Uh-huh, this one had to come down the pipe. Sometimes, when a label seeks to cash in on one of its artists -- or former artists -- they put something together that might be needed but is wholly unexpected. What's more, they get it right. That's the case with
Cee Lo Green's
Closet Freak: The Best of Cee Lo Green the Soul Machine. It's the exception rather than the rule of best-of compilations: the contents are so fine there's no quibbling about what is here, which makes what may be left off easier to bear. Those not familiar with
Cee Lo until they heard him fronting
Gnarls Barkley on the smash single "Crazy," (
Gnarls Barkley is a two-man project involving
Cee Lo and producer
Danger Mouse -- Brian Burton) from their creative and wacky debut album St. Elsewhere (the pop album of 2006), will be delighted by the material here. There are a total of three cuts from his days with the Atlanta rap group
Goodie Mob, and generous selections from his two solo albums
Cee Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, and
Cee Lo Green...Is the Soul Machine. It's not the same by a long shot, but the root elements of that sound are all here.
Cee Lo is eternally funky: he can sing, rap, and produce; that is in full evidence on this generous set of 17 cuts. His unmistakable voice can be heard on
Goodie Mob 's "Free," "Soul Food," and "Cell Therapy." But it's on the solo material, from "Gettin' Grown," the title track, "I'll Be Around" (with
Timbaland), the completely insane "Childz Play," (with
Ludacris) and the acid-drenched psychedelic funk of "Under the Influence" (with Follow Me), that are a few of the standouts on this weighty slab of the good stuff. Whether this is a further introduction, or you've been with the Bald tattoed one for a decade, this is the way a best-of gets done. Pure pleasure for freaky people. ~ Thom Jurek