![]() ![]() But the success of "Crazy" should guarantee that this genre-bending record escapes the ghetto of 'underground cool'. It was also released on vinyl.Īlbums this hip don't usually spawn chart-conquering singles. The CD + DVD package includes a 92 page booklet, four music videos and bonus songs from live performances. By Nielsen SoundScan, sales were at 1,260,535 copies as of March 15, 2007. ![]() The album was certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA, for shipping 1,000,000 units. The album's first single, "Crazy", was the first song to become a UK number-one single based solely on downloads. The album was originally titled Who Cares? in reference to the low sales Gnarls Barkley ironically predicted their album would experience. It topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 39 non-consecutive weeks in 20. It was released on Apin the UK, where it debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and on in the United States, although it was available for purchase one week earlier as a digital download in the U.S. Elsewhere is the debut album by United States hip hop soul duo Gnarls Barkley. Take the latter approach and you will be missing out on a genuinely recommended album - it's no contender for end-of-year honours, but so far as pop goes in 2006, this may well be the pinnacle.St. Yes, tiny blips appear on the quality radar from time to time, but St Elsewhere's strike rate is surprisingly high short song lengths aid the album's appeal, too, as for every dip you're guaranteed a peak in but a few minutes' time.Īpproaching St Elsewhere with an established intention to dislike it purely because of the over-exposure of one song will leave you one of two ways: either your expectations will be rightly dashed by an album that's wickedly vivid, full of soul and many a spark of invention, or you'll steadfastly refuse to let it impress you. A lot of credit must go the way of Cee Lo, whose presence is more powerful, more attention-grabbing, than his conspirator, and whose at-the-mic' performances are rarely found wanting. 'Just A Thought' is Warren G through a 65daysofstatic filter: sounds awful on paper, but as Danger Mouse's build 'em up and knock 'em down beats dance on tip-toes about the listener, ears will crackle and crisp in time, their lobes quite probably blistering.įurther highlights easily come to mind after just a couple of plays - 'Transformer' is a riotous, joyous hoot of a song, recorded while Cee Lo's stuck on fast-forward like some episode of Round The Twist, while 'Online' (nice nod to that single's success, there) is a neat exercise in modern funk, with vocals full of vulnerability despite an assured front. Here, Cee Lo adopts a similarly smooth tone to that of 'Crazy', but his raps are fluid, suiting Danger Mouse's glossy hip-hop soundscape wonderfully. Of course, the lyrics probably aren't there to be interpreted literally - no doubt there's some intention to suggest the presence of inner demons when under-the-bed beasties are mentioned - but falling mid-album it provides a little light relief from the often dizzying blitz-beats of other arrangements. Positives, now, for there are many: 'The Boogie Monster' is a great little baritone paean to the horrors of the night, to the things that go bump-itty-bump just out of your peripheral vision. It's a sing-along in the making, sure to have behinds up from seats at live shows, but comprises one of this album's weaker moments. 'Gone Daddy Gone' arrives soon after, coming on like Polysics penning a track for some pop-hop, blue-eyed R&B boyband or other, rapid-fire beats matched with a professional but uninspiring vocal. That it's one of the few credible number ones the UK has had in recent memory is a no-brainer, but its sequencing at track two deals it a poor hand Cee Lo's incredibly soulful vocal would suit the second half of St Elsewhere so much better. With such a seemingly haphazard approach to formulating these compositions, it's inevitable that certain songs seem a little out of sorts with their surroundings funnily, 'Crazy' is one of them. It's the circus coming to your town via a toy-store brass band and the stuffed animal aisle, childish yet bearing the hallmarks of future greatness. The song pulses in palpitations, Cee Lo's vocal more urgent than at any moment of that history-making single beats are spread wide and trip over each other, fast and furious. But it takes only two or three seconds of the opening_ 'Go Go Gadget Gospel'_ to realise that the pair have dared to experiment with a healthy dose of variety. It's only natural for the sceptic to assume that the spectacularly successful lead single to be lifted from this debut album - the collaborative project of Goodie Mob's Cee Lo and DM & Jemini's in-demand Danger Mouse - would have its formula repeated across the entirety of its parent long-player. Fourteen tracks, one 'Crazy', initial fears quashed.
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