Gnarls
Barkley
I have
a friend named Trevor who hasn’t heard ‘Crazy’.
Most people express surprise at this fact until I explain to them
that Trevor has spent the last year locked in my shed with only
my tatty old Tinky-Winky doll for company.
‘Crazy’
was of course the uber-single by funk-hop, pseudo group Gnarls
Barkley that gave the charts a well deserved shake up earlier
this year. It has been all too easy of late to dismiss the chart
as a stagnant, repetitive source of disposable music soullessly
pumped into our airspace by mercenary record companies.
For example:
what was the last song to spend as long at #1 as ‘Crazy’?
A: 'Love is all around' by Shit Shit Shit (sorry, I mean Wet Wet
Wet.)
Yes, that
was 12 years ago. And ‘Crazy’ got there and stayed
there because (pay attention Mssrs. Cowell, Waterman, etc…)
it was REALLY GOOD, not because it was off the
back of the biggest British film ever.
Well,
anyway, their album (St. Elsewhere) arrived in April
and did likewise, going straight in at #1, even though it had
already been available for a week as a download.
So, success in the singles charts, together with success in the
album charts (how often does that happen?)…. Surely by the
law of averages, Gnarls Barkley’s live show has to be rubbish?
Well, they’ve done it again…..
Talk
about showmanship. Rapper/singer/front-man Cee-lo knows how to
handle an audience like he’s been doing it for years - probably
because he has. He was a founder member of Goodie Mob, from the
same Atlanta music scene that spawned OutKast. His brand of psychedelic
up tempo, hip hop is too rarely seen on these shores, where the
only U.S. rap imports that get much attention are the quasi-macho
posturings of the likes of Fifty Pence and Piddly-Diddly.
Cee-lo bears passing resemblance to techno DJ Carl Cox, and has
the same infectious energy about him that makes him seem like
he’s having more fun than anybody was ever meant to have
legally.
Gnarls Barkley have a fantastic sense of humour which shows not
only in their music, but also in their performances. Anyone who
has caught their live show, or seen any of their T.V. spots will
know that these guys have a huge dress-up box. They’ve been
seen as everything from Star Wars characters to airline pilots/cabin
crew to Clockwork Orange droogs. Tonight it was the turn of school
uniforms, and with Hammersmith Palais - the home of the legendary
School Disco night - just down the road, I had to wonder whether
this was a nod to the clubbers in the audience.
In keeping
with the school theme, the band starts with a cover of ‘Another
Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd, during which the stars
of the show, namely Cee-lo and producer Dangermouse arrive on
stage to riotous applause. This band is massive, in terms of both
popularity and physical size; there are 13 musicians on stage
the whole time. It would have been easy to put Dangermouse behind
a set of decks and perform with a rap crew, but G.B have taken
a gamble in putting together a ‘real’ band for what
is essentially a hip hop gig, and it has paid off, the music sounds
organic and flows between the different members with several focal
points - the vocalists, the rhythm section, the guitars, and a
string quartet, with Dangermouse sitting above it all, presiding
over the gig like a mad scientist.
The show begins
in earnest when the band strikes up ‘Go Go Gadget Gospel’,
the opening track from St Elsewhere. So what does a band with
only one album do to keep the sound fresh? Straight away it is
obvious that this will not be a run through of album tracks identical
to the originals. The sound is rougher and edgier. The tempo is
slightly faster which lends the songs an urgency different from
the recorded versions.
In quick succession
the G.B hit us with a barrage of tunes including ‘Just A
Thought’, ‘St. Elsewhere’, ‘Gone Daddy
Gone’, ‘Who Cares’ and ‘Feng Shui’.
There was absolutely no filler material at all, but I have to
single out the drumming/dynamics of ‘Just a Thought’
as being the loudest behemoth of a rhythm track played on a drum
kit since the days of Led Zeppelin.
So it rolls
around to what everyone has been waiting for - that song. The
four unmistakable beats which kick off ‘Crazy’ cause
the place to erupt, and for four minutes we are treated to a triumphant
rendition of the best slice of acid fried ghetto soul this millennium
(yes, it’s better than ‘Hey Ya’). Cee-lo straddles
the roles of rapper and singer so well that it seems like there
was no difference in the styles to begin with.
The band leaves
the stage. The encore is so inevitable as to seem planned, ‘cos
they come back on with ‘Smiley Faces’, the follow
up single to ‘Crazy’ which is just as funky, deep
and feel-good, but in a whole different way, a real summer hit
in the making. The band finishes up for real this time, and although
the gig is over, there is a feeling that Gnarls Barkley are only
just getting started.
Can Gnarls
follow up the success of their first record? Will Gnarls be a
one hit wonder or will they just get bigger and bigger? Who knows?
Is ‘Smiley Faces’ as good as ‘Crazy’?
I think so. Will Trevor ever hear it? Nope.
by Mark McLean
