Mob Handed (2016)

CeeLo Green has never made a bad album, and isn’t about to change his ways with Heart Blanche, which overflows with positive energy. The key track is “Est. 1980s”, a euphoric celebration of his musical influences, set to the kind of flanged guitar groove popular in an era when “Michael Jackson was king, Aaron Neville was God, and Run DMC looked just like me”. The period influence is confirmed by the sampled Taxi theme used for “Sign of the Times”, and by the departed comics (Belushi, Pryor, Williams) eulogised in “Robin Williams”, his tribute to the late comedian. Elsewhere, “Mother May I” suggests the teenage CeeLo straining at the parental leash, while “Music to My Soul” offers uplift to those “living in darkness”. The standard dips slightly in the later stages, but the grooves throughout are sleek and snappy, and CeeLo himself has rarely sounded better.