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OutKast 'Idlewild' (La Face)

It's been suggested that this soundtrack could be OutKast's "Purple Rain," to which the only sane response would be, "What, are you, crazy?! It's set in the '30s."

Fair enough. But while this album does undoubtedly include more nods to prohibition-era jazz than almost any other record you could read about in this month's Vibe, the most effective concession to kicking it older-school may be borrowing "Minnie the Moocher" from Cab Calloway for "Mighty O," a lead-off track that wastes no time establishing that, yes, in OutKast's world, they did have hip-hop in the '30s.

And people said, "You ain't a hater."

By the time they're through with "Mighty O," in fact, they've managed to squeeze in such post-prohibition concerns as the prenuptial agreement and the government doling out crack to the poor. It's inspired, insightful, hilarious, brilliantly rapped and infectious as heck, dispelling any fears that after packaging two solo discs together and calling it OutKast last time out, Big Boi and Andre 3000 wouldn't have the chemistry that made them matter in the first place.

Which is not to say you'll always find them on the same page here.

Or even on the same track.

But where "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was all about letting the duo drift apart on separate CDs, "Idlewild" brings them together again like the "White Album" did for the Beatles, cutting straight from Big Boi navigating rapid-fire twists and turns between the airplay-ready hooks of "Peaches" to Andre's far more period-compatible "Idlewild Blue (Don't Chu Worry 'Bout Me)," where his vocals are backed by acoustic guitar and blues harp.

In the end, though, there's just too much jazz -- and poorly integrated cartoon jazz at that -- for this to be their "Purple Rain." The hits will more than likely fall to Big Boi, whose "The Train" brings big Chicago horns and psychedelic window dressing to a track boasting pop hooks as eager to please as anything this side of "Hey Ya." But it's more exciting on those all too rare occasions where they force a compromise.

The world could use more tracks like "Mighty O" or "Morris Brown," where Andre milks his eccentricities for all they're worth in the producer's chair, working a marching band into the mix while Big Boi unleashes a typically slippery speed-rap and the always welcome Sleepy Brown provides a tasty psychedelic soul hook.

-- Ed Masley, for the Post-Gazette