Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer

When I first glanced at the tracklist for this disk, I saw the title 'Love Gun' waving and smiling and begging me to skip directly to it. Why would I be so excited about this track? Simple. Its a song by my guilty pleasure, favorite band ever (although I recodnize their cheezyness and embrace it), KISS. There it was, a love gun cover by cee-lo, what a cool idea. Should I do my normal full listen track one till the end, or skip to it? Tradition won over impulse and started at track one.
The first song is an intro that transitions into the smooth groove, 'Bright Lights, Big City'. Upon discovering this gem of a song, I pictured myself in the studio while they were writing the song. The bass player asks 'what should I play here?'
The producer, after looking up and placing his hand on his chin, pondering the query, responds with; 'You know Billie Jean by Michael Jackson?'
'Yeah'
'Play that bassline'
'The same one?'
'Well, sort of. Just change it so no one can notice. '

I noticed.

But I still love it.

Then comes the most catchy song of 2010 (the album came out last year), 'Forget You '. That is an alternate title for an explative that is the actual title. Its interesting that this song is the first song ever nominated for a grammy with a curse word in the title.
The song is like pure sugar. Audio candy that gets stuck in your head like taffy in your teeth. 'Forget You' rocks and rolls like a late fifties, early sixties doo wop smash.
After a few more highs and lows, I finally reached 'Love Gun'. Here it goes. Cee lo's love gun cover. The song begins with a gunshot. Nice. Then a woman singing 'baby baby'.
Weird. Not part of the original. The song continues and the woman (not cee lo) begins singing some more lyrics that were not part of Kiss' Original.
Still going, CeeLo comes in, also not singing Kiss lyrics. Now that I think of it, the music is way off too.
Then it hits me.

Its not a Kiss cover. Its just another ceelo song named 'Love Gun'

Oh well. After finishing the album I was fairly pleased. Some huge catchy hits, and like most major label releases these days, filler tracks sprinkled between them.

I would reccomend this for a few of their party hits. Just skip around and you will be pleased. Just don't expect any Kiss covers.

B+

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Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours

Anyone who knows me knows I have a special place in my heart for 90s alternative music. Primarily the early portion - I talk a lot about the magic of 1991 / 92 (more about that at a later date)... but there was also something special about those mid-90's 'post-grunge' bands. For those of us who grew up with this music, any band that can capture that spirit without being a lame copy (Creed, anyone?) is always appreciated. I never really thought about Cold War Kids like this until their most recent album. They are taking the energy and vibe of the music they/I grew up with and filtering it through the indie rock sensibilities of bands like Arcade Fire.

From the get-go, Mine Is Yours pulls you in with plenty of vocal hooks and great melodies - augmented by your typical guitar/bass/drums lineup. The album really sank in with track 3; Royal Blue. It is based around a conga drum and bass loop, and builds from there. Its these moments - when their penchant for great melody combines with a solid beat and stripped down instrumentals - that the album shines, and makes it stand out as something more than just a rock cd. Sensitive Kid and its looped backbeat is another highlight for this same reason.

There is a great dynamic flow that runs through this album. There are great sing-alongs, solid guitar hooks, and more introspective moments. Unfortunately, the album falls off after track 8 into more generic guitar rock. Luckily, its easy to hit the fast forward button three times and arrive back at track 1.

If you too have your musical roots layed in the sensitive, ethereal bombast of the early and mid-90's, I think you'll like this release.

B+