Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple

The shocking

left-field success of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" stands as a testament to a hit

song's awesome power to worm its way deep into the world's consciousness and

overcome minor setbacks like a crippling industry-wide recession and the

seemingly imminent death of major-label hip-hop. With a single knockout,

world-conquering smash, Cee-Lo Green went from perennial commercial

underachiever to newly minted overachiever. Green was born a star, but it took "Crazy"'s

historic worldwide success to make it official for the bean-counters and

chart-watchers.

Now the

unlikely duo of Green and Danger Mouse are back with the kaleidoscopic,

casually continental The Odd Couple,

and while fans and radio programmers

looking for another instant smash like "Crazy" might be disappointed, the

disc's hit-to-miss ratio is actually higher than its predecessor's: These pop-art

pranksters deliver at least three infectious delights for every arty misfire.

Cee-Lo's rasp is immediately identifiable, but as on St. Elsewhere, he

sounds like a different band from a different bygone era is backing him on damn

near every track. The lead single, "Run," sounds like the theme song to a groovy

'60s spy comedy, while "Blind Mary" embraces the trippy, carnival-esque

psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper's-era

Beatles. Where Gnarls Barkley once felt like an inspired lark, giddy one-off,

or neat little experiment, it now feels unmistakably like a vital, enduring

partnership. The Odd Couple is

the exhilarating sound of the band geeks and theater weirdoes taking over the

school.