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Apr 29, 2011He's keen to please, but what's remarkable about The Lady Killer is that he manages to avoid all the bubblebath boudoir-soul cliches that litter most R&B albums.
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Jan 3, 2011It all goes down like kung pao chicken and Sapporo, but you'll be at Church's in an hour.
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Dec 23, 2010The Lady Killer doesn't have the same tightly focused future-soul sound as Green's other project, Gnarls Barkley, but that gives the singer a chance to show his wider ranging musical appetites with elements of vintage R&B, irresistible pop and even a couple of sleek spy-movie riffs.
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Dec 21, 2010He delivers a tour de force on each track, solidifying his rep as one of the most dynamic performers in pop.
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Dec 21, 2010Despite some great tunes, his high-pitched, duck-on-helium vocals start wearing thin, becoming the detraction, rather than the attraction, of this album. Had it been 15 minutes shorter, The Lady Killer could have been this year's top pop album.
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Dec 14, 2010On The Lady Killer, Green takes another shape, but this time with a narrow and singular vision: absolute soul impresario.
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Dec 8, 2010Thankfully, the thrills don't stop with the summer's hit single.
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Dec 8, 2010With material of a standard to match his fantastic pipes, here Callaway has crafted his finest Cee-Lo long-player yet.
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Dec 8, 2010The Lady Killer is generic in the best possible sense of the word; put simply: this is music for the soul, and even Mr. Gallagher has one of those.
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Dec 8, 2010Lady Killer both honors and tweaks the tropes of vintage songcraft with hefty doses of sweet Motown/Stax boogie, a smattering of Curtis Mayfield superfly, and imaginary theme songs for James Bond.
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Dec 8, 2010As an album The Lady Killer achieves everything it purports to be. Its music is familiar enough to attract broad attention.
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Dec 8, 2010It doesn't have any pretenses about being great and achieves in the most basic way possible: by being impeccably organized, well-sung, and well-written, with not an ounce of filler in sight.
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Dec 8, 2010It's the rare hip-hop album that might actually make for a good movie, but Green's sound and vision are so boldly cinematic that a big-screen adaptation would almost feel redundant.
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Dec 8, 2010For every swanky old-school touch, there's a glassy modernity that makes the album a sexy sonic adventure of loving and leaving.
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Dec 8, 2010With The Lady Killer, Cee Lo Green is out for blood. Track after track, he triumphs.
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Dec 8, 2010Even with his quirks dialed down, Green has a voice that can burst any melody wide open.
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Dec 8, 2010It's a faithful version that humbly spotlights the versatility of a fascinating talent.
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Dec 8, 2010More than ever, Green is the surreal deal.
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Dec 8, 2010Tremendous fun.
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Dec 8, 2010It's all flawless in a string-laden soul way, but too clean an effort from a man who, in the past, has been so much more exciting by letting the grit remain.
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Dec 8, 2010As attempts at storming the mainstream go, this looks like a surefire winner, but musically it feels like a lesser take on Outkast's The Love Below.
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Dec 8, 2010The Lady Killer doesn't possess the stylistic ADHD or the rough edges of Green's earlier work, sticking to sprightly brass arrangements and cheery string licks as his weapons of choice for the most part.
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Dec 8, 2010How can you not love Cee Lo? He's a virtuoso rapper who has one of pop's most unique singing voices.
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Dec 8, 2010Anyone who doubted that Green is one of today's most commanding vocalists simply needs to hear how he negotiates moods here and turns phrases with subtlety, wit, and style. Killer stuff.
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Dec 8, 2010Don't like it? Well Cee-Lo has two words for you.
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Dec 8, 2010Throughout, Mr. Green's vocals are buried low in the mix, mere decoration for the arrangements and textures, which are the real stars.
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Dec 8, 2010It remains to be seen if The Lady Killer will continue his hot streak, but it should-it's one of the best records of the year, and also his most commercial, and that's not an insult.
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Dec 8, 2010It is a thoroughly likeable little trifle of a record, valuable even if only for having produced what is undeniably The Single of 2010, but one wishes that Cee-Lo had not been nearly as content to work so comfortably within the confines of his considerable range and talent.
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Dec 8, 2010All platitudes aside, I have to say that there is some filler - mostly packed into the album's second quarter where most artists tend to hide their more mediocre material.
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Dec 8, 2010If the de rigueur synthetic frills keep The Lady Killer from the visceral, tactile highs of the current soul revival, they do remind that artifice can often be its own reward.
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Q MagazineDec 22, 2010What makes this record so impressive is how effortlessly he has claimed his big pop moment without sounding compromised, and how easily he makes his producers bend to his strengths instead of vice versa. [Jan 2011, p.132]
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UncutDec 20, 2010Although it's hardly Green's fault, Mark Ronson's retro-soul ubiquity makes this record sound less fresh than it otherwise might have. [Jan 2011, p.86]
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MojoDec 14, 2010It's Green's pitch-perfect delivery, his ability to switch from sublimely giddy pop joy to earnest moments of heartache and convince utterly in both instances, that make The Lady Killer a treasure. [Jan. 2011, p. 96]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 40 out of 46
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Mixed: 1 out of 46
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Negative: 5 out of 46
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Nov 16, 2010
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Dec 20, 2010
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Dec 11, 2010