Cee-Lo - The Collection

[OpTiCaL]

Track List:

01. Soul Machine                               01:42
02. Gettin' Grown                              04:12
03. I'll Be Around (Club Mix)                  03:41
04. Suga Baby                                  04:21
05. Bad Mutha                                  04:03
06. Living Again                               03:36
07. I Am Selling Soul                          04:15
08. One For The Road                           05:35
09. Bass Head Jazz                             03:32
10. Sometimes                                  05:04
11. Under The Influence (Follow Me)            04:27
12. Closest Freak (Club Mix)                   03:37
13. Medieval Times (Great Pretender)           03:42
14. All Day Love Affair                        04:11
15. Die Trying                                 04:06
16. Soul Food (Goodie Mob) (Bonus Track)       03:56
17. Free (Goodie Mob) (Bonus Track)            01:25
18. Trans Df Express (Dungeon Family)          04:51
    (Bonus Track)

Release Notes:

Multi-talented and flamboyant, Cee-Lo initially made
a name for himself and his trademark crooning as
part of pioneering Dirty South rappers Goodie Mob
before he broke away in the early 2000s for a
colorful solo route. Along with fellow Atlanta
rappers OutKast, Goodie Mob laid out the blueprint
for the Dirty South style during the mid-'90s,
making serious waves with their debut album, Soul
Food (1995). Cee-Lo was an important member of the
group, often singing the hooks to many of Goodie
Mob's best songs (e.g., "Cell Therapy," "Soul Food,"
"Black Ice"). But the group didn't last too long,
and after a few releases over a five-year span,
Cee-Lo split with Goodie Mob for a promising solo
deal with Arista.

The deal came in the wake of Arista's success with
OutKast's Stankonia (especially the single "Ms.
Jackson"), not to mention the burgeoning neo-soul
movement characterized by the likes of Alicia Keys,
Jill Scott, and Macy Gray. Arista label head L.A.
Reid no doubt sensed a lot of potential in Cee-Lo
and gave him the green light to record a solo album.
That album, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect
Imperfections (2002), sounded unlike anything else
out there — unlike Cee-Lo's past work with Goodie
Mob, unlike his neo-soul contemporaries, and unlike
pretty much anything else except the weirder corners
of OutKast's Stankonia album.

The album unsurprisingly never took off
commercially, despite some colorful promotion on
Cee-Lo's part (a wild video for "Closet Freak" and a
belly-baring live tour), and the tattooed big man
went back the drawing board, returning in early 2004
with Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine. This
follow-up was just as free-spirited as Cee-Lo's
debut but was a more focused effort, anchored by
some radio-friendly singles produced by big-money
hitmakers Timbaland ("I'll Be Around"), Jazze Pha
("The One"), and the Neptunes. It also featured some
nice production by Cee-Lo himself. Interestingly,
Arista released the album shortly after parting ways
with Reid and also after experiencing enormous,
Grammy-winning success with OutKast's
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, an album (André 3000's
half, at least) that sounded quite a bit like
Cee-Lo's work.

In 2006, Cee-Lo enjoyed his greated success to date
as half of Gnarls Barkley, a duo also featuring
producer Danger Mouse. "Crazy," the lead single from
St. Elsewhere, the duo's debut album, was an instant
hit in the U.K. and steadily rose to the top of the
charts in the U.S. by the end of the summer. The
critical acclaim and commercial success of Gnarls
Barkley awarded Cee-Lo the most attention he'd ever
enjoyed in his career to date.

[Jakubs]

Thanks for the info. I personally don't like when an artist releases a collection of their hits before they're retired.