Music CD - Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere

	Music CD: St. Elsewhere Artist: Gnarls Barkley List Price: $18.98 Our Price: $5.99 Your Save: $ 12.99 ( 68% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Downtown
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Tracks: 1. Go-Go Gadeget Gospel 2. Crazy 3. St. Elsewhere 4. Gone Daddy Gone 5. Smiley Faces 6. The Boogie Monster 7. Feng Shui 8. Just a Thought 9. Transformer 10. Who Cares? 11. On-Line 12. Necromancing 13. Storm Coming 14. The Last Time
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0878037000320 Label: Downtown Manufacturer: Downtown Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Downtown Release Date: 2006-05-09 Studio: Downtown
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: A new take on an old idea Comment: 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. Customer Rating: Summary: Great Album 5 Stars Comment: 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 Customer Rating: Summary: I remember when I lost my mind! It was two years ago... Comment: 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. Customer Rating: Summary: One of the best CDs of the decade. Comment: No exaggeration. Music is absolutely great. Each and every cut is a different style. ....and the big surprise ? The lyrics - smart, funny and tends to bring you back - hear this CD again and again. Customer Rating: Summary: Worth every penny. Comment: 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. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: In 2006, Danger Mouse is King Midas of the music world. He has an uncanny knack for creating jagged, dense, frenzied beats and odd, eerie, vivid soundscapes that never compromise the music's natural flow. Meanwhile, rapper and singer Cee-Lo, a veteran of Atlanta's Dirty South scene, has never been one to be constrained by hip-hop conventions, and is a willing partner in adventure. The result is an intrepid psychedelic blend of pop, hip-hop, soul, and rock that consistently challenges and delights. It's no wonder that "Crazy," with its modest riff, irresistible hook, and disarming opening line ("I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind") became a worldwide Internet sensation a full six months before the official release of St. Elsewhere. But that relatively simple soul-pop gem is the tamest track on this wide-ranging, often dark and introspective collaboration. (In fact, the duo considers Gnarls Barkley to be a wholly new creation, as opposed to a collaboration of existing artists.) "Everybody is somebody, but nobody wants to be themselves," Cee-Lo croons on "Who Cares?" He and Danger Mouse try very hard not to be their old selves as they creatively and confidently break down boundaries, but the brilliant cores of their musical personae--Cee-Lo's eccentric spiritual soul man and Danger's bold sonic explorer--remain. --Marc Greilsamer