CD: Cee Lo Green - Cee Lo's Magic Moment

“I think the Muppets hit a new low.” “Yeah, and his first name’s Cee!” In the hierarchy of Statler and Waldorf’s cutting put-downs it’s more of a turkey than a Christmas cracker, but Cee Lo’s Magic Moment was never supposed to be subtle. The album’s cover art features the soul star, clad in a pink fur coat, playing Santa in a convertible Rolls Royce driven by reindeer and drawn by three white horses.

That the star has chosen a bombastic pop number based on the Muppets’ famous “mah na mah na” refrain as the lead single for his Christmas album is hardly a surprise. And yet, as Christmas albums go, Cee Lo’s Magic Moment has more to recommend it than mere novelty. Green is possessed of a magnificently rich soul voice straight out of the 1950s, which makes it a perfect fit for the adeptly curated - if at times eccentric - collection of festive standards picked out for reworking. In his hands, Irving Berlin’s dreary “White Christmas” turns celebratory and “Please Come Home For Christmas” drops the plaintiveness to go full-on torch song. He manages to camp up, full-on pantomime villain style, on “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch”, on the same album as a lovely, reverent “Silent Night”. Even his cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River” is perfectly serviceable, and I’m as huge a fan of the original as you are.

It’s not a perfect album by any stretch of the imagination: it’s hard not to make “Baby It’s Cold Outside” sound anything other than dubious, and the sheer length of Green’s duet with Christina Aguilera makes this a particularly creepy addition to the canon; and there are a couple of phoned-in performances on less than inspiring material like “The Christmas Song”. Regardless, this is one holiday album that could be worth a revisit next year: it’s been said many times, many ways, but never quite like this.

Take a listen to Cee Lo and the Muppets below