The shock of the guy from Goodie Mob and the guy who booted Dan the Automator out of Gorillaz teaming up to create a bunch of oddball soul throwbacks and naming themselves after a basketball player has worn off. The problem is, the ‘what the hell?’ factor arguably played as big of a role as Gnarls Barkley’s actual songs in rocketing their debut, St. Elsewhere, onto Top 40 radio, which leaves the group in an awkward position on their followup, The Odd Couple.

In a lot of ways, it might have been best if Gnarls Barkley was the inspired, zany one-off everyone assumed they’d be when “Crazy” started making its rounds, as the duo’s sound suffers from some seriously diminishing returns. It might have helped if they tried to distinguish The Odd Couple from St. Elsewhere, but they’ve essentially copy-and-pasted one album onto another. Danger Mouse’s sparser-than-it-should-be production returns, still reaching into the Motown and Stax idea bag for its main ingredients while sprinkling in the odd hip hop or ’60s psych sample to spice things up. Cee-Lo again spends the majority of the album alternating between self-deprecation and insane ramblings in a playful wail while completely ignoring his rapping skills.

The formula does produce some great songs here and there — the brooding “Who’s Going to Save My Soul” and the Mamas and the Papas-tinged “Surprise” — but Gnarls Barkley’s original novelty has worn its way to familiarity. Though not a debilitating flaw, it does make The Odd Couple a shoulder-shrugging affair.