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What do you get when you cross copious amounts of Stevie Wonder
vibe with Violent Femmes lyrical quirkiness and Danger
Mouse production? You get Gnarls Barkley. And that
ain't bad at all, folks. The fine folks over at the GB camp decided
to re-release their breakthrough masterpiece St. Elsewhere
in a cool deluxe format that includes more music, videos and cool
graphics.
Starting on the front cover you get cool sideways moving graphics
of the blowing up civilization graphics with which Gnarls Barkley
have become synonymous. That's pretty cool in itself, but also
included is a cool flip-book with some brilliant ink-blots turned
to Hendrix turned to Danger Mouse type stuff and complete
liner notes for the record. Also, pretty cool. But then you get
the original St. Elsewhere record, complete with the viciously
cool remake of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone"
and the ultra-groovy soulfulness of "Crazy". Your ears
are treated to the unique hip hop vibes of the spacey "Smiley
Faces" and the cheerily creepy "Boogie Monster".
The indirect homage to Stevie continues on the trippy "Just
A Thought" and the quick urban rhythms of "Transformer".
The Motown-for-the-next-century sound of "Storm Coming"
is incredibly smooth, while "Last Time" closes the record
with a swirling keyboard vibe that would make even the most hip-hop
unfriendly folks out there groove to the sweet tracks laid down
by Danger Mouse. This, too, is pretty fucking cool.
But to top all this off, you also get a sweet little second disc
that includes the videos for "Crazy", "Gone Daddy
Gone", and a couple more. The only thing that makes the music
of Gnarls Barkley more enjoyable is watching the oftentimes strangely
comical visuals that accompany the brilliance of the music. The
video for "Gone Daddy Gone" is weirdly erotic, in a
bug spray kind of way, and well worth the package in itself…
you know, if you haven't gotten your fill on YouTube already.
But, to top off the extra disc, you also get a couple of live
audio performances from Top Of The Pops and Later With
Jools Holland. I kind of doubted this music could ever really
be presented live, but after seeing these taped performances,
I'm thinking I'll be trekking out to catch Gnarls next time they
come to town.
All of this is very cool. Trust me. Remember, kids… you
not only get a great record, but enhanced visual packaging and
a cool DVD of extras that is truly the shiz-nizzle. Get on out
and enhance your Gnarls Barkley experience with this cool deluxe
edition. Get it now.
-L. Keane
Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. Go-Go Gadget Gospel
2. Crazy
3. St. Elsewhere
4. Gone Daddy Gone/I Just Want to Make Love to You
5. Smiley Faces
6. Boogie Monster
7. Feng Shui
8. Just a Thought
9. Transformer
10. Who Cares?
11. Online
12. Necromancer
13. Storm Coming
14. Last Time
Disc: 2 (DVD)
1. Crazy
2. Gone Daddy Gone/I Just Want to Make Love to You
3. Smiley Faces
4. Go-Go Gadget Gospel
5. Crazy (Top Of The Pops Version)
6. Gone Daddy Gone (Later With Jools Holland Version)
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