Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine [Clean]

• Artist: Cee-Lo
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 02, 2004
• Type: Enhanced CD-ROM
• Genre: Rap

Review

Cee-Lo's debut album had been an interesting listen but resonated with very few listeners, so some changes were due for his second go-round, Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine, which is indeed a drastically improved effort. Arista head honcho L.A. Reid had no doubt let Cee-Lo fly his freak flag high and mighty for Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections (2002), for what resulted was an album that was, in a word, curious -- a sprawling carnival of Dirty South-inflected soul singing that knew no boundaries whatsoever, willfully professing its weirdness on out-there songs like the lead single, "Closet Freak," the closest Cee-Lo came to crossing over commercially. In other words, cross over à la OutKast he didn't -- not by a long shot. In fact, most listeners took him at face value and wrote him off as a freak. It'd be a real shame if that happened again with Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine. Sure, the big guy is still fairly weird here, but he's tastefully weird and, above all, focused this time. He's written a stronger batch of songs and has aligned himself with some of the best producers in the industry (the entire industry, that is): Timbaland and the Neptunes, most notably, and also Jazze Pha, Organized Noize, and DJ Premier. How he managed to rein in such a team of big-money producers is a good question (maybe the concurrently dismissed L.A. Reid can answer that one), but the result is nothing short of delightful. The album opens with a flawless run of radio-ready tunes -- "The Art of Noise" through "My Kind of People" -- and then spins off into a mélange of Cee-Lo-isms: stream-of-consciousness spoken word-style raps that cut deep, stirred into kaleidoscopic musical arrangements that straddle the hip-hop and deep soul eras simultaneously, all of it utterly distinct from track to track, ultimately culminating all too soon at the 65-minute mark. Once again Cee-Lo has recorded a peerless album, except this time he's recorded one that should connect, or at least deserves to. OutKast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below (especially André 3000's half) is probably the best touchstone you're liable to find this side of your imagination, in terms of not only style but also quality and vision. [Though Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine is a fairly clean-cut album overall, Arista released a thoroughly clean edition as well.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Intro (Lyrics)		Cee-Lo	(:22)
Soul Machine (Lyrics)	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green, Pharrell Williams, Cee-Lo	(1:40)
The Art of Noise	Randy Bachman, Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(3:45)
Living Again	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(3:36)
I'll Be Around	Tim Mosley, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(3:41)
The One	Philip Bailey, Maurice White, Phalon Alexander, Hank Shocklee, Carlton Ridenhour, Thomas Callaway	Jazze Pha, Cee-Lo Green, Cee-Lo	(4:42)
My Kind of People (Lyrics)	Headley Bennett, Robert Lyn, Fitzroy Simpson, Huford Brown, Thomas Callaway, Leroy Sibblies	Jazze Pha, Cee-Lo, Menta Malone	(3:54)
Childz Play (Lyrics)	Rico Wade, Ray Murray, Patrick Brown, Thomas Callaway	Ludacris, Cee-Lo	(3:54)
I Am Selling Soul	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(4:16)
All Day Love Affair	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(4:11)
Evening News	John Dankworth, Chris Martin, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(4:12)
Scrap Metal	Greg Martin, Ruben Bailey, Rico Wade, Ray Murray, Patrick Brown, Thomas Callaway	Big Rube, Cee-Lo Green, Cee-Lo	(4:39)
Glockappella	James Banks, Eddie Marion, Henderson Thigpen, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(5:20)
When We Were Friends	Charles Pettaway, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(3:42)
Sometimes	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(5:03)
Let's Stay Together	Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Al Jackson, Chad Hugo, Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(3:53)
Die Trying	Thomas Callaway	Cee-Lo Green	(4:04)
What Don't You Do? (Outro)		Cee-Lo	(:18)

Credits

Andrew Coleman (Engineer), Jimmy Douglas (Mixing), Warren Bletcher (Assistant), Jeffrey Schultz (Photography), Sleepy Brown (Keyboards), K.C. "Cognac" Morton (Associate Executive Producer), Jazze Pha (Producer), Charles Pettaway (Guitar), Shorty B. (Bass), Ben Allen (Digital Editing), James "Jockey" Young (Percussion), Nivea (Vocals (Background)), Jazze Pha (Programming), Dave Robbins (Strings), Mark Pitts (A&R), Claybourne Lewis (Guitar), Thomas Calloway (Producer), Ben Allen (Guitar), Ken Ford (Strings), Timbaland (Vocals (Background)), Tori Alamaze (Vocals (Background)), Gaelle Adisson (Vocals (Background)), Eric Stamile (Producer), James "Jockey" Young (Conga), Jeffrey Schultz (Design), Thomas Calloway (Drum Programming), Brian Frye (Producer), The Neptunes (Producer), Timbaland (Producer), Jeffrey Schultz (Art Direction), Chris Carmouche (Assistant), Ben Allen (Engineer), Javier Valverde (Assistant), John Horesco IV (Assistant), Timbaland (Mixing), Good Time Guys & Girls (Vocals (Background)), Locksmif (Engineer), Ced "Keyz" Williams (Keyboards), Aaron Mills (Bass), Brian Frye (Engineer), John Frye (Mixing), DJ Base (Drum Programming), Charles Pettaway (Producer), Traxx (Producer), Aaron Clay (Bass), Jazze Pha (Vocals (Background)), Mike Haatnett (Guitar), Russell Gunn (Horn), Horns Unlimited (Horn), Sean Davis (Engineer), Calaway Sisters (Vocals (Background)), Cee-Lo Green (Executive Producer), Senator Jimmy D (Engineer), DJ Premier (Producer), Chimere (Vocals (Background)), Jacasta (Vocals (Background)), Phil Tan (Mixing), Joe-Mama Nitzberg (Creative Director)