Collegiate Times

When Gnarls Barkley burst onto the scene back in 2006, I'll admit that I was impressed.

Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo's first collaboration, "St. Elsewhere," went platinum behind the deceptively dark mega-hit "Crazy," not to mention strong tracks such as "Smiley Faces" and "Gone Daddy Gone" (a Violent Femmes cover). Now they're back, and on the aptly titled "The Odd Couple," they want us all to know how doleful they've been feeling.

Three things you'll love:

Cee-Lo: Cee-Lo Green continues to have one of the most unique voices in music today, and he is in fine form on this release. Cee-Lo's soulful pipes get their best showcase on "Who's Gonna Save My Soul," a down-tempo track where he wails about drugs and death. It's the kind of song that is right up Cee-Lo's alley, and he makes it his own.

Danger Mouse: This guy can flat-out produce. Whether it's the "St. Elsewhere" or the better tracks on this release, Danger Mouse never fails to create some truly exciting backing tracks to go along with Cee-Lo's machinations on the microphone. Listening to the fast-paced "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" will make you feel like you're in the middle of some kind of electric hurricane of sound, which is most certainly a good thing.

The '60s influence: Want to know the secret that got Outkast's "Hey Ya!" to the top of the charts and put Gnarls Barkley on the map? Easy. All you have to do is take elements from early '60s pop music (background harmonies, tambourines, etc) and mash them up against hip-hop beats and you've got yourself a song that is automatically more refreshing and creative than anything Soulja Boy will put out in his lifetime. Danger Mouse hits a home run with the very '60s "Surprise," which may not be the best track on the album, but is certainly the freshest.

Three things you might not:

Danger Mouse: OK. The guy can produce, this much is true. He is, however, quite full of himself, which is not surprising, considering the gall somebody must have to take samples from The Beatles. While there are some legitimately good songs on "The Odd Couple," there are more that end up being bona-fide suck-fests, thanks in part to Danger Mouse overestimating just how good he really is. I don't care who you have producing, the monstrosity that is "Open Book" will never be anything close to a good song.

The '60s influence: OK, I know. I'm two-for-two on contradictions so far. Hear me out on this one, though. Sure, the '60s influence on some of these songs works really well, but on others it seems as though it was thrown in rather haphazardly (see "Open Book," which as of now is up there for worst song of the year). A backing vocal ripped from The Mamas and The Papas does not a good song make, something that somebody should let Danger Mouse know before his next release.

Gnarls Barkley is Bummed Out:

"The Odd Couple" is chock full of morose subject matter, from drugs and would-be killers to plain old teenage angst. The whole album sounds like one long psychiatrist session, and frankly, it wears a little thin at some points. Songs like "Whatever" and "Neighbors" are too whiny to be cool, and serve only to bring down the record.

All in all, "The Odd Couple" is a pretty disappointing release for a group that seemed to have an extremely high creative ceiling when they burst onto the scene. That is not to say however, that some of the more lackluster songs on the disc could not be saved by Gnarls Barkley's live show, which, with the help of a string quartet, turned some of the lamer tracks from "St. Elsewhere," such as "Transformer," into legitimately awesome tunes. Don't buy the record, do see them live, and for God's sake, tell everybody to stop covering "Crazy."

Key Tracks: Who's Gonna Save My Soul, Would Be Killer, A Little Better

Overall Grade: C+