Prince Gnarls

With its trippy-electronic pop production and the infectious single “Crazy,” Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere was the album of the summer in 2006. The duo’s second outing The Odd Couple pairs Danger Mouse’s eclectic and deft production with Cee-Lo’s Southern drawl and scatterbrained lyricism that is only on par with St. Elsewhere, at best.

That is not to say there are not gems to be found on The Odd Couple. “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” is, at its core, a beautiful blues song. Layers of high hats and mellow strings complement Cee-Lo’s whining vocal performance. Only Cee-Lo can pull off the lyrics on “Would Be Killer”: “Did you know I could be / A would be killer / If suddenly I should be / I would be killer.”

The album’s first single “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)”, is a fast-tempo, high-energy dance song that is instantly enjoyable. The song features Cee-Lo singing “Run, children, run!” to keep pace with Danger Mouse’s production. A rowdy children’s chorus (think “Another Brick in the Wall” with rave kids) adds depth and dark undertones to the otherwise upbeat track.

Songs like “Whatever,” “No Time Soon” and “Neighbors” function as album filler and sound like rejected cuts from St. Elsewhere. Most songs are only about three minutes each — the whole 13-track album clocks in at less than 40 minutes — so one could argue these songs are necessary for cohesion. “A Little Better” is one of Cee-Lo’s better vocal performances, but with mediocre Danger Mouse production, the song falters. The concept of Gnarls Barkley requires both artists at their creative best to work.

Still, priced for only $9.99 on iTunes, The Odd Couple is only essential for Danger Mouse/Gnarls Barkley completists. For the rest of us, downloading four or five tracks is sufficient. It’s hard to get too upset about the album’s filler, since even the filler is better than 90 percent of the pop out there. Gnarls Barkley is one hell of a band to experience live; perhaps The Odd Couple’s greatest accomplishment will be longer live performances.