Quick Spins
Quick Spins
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page C05
SURPRISE
Paul Simon
  Unfortunately, Paul Simon's "Surprise" is not a good one, even with producer Brian Eno's help. (By Robert Clark -- Warner Music) |
Call him Al, Rhymin' Simon, a rock, an island, whatever . Just don't call it a comeback. Paul Simon's latest disc, "Surprise," is a confused exercise, sorely lacking focus and melody. In other words, it's a dud, Bud.
The biggest "Surprise" here is the employ of Brian Eno, a brilliant producer who can make artists sound colossal and ethereal, all at once. (Eno's the guy who took David Bowie deeper into the sonic cosmos on "Low," helped the Talking Heads rip and blip on "Remain in Light," and encouraged U2 to rock in mysterious ways on "Achtung Baby.") The collaboration is an exciting and unexpected move from the 64-year-old Simon, but Eno's ambient input does little to finesse this rickety songbook.
Yes, Simon still knows how to create gorgeous harmonies with his voice and guitar, but he rations them to infrequent spurts and scatters them over a grab bag of too-frisky polyrhythms. His lyrics seemingly follow the music's tangential darts, making oblique references to 9/11 and Katrina without landing any meaningful punches.
Over the course of 11 songs, Simon and Eno flirt with magic just once: during "Everything About It Is a Love Song." The tune begins with Simon mulling over some lazy guitar lines before Eno suddenly launches our hero over a sea of electronic drums and reverse reverb. Simon holds on tight, and for a moment, the song soars with a sense of infinite possibility. But they pull the plug early, drop the drums, reprise those lazy guitars. The whole thing comes crashing back to earth.
-- Chris Richards
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Everything About It Is a Love Song."
ST. ELSEWHERE
Gnarls Barkley
With anticipation of "St. Elsewhere" reaching pandemic proportions, those not inoculated against Gnarls Barkley fever might succumb to the superlatives pouring forth from the U.K. (where the single "Crazy" hit No. 1) and MP3 blogs stateside. Hack through the hype and the good news appears to be that neither audio architect Danger Mouse nor rapper-singer Cee-Lo Green held back in their desire to create a pop vehicle with a psychedelic paint job and 20-inch rims.
Danger Mouse -- known for his work with Gorillaz and as executor of the Beatles/Jay-Z "Grey Album" -- plunders the past half century for musical cues, fleshing out a new identity that combines George Clinton, Sly Stone ("The Boogie Monster"), the Violent Femmes (a cover of "Gone Daddy Gone") and late season OutKast ("Go-Go Gadget Gospel," "Feng Shui"). "St. Elsewhere" mashes the pedal on songs like "Just a Thought," on which Danger Mouse stitches together breakbeats, Spanish guitar and percussive flourishes with surgical precision. Cee-Lo continues down a path he started with 2002's "Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections," using his voice as a beacon on "Crazy" and "The Last Time."
Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo cruise the boulevards of their minds -- past electric avenues and blinking dance floors -- destination unknown, free to be themselves. The enthusiasm is contagious, increasing the likelihood that music fans who don't normally like rap or R&B might gravitate to it for what it isn't -- i.e., it's not gangsta, it isn't sexist, it isn't scary. Embrace Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere" for what it is -- eccentric, flamboyant and individual, much like the other famous Barkley, Charles, himself.
-- Todd Inoue
DOWNLOAD THESE: "Crazy" and "Feng Shui."
