St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley

...whole let better.
St. Elsewhere does not seem to be well thought out nor a thoroughly well devised first attempt; Its tracks do not comfortably sit well together, the whole is not related to the sum of its parts and to apply a straight forward genre tag is impossible. But maybe that is the point. It has something for everyone, it is experimental, it is inventive and therefore the reason I have recommended that you don't purchase this album ...
...on regular musical submersion and the number of times you press the skip button decide on whether it's worth digging deep for. It's a very individual thing. Personally, I still wouldn't bother but 3 weeks ago I thought this album's sales would hang solely on the success of one song.... now I'm not so sure.

I have classified its Originality as being "a cut above the rest" because it is original..not necassrily good... but ... more

~ A Cautionary Note on Mass Appeal ~

This is the new enigma that is Gnarls Barkley....presently this outfit has enjoyed a double whammy. Firstly, holding the Number 1 spot for a total of 8 weeks and counting (being the longest period of time for any single in the UK for 12 years), and secondly, this is the first single in history to get to the number 1 spot in the UK based on download sales alone.

So this single is on the verge of legendary status....one shared with long term top spot holders in history including Whitney "I will always love you" Houston and Brian "Everything I do I Do It For You" Adams...notably two artists that are today wishing that they had never made an allegiance with the Dark One known as Kevin "The plank" Costner as it drove Whitney to drugs, Bobby Brown and embarrassing Oprah appearances, and, in Brian's case, drove him to team up with Sporty Spice due to the fondness he had acquired for anything figure hugging, elasticated and...preferably lincoln green in colour.

The question then: Is the Gnarls Barkley single an indication of the future mass appeal of the album 'St. Elsewhere?' YES....but does that mean it's good...not necessarily. Mass appeal and quality very rarely go hand in hand...consider the Smurfs, Timmy Mallet, A1, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Westlife and Terry Wogan's Floral Dance to name a few...mass appeal but dire quality. It is much harder to find artists that have mass appeal and are, empirically speaking, the Dogs Bollards where quality is concerned; such examples may include The Beatles, Stones and, of-course, Rolf Harris.

~ The Tracks ~
1. Go Go Gadget Gospel
2. Crazy
3. St Elsewhere
4. Gone Daddy Gone
5. Smiley Faces
6. Boogie Monster
7. Feng Shui
8. Just A Thought
9. Transformer
10. Who Cares
11. Online
12. Necromancer
13. Storm Coming
14. Last Time

~The Gnarls Barkley Background~

First of all it isn't a person, it's a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Cee Lo…mean nothing to you? Initially me neither…but further delving reveals the following:

~Danger Mouse~ How he got to the 'Tag' of Danger Mouse from his birth name of Brian Burton could lead the more questioning of us into a dark, dank clammy corner of the room to deliberate the possibilities related to a certain animated character from the Cosgove Hall home....a possibility that is allegedly a fact... but lets not go any further. , What I do know for sure is that he is a celebrated producer who mixed Jay Z's 'Black Album' with samples from the Beatles 'White Album' to provide friends with the 'Grey Album.' Unfortunately, they posted it on the net to huge underground acclaim much to the disgust of EMI. He also produced Gorillaz 'Demon Days' for which he gained a Grammy nomination for Producer of The Year. In addition to these accolades he has been exalted on high by NME as "The Hottest Hip Hop Producer in The World" and has been linked with Damon Alburns much anticipated on the cards first solo album offering

~Cee-Lo~ (Thomas Calloway). A big man in every sense of the word, noted for his easily distinguishable Gospel Soul easy flowing southern style was, and still is officially, a member of The Goodie Mob (no…obviously not the Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie, Graham Gardner set) who being part of the Atlanta Georgia musical collective known as The Dungeon Family have seen him guest on the off the wall offerings from fellow stable-mates Andre 3000 as well as Santana, the Black Eyed Peas and TLC.

~St. Elsewhere - The Album~
After listening to the single 'Crazy' for over 5 weeks and it still shunning the competition with an air of superior discontent usually associated with the heavyweight die hards of modern popular music, I had no choice but to purchase the album to discover whether it would have the same impact on me as the chart topper still does. The outcome....I am confused....I feel like a gardner of immense stupidy who has been told to take his pick when given the options of two shovels.

The strength of the album is that its content - short, sharp, intense and eclectic beyond expectation - is also its weakness. Tracks crash in and out with the ferocity of the Atlantic on a wind swept exposed beach and if you're in for the swim you hardly get time for breath before the next surge. Extremely refreshing but with the potential of being overwhelmed.

Initially I felt that this album was riding bare-back solely on the extreme quality of 'Crazy.' But it is a grower and the mish mash of tracks with the majority being under 3 minutes in length, do eventually gain independence in their own right throwing up a number of curved ball blinders in the midst of an equal succession of 'underarm throws.'

The "Curved Ball Blinders" include:

~ Track 1: Go, Go Gadget Gospel~
A Frantic Gospel offering giving Cee-Lo a great opportunity to flex his vocal chords to their most extreme capacity. The track is underpinned by a hectic high tempo snare drum rhythm and a mind boggling brass section...add this to the soulful choir vocal backing and you've got enough going on to justify visions of Jesus on acid.

~Track 2: Crazy ~
Definitely the Daddy of the album and almost warrants the purchase of the album based on its quality alone. A heavy hypnotic driven bass line and beat are second alone to Cee-Lo's vocal lead and sweeping backing harmonies. The backing sampled track derives from a 1968 Spaghetti Western film titled 'Preparati La Bara' the source being 'Nel Cimentario Di Tuscon.' Its all Italian to me though. But the real clencher for me are the lyrics, which are sublime including;

"I remember when
I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase
Even your emotions had an echo
And so much space"

~Track 8: Just A Thought ~
Intense heavy and military-esque backing beat juxtaposed to a light and beautiful flamenco style rhythm and lead acoustic sections. An extremely haunting track with thought provoking lyrics on the subjects of desperation and suicidal thoughts.

"Life is a one-way street, and if you could paint it
I'd draw myself going in the right direction
So I go all the way - like I really really know -
But the truth is I'm only guessin'

And I've tried
Everything but suicide
Oooh but it's crossed my mind
Just a thought."

~Track 12: Necromancer~
Starting with lyrics "Wake up, Wake up".... a very dark track narrated by Cee-Lo which traces a murdering Necrophiliacs days actions to attract, torment, kill and then further abuse his victim. This offering, like its central character is cold and callous, almost clinical in its delivery with lyrics that are presented in the first person with such a blatant 'matter of fact' approach that this could be a little too close to the edge for some listeners.

"She was cool when I met her but I think I prefer her dead."

The methodical and deliberate slow backing beat, distorted haunting vocal harmonies are only intermittently cut into by a wailing synthesizer section. I checked for monsters under my bed after the first time of hearing this.

The "Underarm Throws" include:

~Track 4: Gone Daddy Gone~
Now being such a massive fan of The Violent Femmes this rendition of their classic alternative pop track left me reaching for my CD destroyer (also known as wire wool). Its awful. The style of the music lends itself to the vocal skills of Cee-lo like fingernails lend themselves to blackboards. The beat must have been sampled from a late 70's Bontempi keyboard and the solo sections, an absolute must to get right for this piece to make the grade, is marked down as an E minus. Gnarls Barkley, out of respect for one of their great musical influences, should have left VF well alone. It's like watching a butcher with a spoon....very bloody indeed.

~Track 9: Transformer~
Its the only rap track on the album and it is poor beyond belief. Irritating through a high pitched fast paced Cee-Lo who must be wishing for the song to end so he can come up for big lung full of air. He sounds like Prince on helium. A high tempo tinny backing beat, a synthesizer melody which will guarantee hearing problems for your canine friend for the foreseable future and an ending so abrupt that it makes you think that they just gave up.

~Final Thoughts~
This album could be described against a number of different genres including Jazz, RnB, Soul and Rap...not too different to The United Future Organization except that UFO seem to do it a whole let better.
St. Elsewhere does not seem to be well thought out nor a thoroughly well devised first attempt; Its tracks do not comfortably sit well together, the whole is not related to the sum of its parts and to apply a straight forward genre tag is impossible. But maybe that is the point. It has something for everyone, it is experimental, it is inventive and therefore the reason I have recommended that you don't purchase this album is that you should first borrow a copy and based on regular musical submersion and the number of times you press the skip button decide on whether it's worth digging deep for. It's a very individual thing. Personally, I still wouldn't bother but 3 weeks ago I thought this album's sales would hang solely on the success of one song.... now I'm not so sure.

I have classified its Originality as being "a cut above the rest" because it is original..not necassrily good... but original.

~ Other Contributors ~

# Product Design/Illustration
Kam Tang - Illustrations
Alex Kirzhner - Design

# Musicians
Eric Bobo - Drums
Chris Tedesco - Trumpet
Daniele Luppi Synthesizer Bass/ Mini Moog
Menta Malone - Vocals (Background)
Eddie Reyes - Guitar (Acoustic)
Dave Pilch - Bass
Doctor Presi - Organ , Bass, Guitar
Tomika Walden - Vocals (Background)

#Arrangement/orchestration/engineering
Daniele Luppi - Synthesizer Orchestration/Organ Arrangement
Barry Clarke - Arranger
David Costa - Arranger
Celia Humphris - Arranger
Mike Lazer - Mastering
Daniele Luppi - Arranger
Daniele Luppi - Orchestration
Stephen Brown - Arranger
Mark Exit Go - Engineer

Where to buy? Most music stores, be they online or down the street, will stock it for the approximate cost of £13.00...but if you want to be frugal check out the car boot sales in six months time.
 

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