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The duo’s modern take on a classic sound runs throughout the new record, a worthy 13-song sophomore effort.
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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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The Odd Couple is the exhilarating sound of the band geeks and theater weirdoes taking over the school.
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If this is soul, it's soul for 21st-century sociopaths. [Apr 2008, p.77]
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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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The Odd couple is a complusively listenable, if somber, effort. [28 Mar 2008, p.65]
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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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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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Odd Couple is every bit as musically inventive as "Elsewhere."
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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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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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The Odd Couple rewards repeated listens, revealing intriguing new sounds each time, from heavenly organs to cartoon noises.
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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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There's no doubt The Odd Couple is hard work, but it pays off.
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The result is a milestone in modern psychedelic soul.
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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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Zany jinks anew from Hip-hop’s Awkward Squad.
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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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Under The RadarThe Odd Couple is a bit top-heavy, but the bottom holds up a lot better than "St. Elsewhere." [Spring 2008, p.76]
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VibeThe finished product has glorious results. [May 2008, p.69]
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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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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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MojoWith producer Danger Mouse's nuanced psychedelic rock and soul backdrops, scintillating pop music with substance results. [May 2008, p.103]
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This Odd Couple is from the future, even if Gnarls Barkley's second LP comes littered with shades of the past.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 37
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Mixed: 4 out of 37
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Negative: 1 out of 37
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RafalR.Apr 18, 2008Who's Gonna save my soul now?
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TimF.Apr 13, 2008A focused record that plays better with each listen. This has many growers, and one of their strongest tracks "Who's gonna save my soul."
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DanApr 6, 2008