Cee Lo Green”s new album, “Lady Killer,” is one of the best tribute albums to the great R&B musicians and soul singers of the past.

This album is a worthy attempt to bring back fond memories of the soul singers who passed away in recent years. Cee Lo, formerly a rap star, has an amazing knack for recreating the same sounds that made these music legends famous.

The big single, “F*** You,” is a cheery song that hearkens back to the days of Motown. Though the song features Cee Lo throwing out expletives at the person dating his ex-girlfriend, he somehow makes it sound charming. He sings it in the catchy tone of The Temptations, with a saintly organ and some cute glockenspiels in the background.

The album retains an unusually sexy mix between old R&B and intense hip-hop. It sounds like Cee Lo doesn”t want to rap anymore-he”s pretty much singing for the entire album. He still manages to find some chilling ways to spice up love songs.

For starters, he recreates the entrancing sounds of Isaac Hayes” music. The fifth track, “Bodies,” mixes snare drum rolls with a seductive string section and some female voices. The song is so similar that it could have been lifted straight from the soundtrack of the film “Shaft.”

Other songs turn love into a killer subject. “Love Gun” mixes in spy film music with the vocal stylings of Marvin Gaye”s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” His backup band manages a raucous ruckus of loud gunshot sounds with a guitar riff that sounds like it could have been from a James Bond film.

Probably his most impressive song, however, is his tribute to Michael Jackson. The second song of online casino this album, “Bright Lights Bigger City,” uses a bass line that sounds almost identical to Jackson”s “Billie Jean.” Cee Lo may not be able to match the abrupt staccato singing of Jackson, but the 80s synthesizers coordinates extraordinarily well with the vocals.

Although the rest of the album sounds more or less the same, it really demonstrates Cee Lo”s ability to bring Motown into the new millennium. The old style songs bring back so much nostalgia. It”s an attractive twist to the R&B genre, mixing hip-hop beats with “60s music.

Cee Lo should try some more daring experiments with the drum beats and the backing instruments. When he was singing for his former group, Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo was singing to some insanely fast snare drum beats in “Go-Go Gadget Gospel.” He was wailing to funky psychedelic instrumentals in “Run (I”m a Natural Disaster).”

We”re really just missing all of the turntable samples from the other half of Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse. He was the person who really added the yin to Cee Lo”s yang. He created magic and turned the group into a household name. Without Danger Mouse, Cee Lo just sounds like another singer.

Then again, Danger Mouse is always busy producing records with other artists. We can”t blame Cee Lo for trying to win back all his fame with a solo career. Hopefully this album will provide Cee Lo a lofty stepping-stone, so that he can work on a more ambitious solo project.

Cee Lo already has the vocal cords to become a top R&B star. He just needs a little help from his friends.