Cee Lo Green

The Lady Killer (Elektra)

By Anthonia Akitunde
Published: December 30th, 2010 | 7:00am

When a consummate collaborator like Cee Lo Green strikes out on their own, it's hard not to set expectations dizzingly high. Thankfully, the genre-bending artist (rapping with Goodie Mob, the crooning half of Gnarls Barkley) delivers in his third solo release, The Lady Killer. Despite the intro's crashing screams against a flurry of ‘60s surf music, Cee Lo's lady-slaying weapon of choice is his sonorous tenor and soulful lyrics of love and loss. Death by swooning, if you will.

The aptly named “Old Fashioned” captures the swinging soul that makes up the album. Cee Lo's powerful voice is a perfect match to the blaring brass and drum brushes skittering across a snare drum that make up the album's throwback sound of ‘60s R&B. His exuberance in each track is infectious, from the hilarious bridge on the ever-present “Fuck You” (complete with melodramatic screams of “Why?)” to the sexy “Love Gun,” where he declares to his lady love/adversary “Are you ready for the showdown? If you promise to surrender, I'll love you tender.” Even when he's somber, like in “Bodies”, he's amazing to hear. The Lady Killer confirms what fans from his previous work already knew: that Cee Lo Green is one bad motha, and we don't want him to shut his mouth.

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Cee Lo Green official site

Cee Lo Green MySpace page

Elektra Records