Strike Of The Lady Killer (Summer Grind Issue 2012)

Before I start here I would first like to apologize to the readers. This is long overdue.

I know the lateness of this whole thing but I felt it necessary that I put the light on a singularly wonderful album. It is a travesty if a person who calls himself a writer for a music magazine doesn’t call attention to good music.

The album?

Cee Lo Green’s The Lady Killer.

For a while I was silently expecting another Gnarls Barkley album. After St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple, I was waiting for a third to make a trilogy. I even spent a bit of time trying to figure the title for the next album.

Could it be 21 Jump Street?

Or maybe Party Of Five?

I did that in vain, however. No more Gnarls Barkley for now. But the day may very well come. But not today.

Instead we were treated with The Lady Killer. I didn’t know what to expect, honestly. Hearing “F*ck You” for the first time had me confused. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a damn good song. It’s just that the first single gave me no clue as to what was coming.

I went into the first listening with an open mind.

‘Wow’ was all I could say.

This album was (and still is) wonderful to hear. The songs are amazing and the production is of a quality that I haven’t heard in quite a while. Every song was worth further examination but I will talk about four.

“F*ck You” is the heartbreak of a schoolboy’s crush and how he feels now that he’s grown beyond it. I feel like a lot of the good guys, the good guys who got left behind for the asshole or the bad guy can relate. This is a sad story that becomes something of an off-key happily ever after.

“Wildflower” starts with an amazing piano flourish. The concept is a wonderful metaphor. Green compares a beautiful woman to a wildflower. The analogy is perfect and Cee Lo’s voice makes it soar to great heights.

“Bodies” is a tale of dying chivalry and how it lures a beautiful woman to his bed. There is a sad, almost eerie timbre in this one. An occasion female voice accentuates the track perfectly. It’s a well thought out track.

“Fool For You” is a love song where a man, where Cee Lo tells of how much he loves that woman. He loves her in such a way, with such intensity that he has no choice but to be a fool…such a fool for you.

I know the title of the album implies that he kills the ladies but once you listen to it will kill you as will. Got ‘em.


Courtesy of Lucius Black for Royalty Magazine