Throughout the tenure of his career, Cee Lo Green has managed to sit at a number of lunch tables without having to rep a specific set. From his early days in Southern Hip-Hop outfit Goodie Mob, to becoming the vocal front man for the Grammy Award winning Gnarls Barkley, Mr. Green has managed to transcend space and time with genre-bending tunes.
The Lady Killer (Atlantic) grabs the greatest moments of the 50s through the 80s, with some Hip-Hop essentials sprinkled in. Our first taste of Killer was the slick "Fuck You" that even had pixie sirens like Eliza Doolittle and Anjulie shouting at the tops of their lungs. The rest of the work slides along that same Big Band Booty House vein with the Tom Jones'in "I Want You", the sparkly Four Tops infused "It's OK", and the Steely Dan'ish "Bright Lights Bigger City". While Cee-Lo sounds like the cooler, cuddly cousin of the same kinds of artists you'd find on a PBS Best Of decade mix, he does it with grace and innovation...and ass kicking good music. Already on his third solo album and he still got it right, The Lady Killer is killing us softly with his song. By Kathy Iandoli
