Customer Reviews
Worth every penny. 
2008-01-21
For the price of the CD, it's definitely worth buying the full length (as opposed to the single for 'Crazy') because it's packed with great songs. The music is funky and - compared to what's on the radio today - definitely unique and catchy. It doesn't really fall into the hip-hop/rap genre that my iTunes automatically dubbed it.
Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere 
2007-12-26
A fresh take on 70's funk...with the added suprise of both gospel and rap tracks included on one CD!
Gnarls Barkley 2007-09-17
I bought this CD as I love the song "Crazy"...but the entire CD is great. I am very satisfied with this purchase!
Dark R&B 2007-08-22
This is one of the most interesting R&B albums I've listened to in a long time. It's not your typical "freak you" jams but instead, it's a lot darker and deeper than that. Some people might be turned off by that but I consider it a very positive quality. Great album.
Gnarls Barkley - Muesli for Your Ears 2007-08-17
This album is like muesli, it's nutty, full of flavor, sweet and yet hard and crunchy in some parts. It's an acquired taste, some of the samplings, mixing and sound effects might jar some senses but it's better than a lot of the mind-numbing Top 40 dreck that pollutes the airwaves.
"Last Time", is one of my favorite songs, filled with wonderful disco music, and Cee-Lo's terrific gospel-influenced vocals (Hmmm, I wonder if Björk's,"Oceania" was sampled onto this song?). "Transformer", speedy anime music (reminds me of the theme of "Ultraman", an old Japanese live animation show) is bouncy, funny and goes well with Cee-Lo's rapid-fire rap and vocal gymnastics. "On-line", terrific mixing, with chorus, and sexy sounds. "Smiley Faces", Beatles samples meets 70s R & B and gospel, beautiful! "St. Elsewhere" and "Who Cares?" are moody, introspective, and surprising in the complex lyrics and kaleidoscopic music. Loved "Storm Coming", was VERY impressed that Cee-Lo can RAWK hard. Only complaint: "Boogie Monster" and "Necromancing" make the strident feminist in me, huff and squirm.
I guess this album is a lot like life, edgy, crazy, funny, frightening and keeps you guessing. I like it a lot.
Life is Flawless in Elsewhere 2008-06-11
Danger Mouse is one of the most inventive producers I've ever heard. Cee-Lo shares a lot of that creativity in his vocals. This mash-up was one of the biggest successes in the music industry. A new genre was generated out of the storm of Gnarls Barkley. I am a strong supporter of this new age, and these two guys are leading the movement. We are at a time when people are dying for something new. Gnarls Barkley is the most original music in this age. Theres nothing quite like them.
So anyway I would go through the tracks, but I don't have a problem with anyone of them. The most important track on the cd is "Crazy". This opened the door to the new realm of music, and the whole world responded and loved it. The song won a Grammy and stayed number one on the UK's charts for 9 weeks. This song was a major success because of its originality and catchiness.
Other than that, some songs surpass that single for me. "St. Elsewhere" is most likely the best title track I've ever heard. "Gone Daddy Gone" and "Smiley Faces" are great upbeat songs that give the album balance. I absolutely love "The Boogie Monster" and "Feung Shui"! Who else has made songs like these? No one else! That is why it is St. Elsewhere.
Anyway the remander of the album is just as magical as the beggining. "Just a Thought", "Transformer", "Who Cares", and "On-Line" are all 5/5's. "Necromancing" falls a hair short for me, but every song cannot be perfect. The album's ending tracks "Storm Coming" and "The Last Time" leave the audience with anticipation for the sequel. The whole album really serves as one great song. I have the best memory of the album because it brings me back to a cold winter. I hope it creates special memories for all of you who've never listened before.
A word on the sequel. "The Odd Couple" does not quite live up to the expectation but it is still Grrrrreat material. So don't miss out.
"Dissappointing" 
2008-05-20
Very dissappointing. Could only find 2-3 decent tracks on this CD. Just not worth the cost. Wish I hadn't bought it.
A new take on an old idea 2008-04-29
This has the flavor of classic funk (specifically the later years of Motown) but with a new twist. It invoked in me the same sensation as when Jamiroquai first came out. There's something wonderfully and comfortingly familiar while having plenty of newness so it doesn't come across as too-safe retro tripe.
Great Album 5 Stars 2008-04-15
If you are feeling this ALBUM then check out Smoke Sessions, Vol. 1 - Devin the Dude it is off tha Chayne his whole album is bangin - Southern Rap 4 EVA
I remember when I lost my mind! It was two years ago... 2008-03-26
I remember when I lost my mind! It was back in 2006. It wasn't when I first listened to this album--because on first listen, I only liked it. But that was only because I wasn't quite ready for it. Before long, it drove me nuts. I was bonkers, I went ga-ga, I lost myself in irrational exuberance.
It's a hoary cliché to say something was "the soundtrack to my summer," but this cliché rings true for this album, for my 2006 was very manic-depressive. I lost a good job and a bad one, then found one that was both. I was desperately poor but often incredibly happy; I spent many unemployed afternoons at the neighborhood coffeeshop hammering away at what I hoped would be the Great American Screenplay, and I gave serious thought to moving to Los Angeles with a U-Haul and my ego to try and sell it. I was in love with the cute 19-year-old barista, and I'd take smoke breaks with her and hang out with mutual friends at night, and we'd put on "St. Elsewhere" back-to-back, and I'd sip sober sodas while my friends got drunk and did crazy things. And usually I had no desire to live that life again, but every once in a while, that level of insanity looked fun.
Vaguely I knew my own decisions and attitudes were none too wise. But fortunately there was an album that felt as crazy as I did.
"Crazy" of course, ended up being this album's anthem. And it is a true classic, a song for the ages, and it has earned its rightful place on the eternal-DJ-wedding-playlist, somewhere after "Baby's Got Back" and "Billie Jean." So I'll probably be dancing to it in my eighties, shaking my moneymaker and saying "I remember when I lost my mind" until I do, literally, lose my mind. But I must admit, "Crazy" almost drove me mad, because it distracted people from an album that is every bit as solid as its most famous song.
Most great albums get that way by having a reasonably consistent feel. This one lacks one; it careens across the sonic landscape like a dune-buggy being driven by an over-caffeinated ferret. There are glorious Gospel-tinged melodies, heavenly and happy and reasonably wholesome, and there are also dark and sinister songs like "Monster" and "Online." And then there's "Necromancer." I'm tempted to say it's as outrageous a black comedy as anything since Guns n' Roses' "I Used to Love Her (But I had to Kill Her)"--but that would be unfair, because this is a much better song. In it, Cee-Lo raps about (and to) a beautiful corpse-bride. "Did you hear what I said? With this ring I thee wed," he says, then comments: "She was cool when I met her, but I think I like her better dead."
There are times when the wordplay isn't quite as brilliant, but a lot of the less crafty lyrics are at least (for most of us!) easier to relate to. And best of all, Danger Mouse's beats are consistently compelling. "It's clearly the theory of less is more," Cee-Lo says on "Feng Shui," but here more is more; the album's so sonically schizophrenic that you can--and you will--listen to it back-to-back without feeling like it's boring you. And that's quite a feat. With a lot of other artists, even excellent ones, I will lose interest somewhere around the fifty-minute mark, look around for something different, and come back to their work whenever I get around to it. But back in 2006, it seemed like every third or fourth time I'd put something on, it was "St. Elsewhere."
Anyway, now it is 2008, and rather than being a relatively irresponsible late-twentysomething, I'm a relatively responsible thirtysomething. The coffeeshop has become a Mediterranean eatery, the barista is gone from my life--but not my cell phone--and I've gone through any number of other crazy infatuations since then. California remains the golden dream while I while away the days in snowy Chicago, waiting tables and writing the Great American Novel and waiting for the day I can sell it. And Gnarls Barkley have a new album, and I don't think it's destined for immortality, but at least I can still seek intercession from "St. Elsewhere." It blew me away in 2006, and I can still listen to it twice without giving the matter a second thought, and I have the feeling it'll be just as good in 2016, or 2056.
