How can Gnarls Barkley not be a one-hit wonder after the enormous success of their smash “Crazy”? On the other hand, how could Gnarls Barkley ever be considered a one-hit wonder, since the duo’s members, Goodie Mob’s Cee-Lo and producer Danger Mouse, were both minor hip hop legends before getting all gnarled up. It’s quite a conundrum. But considering that since what Gnarls Barkley do isn’t strictly classifiable as pop, hip hop, R&B, alt-rap, or alt-rock, they’re really in the best of all possible genres—the one occupied by all nebulous black rock and rollers with a major label contract. This essentially means they can continue making whatever kind of six-headed anachronistic postmodern music they like without fitting into any radio format…except by accident. Call it heaven for the eclectic black bohemian. This critic doesn’t hear an anthem remotely near another “Crazy” on their sophomore album, The Odd Couple. And this is a good thing because it means that, like Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse still aren’t in it for the money.
What you do hear sounds like a soundtrack to a Spaghetti Western or a Hercules flick made in Motown circa 1965, starring a 300-pound black Jesus leading a rebel choir of Shirelles. There’s all kinds of Farfisa organ, tremulous guitar, tambourine, frantic Pentecostal tempos, cooing, and whooping girl-group action going on alongside the preaching, the shouting, and the testifying of the man up front, Cee-Lo Green. Problem is, like a few of my favorite hip hop artists—Busta Rhymes, Method Man, and Redman come to mind—Cee-Lo has always been a better supporting cast member than charismatic front man, more Peabo Bryson than Marvin Gaye, more a singles artist than an album maestro. It seems that Danger Mouse thinks so, too, so he’s woven into the album thick, pulpit-fogging clouds of reverb. That effect lends The Odd Couple a powerful ambience. The finished product has glorious results —it sounds like an antique shop where dusty albums by Ennio Morricone, The 5th Dimension, and Reverend C.L. Franklin are always playing on three turntables.
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