"Cee-Lo's Magic Moment"

Every year the muses of the holiday season endow musicians with sugar plums and visions of what could be another classic holiday album. I am not a scrooge, for I love the genre, yet I am far from enthused to find that more of these attempts have been produced. I will iterate that I love Christmas music, but I prefer jingle bells from the left field than the downtrodden diamond with these artists attempting homeruns and 'classic' status. There are so many albums in this genre that it is becoming more cumbersome to decipher whether it was a labor of love to the season or if a paycheck was the reason. Considering that a lot of these albums cover the same classics, it is disenchanting.                                                                                                                                                                             I am still unsure where this record stands, but I can proclaim that this is "Cee-Lo's Magic Moment." At first listen, I thought "he has a superb singing voice, but there is not much he has to offer that has not been done prior to this" and yet it was appealing nonetheless. He was able to manipulate the arrangement of most of these songs  minimally and retain his cover's relevancy; the album is solid, but you will not find many experiments.                                                                                                                                               One of the standouts is his duet with Christina Aguielera for...you guessed it... "Baby, It's Cold Outside." When I first heard his collaboration with Rod Stewart and Trombone Shorty for "Merry Christmas, Baby" on the radio I think I rolled my eyes, but it is a better rendition after several listens. The addition of strings in Cee-Lo's version of "All I Want For Christmas is You" is a pleasant one.  He doesn't change much on the opener, but his voice is attuned to the soul of the song that it is worthy of note. You may even find his other renditions to be even better than what I've mentioned, or you might proclaim "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" when in actuality I am subjective, or aim to be; the collaboration with Straight No Chaser is a recommended listen.                                                                                                                                                                          "All I Need Is Love" is the sole original song on the album and an earworm of a collaboration with the Muppets; who manage to integrate their choral mantra in this song, and bring even more jubilation for this celebration.