|
| |
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
- When two brilliant musicians collaborate in a genre that has lost its edge, one of the greatest effects of the partnership can be an artistic renaissance. In the case of the recent duo Gnarls Barkley, the result was a renaissance of soul.
Not since Motown have the gravelly and melodic vocals of an artist such as rapper and singer Cee-Lo been paired with the kind of timeless and catchy beats of someone like Grammy nominated producer Danger Mouse.
“St. Elsewhere,” the duo’s gorgeous soul-pop masterpiece of ironic lyricism, irresistible hooks and a multiplicity of grooves, is the fresh, nothing-sounds-like-it album that has the potential to revolutionize soul. Some of the songs sound gospel-tinged, others as if they have come straight from an older, more optimistic decade. Hit-master Danger Mouse, who has written successes for the Pussycat Dolls, P Diddy and Ludacris, to name a few, provides lyrics as insightful as they are catchy: “Everybody is somebody/but nobody wants to be themselves,” chants Cee-Lo in “Who Cares?”. “St. Elsewhere,” which was released in the U.S. on May 9, became an internet sensation months before the album even hit stores. The pumped-up single “Crazy,” featuring a cooing Cee-Lo and the gripping first line “I remember when/ I remember I remember when I lost my mind,” made music history when it became the first single in the U.K. to stay at No.1 on the singles charts for nine consecutive weeks since 1994.
The kind of attention Gnarls Barkley is getting is well deserved – “St. Elsewhere” is just what modern music needed.
Reviewer: Genevieve Diesing
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 9.00
Reader's Votes: 2
Added: 15-Jun-2006
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
