The Odd Couple (album)

The Odd Couple
Studio album by Gnarls Barkley
Released March 18, 2008 (2008-03-18)
Recorded 2007–2008
Genre Alternative Rock, Soul
Length 39:11
Label Atlantic-Downtown
Producer Danger Mouse
Gnarls Barkley chronology
St. Elsewhere
(2006)		 The Odd Couple
(2008)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Billboard (positive)[2]
The Guardian [3]
NME (8/10)[4]
The Observer [5]
Pitchfork Media (7.2/10)[6]
PopMatters (9/10)[7]
RapReviews (9/10)[8]
Rolling Stone [9]
Uncut [10]
DJBooth.net [11]

The Odd Couple is the second studio album by Gnarls Barkley, released digitally on March 18 and in stores March 25, 2008. Due to an early leak of the album over the Internet in early March 2008, the duo decided to push up the release from April 8. The album was released to the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3 on March 18.

Contents

Background

In late January, an assumed leaked track appeared on several music blogs. "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)", the previously unknown song, was given positive reviews from most music outlets.[12] "Run" was released as the album's first single as a digital download in the U.S. on February 5, 2008. Despite "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" being the lead single at the time, "Going On" was the highest charting album track on iTunes having made it as high as #23 on the Top 100 chart as of March 25, subsequently debuting at #88 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was then released as the second single from the album, and the song's video premiered on March 20, 2008. In March 2008, the album's third single, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" was premiered by hip hop band The Roots' drummer Questlove through a video uploaded to YouTube.[13] An early leak of the album over the Internet in early March, 2008, prompted the duo to push the release of the album from April 8. Digital versions of the sophomore effort were released to the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3 on March 18.[14] Physical copies of the album were slated for March 25, however some copies hit independent record stores on March 18. An instrumental reverse edition of the album, retitled elpuoc ddo eht, was released on April 17, 2008. The entire album is fused into one 38:44 second track played completely in reverse, starting with the album's last song and ending with the album's first. This unorthodox edition was released officially by Danger Mouse and is legally available as a second disc on the vinyl edition of the album.

Track listing

  1. "Charity Case" – 3:12
  2. "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" – 3:15
  3. "Going On" – 2:54
  4. "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" – 2:44
  5. "Would Be Killer" – 2:22
  6. "Open Book" – 3:20
  7. "Whatever" – 2:18
  8. "Surprise" – 3:50
  9. "No Time Soon" – 2:55
  10. "She Knows" – 2:44
  11. "Blind Mary" – 3:25
  12. "Neighbors" – 3:05
  13. "A Little Better" – 3:07

Samples

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Billboard review
  3. ^ The Guardian review
  4. ^ NME review
  5. ^ The Observer review
  6. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  7. ^ PopMatters review
  8. ^ RapReviews review
  9. ^ Rolling Stone review
  10. ^ Uncut review
  11. ^ DJBooth.net review
  12. ^ "Gnarls Barkley Are The Odd Couple on New LP". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/48337-gnarls-barkley-are-ithe-odd-couplei-on-new-lp. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  13. ^ Pitchfork Forkcast: Video: Gnarls Barkley: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
  14. ^ Entertainment Weekly, "Life After Crazy" http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20186641,00.html
Gnarls Barkley
Studio albums
St. Elsewhere • The Odd Couple
Singles
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