|
| |
Gnarles Barkley - St. Elsewhere
- St. Elsewhere: Emmy Award-winning NBC show set in a “decaying” medical care facility. Enjoying a six year run from 1982-88, the series served as a key proto-type for hit dramas such as ER and often broke prime-time ground: first to feature an AIDS patient; first to show a man’s naked derière; and first introduction (for many) to then unknown Denzel Washington. (Can you imagine???!!)
“St. Elsewhere”: the incredibly funky, fantastically eclectic, and refreshingly innovative debut from Gnarles Barkley. With a title said to have been inspired by the afore-mentioned drama, “St. Elsewhere” has already set its own precedents: inherently, it is the first collaboration between distinguished producer Danger Mouse (Gorrillaz, The Grey Album) and Atlanta’s own incomparable soul vocalist Cee-Lo Green (Goodie Mob). Plus, released in the US early May, “St. Elsewhere” has already been heralded in the press as “2006’s first sure-thing"
The correlations end here: No, the name Gnarles Barkley- sorry to burst your bubble- has nothing to do with former NBA star Charles Barkley. Danger Mouse has gone on record saying: “Nope. It’s just like everything else on this record. There was no conscious decision about stuff.” Well, for music rooted in un-premeditated genius, it offers a genre-bending flow of rock, soul, hip-hop, pop and electronica that sounds simultaneously avant-garde and ‘conscious.’
Where do I begin? The shear mass of this musical phenomenon is almost overwhelming - let’s go with “Crazy” the luscious string filled, soulful 70s flashback that first took the U.K. music charts by storm didn’t’ take too long to conquer the U.S, a feat bolstered by performances at the LA “MySpace Secret Show,” and recently, at the MTV 2006 Movie Award. As if the ‘crazy’ animation of the music video, with its colorful swirl of symbols, random paint splotches a la Rorshach, and highlighted lyrics, was not a powerful enough visual tool, Gnarles Barkley performed on the MTV award show dressed as Star Wars characters. Appropriately enough, Cee-Lo delivered his sultry vocals cloaked as Darth Vader, Danger Mouse was on the keys as a fro-ed out Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi and a sleekly coifed Chewbacca drummed the beat.
Preferring to retire the song before listeners grow tired of it, the Gnarles Barkley has decided to cut “Crazy” from the “St Elsewhere” track list as of late May. No worries, the album provides much more to rave about with the end to its prolific madness nowhere in sight. The next single “Smiley Faces” not only bounces, it ‘shimmers.’ Like the rest of “St. Elsewhere,” its contents can be described, but never fully identified or explained away and that’s just why you will ‘levitate’ to it. Take for instance, the playfully ominous funk of “The Boogie Monster”; and the fun xylophone melody of rock-pop injected “Gone Daddy Gone” that evokes the curiously accurate image of a mouse scuttling across the keys. Title track “St. Elsewhere” can be found in the dictionary under “soul-fly” and the quick-paced “Transformer” chides a society in serious need of ‘B original serum’: “I’m just being myself/ plus I gotta be you too/ Silly of me to think that I can’t bring myself to be you..”
No track ever reaches four minutes in length: Danger Mouse’s phat beats hit you upside the head, Cee-Lo’s velvety, at times raspy-coated vocals seep in. In tag-team fashion, the artists’ contributions tickle your ear drums and your fancy while building on the freshness of each preceding track. It’s safe to say I love this album, and just as sure to bet that you will too.
Reviewer: C. Lizaire
new
Reviewer's Rating: 10
Reader's Rating: 9.11
Reader's Votes: 9
Added: 14-Jun-2006
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
