I believe that the pairing of Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse was a match made in pop heaven and my favorite work Danger Mouse has done. I might be wrong about the latter part of that statement because DM has done so much amazing work in his career. Something about his musicality mixed with Cee-Lo’s smooth vocal style drew me into their 2006 album, St. Elsewhere. The extremely famous first single, Crazy,  off St. Elsewhere change so much with how we acquired music. I don’t know if it still holds the record but for the longest time, Crazy was the most legally downloaded song. It boosted iTunes users and overall sales and has been on too many top songs lists to count, yet it never reached number 1 on any US chart.

I believe Crazy will live on as one of those songs epitomizing the first decade of the 21st century. And once again to further their musical talent, Gnarls Barkley have morphed Crazy into a song that has more than one sound. The first song in today’s post is a live stripped down version of the song that Gnarls performed for a website called From The Basement (video below). I love the vocals on this version so much and the purity and truth in Cee-Lo’s voice.

For the second song today, I so wanted to post something from their 2008 album, The Odd Couple, but I just couldn’t. The album just didn’t live up to St. Elsewhere in my opinion. And for as much as I love some songs on it, none can top the joy that Smiley Faces gives me. It’s so upbeat musically, and the lyrics paint just enough of a picture for you to fill the rest in with your life.

I want to be you – whenever I see you smilin’
Cause it’s easily one of the hardest things to do
Your worries and fears become your friends
And they end up smilin’ at you
Put on a smilin’ face

Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (Live Stripped Down Mix) [YSI]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces [YSI]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (Live From The Basement)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Live, two for tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.