For my birthday, Lindsay took me to the Gnarls Barkley hit at Webster Hall last night. It was a fun show, and Cee-Lo gave it his all, clearly enjoying hamming it up dressed as the frontman for "Brushfire" (a fictional '80s hair band that inspired the band's costume and stage show -- the conceit was: "Gnarls Barkley could not be here tonight, but playing their songs, please welcome Brushfire!"). But the Danger Mouse-led 13-picece band was a bit underwhelming -- while they definitely had their moments, they were often weirdly stiff and never really settled in the pocket. The highlight was definitely the radically stripped-down half-time feel on "Transform," which took all of the hyperkinetic energy from the album version and pushed it below the surface, making the song seem like it's always just on the verge of bursting. But that was the only real departure from the treatments on St. Elsewhere, which they played in its entirety except for "Online" and "Feng Shui." Kudos to the band's string players, though -- they really ripped it up on "Go Go Gadget Gospel" (subbing for the insistent brass on the record) and while they were a bit underused -- if "Necromancer" and "Boogie Man" don't give you license to indulge in creepy Bartokian string effects, I don't what does -- they were still were a welcome addition to the sound. Such as it was, that is -- I have to concur with the Webster Hall-haters, the sound in that venue is terrible -- all thin and tinny, as the house PA was being fed by an AM receiver.
Other write-ups here, here, and here.
UPDATE: Kelefa Sanneh's NYT review is worth a look. Personally, I'm all in favor of "wacky" over "witty," but I agree that "Who Cares?" is one of the best tracks on the record. In fact, that whole dark-edged neo-soul closing third, from "Who Cares?" through "Online," "Necromancer," "Storm Coming," and "The Last Time" is by far the strongest sequence on the album.
I bought the album and have listened to it a bit now. I like it, but I'm disappointed that in a 37-minute album, they found room for "Feng Shui"...
Posted by: mwanji | 22 June 2006 at 03:33 AM