All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times

Odd Couple is every bit as musically inventive as "Elsewhere."

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RapReviews.com

The Odd Couple [is] thirteen songs chock full of honest, unabashed, experimental self-expression that isn't afraid to take chances.

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PopMatters

The Odd Couple is an emotionally and musically provocative album. Despite its weighty subject matter, it’s also one hell of a fun listen.

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Dot Music

Across forty minutes, this is epic yet compact, a film noir in garish technicolour, an album made up of potential singles.

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Lost At Sea

While the production values on the album are stronger, so is The Odd Couple's focus on Cee-Lo's voice.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

The Odd Couple is the exhilarating sound of the band geeks and theater weirdoes taking over the school.

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Entertainment Weekly

The Odd couple is a complusively listenable, if somber, effort. [28 Mar 2008, p.65]

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Billboard

It seems that the more comfortable the principals get with Gnarls Barkley, the more haunted Gnarls Barkley gets. And it gets stronger, too.

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Hartford Courant

The duo’s modern take on a classic sound runs throughout the new record, a worthy 13-song sophomore effort.

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Boston Globe

Sometimes the pair slips into an uncomplicated groove, and the results transcend the duo's deep, signature whimsy to lift Gnarls Barkley into the realm of classic.

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Blender

If this is soul, it's soul for 21st-century sociopaths. [Apr 2008, p.77]

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Paste Magazine

The Odd Couple rewards repeated listens, revealing intriguing new sounds each time, from heavenly organs to cartoon noises.

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Vibe

The finished product has glorious results. [May 2008, p.69]

Observer Music Monthly

And yet, as is often the case with music crafted solely in the key of strife, the result is bizarrely life-enhancing, chiefly thanks to the head-spinning fashion in which Gnarls condense 40 years of rock'n'roll into one seamless psychedelic whole.

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Mojo

With producer Danger Mouse's nuanced psychedelic rock and soul backdrops, scintillating pop music with substance results. [May 2008, p.103]

The Guardian

There's no doubt The Odd Couple is hard work, but it pays off.

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Uncut

The result is a milestone in modern psychedelic soul.

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New Musical Express

The Odd Couple contains few hints about where the pair will go next. For now, let’s revel in the fact that soul music hasn’t sounded this fresh and downright freaky for a quarter of a century.

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Hot Press

Zany jinks anew from Hip-hop’s Awkward Squad.

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Pitchfork

This album might be more focused than its predecessor, but what it's focused on is a the kind of murky, paranoid weight and depth that doesn't much make for chart-climbing singles.

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Urb

With The Odd Couple, Gnarls Barkley is unable to come up with anything containing as much pure pop power as their hit song "Crazy," but it's certainly not for lack of trying.

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All Music Guide

At times, The Odd Couple is a more beautiful record than its predecessor. But all too often Cee-Lo relies on the same sort of lyrical cipher as on St. Elsewhere, although none of them are as effective.

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Under The Radar

The Odd Couple is a bit top-heavy, but the bottom holds up a lot better than "St. Elsewhere." [Spring 2008, p.76]

Austin Chronicle

This Odd Couple is from the future, even if Gnarls Barkley's second LP comes littered with shades of the past.

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Q Magazine

Yet for all the sharp hooks and rhythmic twists, the album sags in the middle. [Apr 2008, p.127]

Drowned In Sound

Solid and safe fun perhaps.

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Sputnikmusic

On the whole, The Odd Couple has a much more unified atmosphere, but in quality the album is sporadic and unpredictable.

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The New York Times

Strangely, given the unified palette and temperament, the album feels disjointed: one track doesn’t pull you to the next.

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Dusted Magazine

On The Odd Couple, Gnarls Barkley gets halfway to the heights of St. Elsewhere and seems content to stay there.

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musicOMH.com

For fans of "St Elsewhere" and general mash-ups of styles, The Odd Couple will contain a few splendid tracks, a few decent offerings, and a few duds.

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Spin

The Odd Couple is basically a more refined "St. Elsewhere," without the rap aberrations or goofy covers that made the debut such a wild, bumpy ride. [Apr 2008, p.91]

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cokemachineglow

The Odd Couple from its superior predecessor (just: the writing is a bit weaker, the arrangements sleepier, the production effects a bit thicker) and so its most glaring flaw is that it simply lacks St. Elsewhere‘s invigorated tone, following the same blueprint with cheaper components, producing off-putting retreads whose only appeal lies in their similarity to more effective tracks on Gnarls’s former effort

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Slant Magazine

Needless to say, though, Odd Couple doesn't conjure the same immediate wow-factor as "St. Elsewhere."

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Village Voice

A hastily crafted follow-up, a subpar sequel, much more "Rocky V" than "The Godfather: Part II."

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NOW Magazine

Boring grooves that last a couple of minutes before ending abruptly just don’t cut it. What a letdown.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rafal R. gave it a9:
Who's Gonna save my soul now?

Tim F. gave it a9:
A focused record that plays better with each listen. This has many growers, and one of their strongest tracks "Who's gonna save my soul."

Dan gave it a9:
Who's gonna save my soul now? The lack of "chart-climbing singles" makes me love this album even more. Anyone expecting some sort of "crazy" pop miracle out of this album completely misunderstood these guys in the first place. And yet, there will definitely be chart-climbing singles. These guys own their sound, and they make it work. Great album.

Sean C. gave it an8:
Great blended album. I loved the incorporation of different sounds in music and Cee-lo voice makes a majority of the tracks really eerie and awesome.

Louis P. gave it an8:
If you are searching for the next great single, look elsewhere. If you are looking for an often brilliant and solid follow-up album, this is the one. Just like the first, there are a couple misses, but on the whole it's superior to the first. This is more and more obvious with repeat plays.

Chris W. gave it a1:
The guy can't sing. The music is nothing more than sampled experimental computer BS.

Jay G. gave it a7:
Great album it's worth buying!

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The Odd Couple

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