Mark Ronson is a peculiarly modern musician, whose talents in twiddling knobs and selecting the perfect collaborators are just as important as his magpie-like ability to pick out half-buried musical jewels from the past, or his prowess with a guitar or synthesiser.
He's a producer, who's become a star in his own right in this digital age where the expertise required to hunt down the right combo of people to create a hit, and conduct them the same way a conductor brings a symphony orchestra to greatness, is extremely valuable.
And yet this thoroughly modern musical gentleman is clearly a lover of all things retro, because with Uptown Special he takes his big band-soul-funk-disco know-how and blends it with the likes of Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, Michael Jackson reincarnation Bruno Mars, New Orleans James Brown-esque rapper Mystikal, promising newcomer Keyone Starr, and electro-pop producer/vocalist Andrew Wyatt.
The result is a surprisingly effervescent record, which revives disco as a genre to be lauded rather than laughed at, and spins it in a wacky, woozy, fun, direction.
Ronson's brilliant assemblage of horn players, bassists, drummers, and guitarists are key to making it fly. Whether they're taking you back to the 80s (Summer Breaking's cop-show theme tune style, or the easy-nodding funk-rock of In Case Of Fire), or to the future (the righteous fruity-throaty sing-speak of Mystikal on Feel Right, the cosmic groove of Daffodils, the UMO-ish Leaving Los Feliz) the performances are impeccable.
Ronson's clearly got the gift of the gab too, convincing Stevie Wonder to play some sassy harmonica on the album bookends Uptown's First Finale and Crack In The Pearl Pt.II, and getting super-producer Jeff Bhasker to sing In Case Of Fire. And of course there's the cracking Bruno Mars hit Uptown Funk, which might well be the party song of the decade given how freakin' joyous it is. From the genius of the unison bass-and-talkbox-vocal riff, to the firework-like horns, the rainbow synth stabs, the Nile Rodgers perfection of the guitar, and of course Mars' superstar delivery, it's a true "up yours" to all the backlash that disco experienced in the early 80s, and it will surely be whipping around the charts for many months to come.
Label:
Sony Music
Verdict: Ronson once again proves his worth as an expert band leader
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