"St. Elsewhere" by Gnarles Barkley (2006)
Artist: |
Gnarles Barkley |
Album: |
St. Elsewhere |
Released In: |
2006 |
Reviewed By: |
Kyle England |
Reviewed On: |
Thu May 18th, 2006 |
Grade: |
3.5 |
When I first heard that Funk-Soul rapper Cee-Lo and production whiz-kid Danger Mouse (the beat making genius who worked on the new Gorillaz and Danger Doom records last year) were getting together to form a super group cheekily named after a superstar NBA player and creating an album named after the popular 80's TV hospital drama, I had to pinch myself to make sure that I hadn't somehow gotten stuck in some autistic child's snow globe. Then when I heard the first single "Crazy," I just about died. If I would have died though, they would have found me with a Cheshire cat grin on my face from how damn happy that song makes me every time I hear it. Lyrically and musically, I'm pretty sure we won't hear a finer tune this year.
I was even more shocked, however, to find the rest of St. Elsewhere as a whole falls somewhere between just good and terribly average. Tracks like "Go Go Gadget Gospel" and the self-titled track prove that there were great ideas besides "Crazy" in the tank. Even the odd choice of covering Violent Femmes "Gone Daddy Gone" turns out to be a fun bit of nostalgia. But by the half-way point, St. Elsewhere really loses something. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse are both eclectic, there's no denying that; but the second half of the album has moments that seem to be weird just for the sake of being weird. Cee-Lo reaches a career low with the just plain terrible "Feng Shui," and the beats to "Transformer" have to be some of the most grating ones that Danger Mouse could've possibly concocted. I don't think St. Elsewhere will be remembered as a failure, far from it in fact with the handful of stellar tracks it packs; but with the collective talent that this group possesses, when it all shakes out it will most likely be remembered as both a bait and switch disappointment and a missed opportunity.
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