Please, for the love of God, do not confuse OutKast's Idlewild with Scotland's predominantly dreary indie stalwarts of the same name. Thankfully, appellation is the only thread connecting this musical dyad: in OutKast's case, Idlewild is the fictional town in which their new movie of the same name - and which this album soundtracks - is set. It's also the successor to the five-million-selling double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below, the duo's augmented magnum opus that was rumoured to be their swan song, but which propelled them into music's mainstream faculty. That success could have been put down to two words (Hey Ya!); but the truth was, even though it was an overly-long concept, with Speakerboxx/TLB, OutKast demonstrated their capacity for true, genuine musical innovation. Unfortunately, Idlewild - though recorded similarly, i.e. mostly separately - fails to radiate any of the same dynamism. For starters, it's far too long; 25 tracks stretched over 78 minutes is a trying ordeal regardless of genre or artist. There are no instantly gratifying singles in the vein of Hey Ya! or Ms. Jackson (from 2000's Stankonia), either; and, though the movie is set in the 1930s Prohibition-era, there's little that aligns it musically to that period. On the upside, Idlewild's guest stars (Sleepy Brown, Macy Gray, Snoop Dogg amongst others) are welcome additions to the fray; the tracks on which Big Boi and Andre actually collaborate (4 of the 25) are riveting, particularly the call-and-response ghetto hook of The Mighty O or the effortlessly cool Hollywood Divorce; and the lyrical flow, musical mutations (incorporations of jazz, funk, blues and ragtime dominate) and overall accessibility can't be faulted. Still, in between the gems (N2U, Morris Brown, The Train) there's undoubtedly more filler then thriller here. While it remains undetermined if OutKast were endeavouring to better themselves or each other (amidst rumours of increasing discordance), it's ultimately to their detriment; one can only hope that the movie atones for this disappointingly sloppy affair.
