal: while the mad rhythm samples will resonate with younger generations, older folks will welcome the richer melodic touches not normally associated with hip-hop. Furthermore, Calloway's lyrics are insightful and brilliant in their deceptive simplicity. I accord it 4 stars not because "Necromancer" is distasteful but it just doesn't hold together as well, and a couple of other tracks are a bit weaker than the rest, but on balance, this record about finding balance in a listing world is audacious AND astoundingly musical. Can it even, finally, bring hip-hop back into the fold for everyone? Or is the street backlash imminent?

Is this titled to suggest it was recorded in a psychiatric hospital?Meandering collection of very good ideas, but ultimately - singles apart - left wholly undeveloped.Yessss, I get where you are going guys, and we get the whole tour, ward by ward - Soul, Hip-Hop, Funk, Urban, homages to LIVING COLOR, before full on Brit-Pop and even Dirtbag. But therein lies the problem. Mixing styles does not offend - Prince made a career out of it - failing to do them justice just might and on St. Elswhere there are some fullsome examples.I'll cite the obvious CRAZY and SMILEY FACES (more clues) as high points and contrast with BOOGIE MONSTER which is late night reheated pizza.There could be a quality album here, but the whole affair is badly rushed, with some nasty drum machines and "cheapo" synths fleshing out pieces more deserving strummed strings and a well struck hide.Gnarls missed the "retro" target and struck the "tacky" one instead.Some latter pieces truly excite, but remain spoiled by the aftertaste left by the earlier less palatable moments.I think they missed a trick. This still could have had mass appeal, through the thorough execution of genuinely interesting ideas in the way that REM, Run DMC or Terrence Trent D'Arby have done previously.In the final analyisis...It falls desperately short and is left as a pastiche.Spent too much on that fantastic video, leaving no budget to finish off the album!

The only shortcoming of this album is that it is incredibly small - although I believe that is one of the reasons why it is so good, it doesn't linger long enough for you to get upset and it gives you all it needs to in a 37 minute time span. Musically wise, it's quite diverse, concise, memorable, fun and mindful. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it's one of my all time favourite records.

Just what it says on the tin - These guys are faultless , fruitful and fantastic - and so is their music . If you liked 'Crazy' you'd be mad not to own this amazing set !

Why don't they just reconnect and make another album

Not great album but cannot fault delivery and service