Overall, it is okay to listen to, but if you wish to purchase it please know that you might not recognize any of the other songs on the CD. but I appreciate his delivery and the production enough to give it a pass. Definitely recommend this if you like the funk sound. Superproducer Mark Ronson first branded himself via Sixties pop-soul flavors with Amy Winehouse. His first record, Here Comes The Fuzz, was a compilation rap album wholly indicative of its time.

In Uptown Special, Ronson has found something beyond what was once a one-note premise and has saved his brightest collaborative work for a project of his own. ... Uptown Special An all-star funk summit with Stevie Wonder and more. If "Uptown Funk" represents something of a supernova moment for Mars’ ascendant star—unleashing a braggadocio that’s several degrees sassier than what we’ve heard on his more congenially soulful solo hits—it’s a hard-fought moment of Stateside redemption for Ronson. Mark Ronson, Uptown Special, review: 'a shameless lack of irony' The high-profile producer's latest hits the nostalgia sweet spot, says Neil McCormick By Neil Mccormick 10 January 2015 • 14:00 pm Bringing together great singers of many styles, and making versatile album with 80s footprint is risky, but Mark knew how to work this in a. If Mark Ronson’s previous albums were united by formalizing principles (retro-soul makeovers of alt-rock standards on 2007’s Version, odd-couple duets on 2010’s Record Collection), the producer's strategies on Uptown Special are more conceptual.

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I had never heard of Mark Ronson. Thanks! I liked the entire album. If you don't want to buy it to support the producer & artists by making the purchase at least take a few minutes to listen to the samples. Kevin Parker and Andrew Wyatt have songs on this CD that I love. Rarely entering the realm of pastiche, in all, this makes for a brilliant, ageless album. His guest-spots give me insight into what an Impala funk album would be about, and let me tell you, it's glorious. The sense of free-wheeling fun, however, is largely absent with the exception of the record’s funky A-side trifecta. A year ago next month, Bruno Mars appeared at the Super Bowl half-time show in a rare, shared bill with Red Hot Chili Peppers—the implication being that, even with two multi-platinum albums under his belt, the singer was somehow still too young or unproven to carry the show on his own without the help of some rock veterans. Mark Ronson, Uptown Special, album review: Fun, frothy but surface-skimming return. Every other track is great though, even "Uptown Funk" IMO. Mark Ronson’s always had an affinity for black music, so to speak. Unfortunately none of the other collaborations produce the magic of Uptown Funk. The magic is in the details. Though his name can be found in the fine print on some of the biggest British pop records of the past decade, Ronson’s own collaboration-heavy albums failed to establish the London-born producer as a star in his own right in his second home of America (where his sister Samantha is arguably more famous for being Lindsay Lohan’s long-time party pal). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzSG3q68Kc'' The agressive delivery he gives just doesn't fit in the mood this album is trying to set. It’s not particularly remarkable that Mark Ronson was the one who finally snatched the Billboard Hot 100 crown from Taylor Swift’s clenched fists. Otherwise, the other cuts on it are unknown to me. Uptown Special exhibits a long-playing cohesion missing from his prior output. For several songs, he enlisted novelist Michael Chabon to pen pulp-novel-like lyrical vignettes of crime and passion on the outskirts of Las Vegas and hipster identity crises in L.A., providing the album with, if not a linear narrative, then a recurring motif of dislocation.

The CD is great but came with case cracked due to ridiculous shipping! Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2018, Much better then other reviews would have you believe. The Bruno Mars collab "Uptown Funk" is already a massive hit, and other guests include Mystikal and Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. Is this it? © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Kevin Parker and Andrew Wyatt have songs on this CD that I love.

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Where Songs of the Summer are readymade soundtracks for the happiest moments of your life, Songs of the Winter must be scientifically engineered with enough exuberance to fire up your serotonin during the most miserable time of year. though have many songs with a bad lyric, this no intervenes highly. Mark never give your quality in yours productions and in this album not is different. Between the Morris Day-schooled mojo and Michelle Pfeiffer name-drops, all the song is missing for maximum period detail is an Eddie Murphy cop flick to soundtrack. On the Keyone Starr-assisted “I Can’t Lose” the song opens with: “In the back room of the El Mago Casino/ under a portrait of Doris Day/ You and I / and a pair of C-notes/ soft candy betting hard eight.”. Great review man, this is a very fun record. Too top-heavy to sustain its momentum, yet too fleeting for its thematic framework to cohere, Uptown Special is that rare beast: a concept album that actually could use more fat. What's this? Ronson finally scored his mainstream US hit with UPTOWN FUNK!, but it's been a long and musically ambitious ride to this point! Genres: Synth Funk. Throughout the album Ronson plays the role of puppet master to an impressive collection of musical talent. Along with his third album, Record Collection, an ode to synthpop and funk alike, Ronson has always made interesting choices with his own albums, but they strike short of metabolizing into anything as potent as his work with Amy Winehouse. I rarely give 0's, but this album truly deserves it. The thing that allows people to skirt the cultural appropriation tag is if they express an appreciation and understanding of the culture from which the art is derived. This LP moves on to Seventies and Eighties funk, with more sharp casting: Stevie Wonder offers a harmonica benediction alongside session guitarists Carlos Alomar (David Bowie) and the late Teenie Hodges (Al Green); Kanye point man Jeff Bhasker rocks verses by novelist Michael Chabon; and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker morphs from psych-rocker to space-funker. Michelle.

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2017. A cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” with Ol’ Dirty Bastard comes across a completely different song. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. like this one: Mark Ronson at Avatar Studios in New York on November 14th, 2014. Lest we forget, some of the most universally embraced, monoculture-fortifying singles of this millennium—from "Hey Ya!" Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2016.

In sharp contrast to the scene-stealing performances that dominate the album’s first half, Uptown Special’s second act essentially sees Parker and Wyatt trading smooth soft-rock volleys overtop chill grooves, with refereeing from Jeff Bhasker (who plays the same role on "In Case of Fire" as Todd Edwards did on Random Access Memories’ "Fragments of Time"—i.e., a big-name producer making a rare vocal turn on a thinly veiled Steely Dan tribute.) Mystikal’s ease on the track, scratchy voice, and all of its moving parts come together to form the closest incarnation of James Brown we’ll be able to find in 2015 and perhaps beyond. very different vibe Every Other Artist Will Be Taking Note, RS Recommends: Blake Gopnik’s ‘Andy Warhol’, The Best Albums of January 2020: Selena Gomez, Kesha, Halsey, and More, 070 Shake Charts Inner Desire and Outer Space on ‘Modus Vivendi’. Uptown Special (album review) By Jacob Robinson | January 22, 2015 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ From the moment Daft Punk dropped Random Access Memories a couple of years back, it seems that funk has well and truly been riding the wave of retro-nostalgia to ascendency. 0/10, Notable Video Game Releases: New and Upcoming, Music title data, credits, and images provided by, Movie title data, credits, and poster art provided by, Doh Parker’s contributions—be it the Toro Y Moi-style cosmic funk of "Daffodils" or Ween-like bounce of "Leaving Loz Feliz"—provide a prophecy of what a tamer Tame Impala might sound like another five years down the road should they ever trade in heavy-duty guitar jams for streamlined pop; Wyatt’s "Heavy and Rolling" cops its strut from "Billie Jean" but none of its dramatic tension, denying Uptown Special the late-game climax it’s begging for. His guest-spots give me. We’re all familiar with the remarkable single “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars, which takes the best line of Trinidad James’ career, “don’t believe me just watch,” and turns it into more than just a raw boast, but with the ornamental horns and galloping bass licks, it’s a conscious recollection of swagger. Kevin Harley. Pitchfork is the most trusted voice in music. Alexis Petridis's album of the week Mark Ronson Mark Ronson: Uptown Special review – designed to be a blockbuster, and probably will be This star-studded but … Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzSG3q68Kc. Aaaaaow! ace review as usual.

Send us a tip using our anonymous form. - This CD was in a box bigger than necessary with 2 very heavy small brass bowls - they had bubble wrap on the bowls but there was nothing to protect the cd case from the weight of them, Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2015. This is a great album. Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2018. II" to send us off with another unmistakably Stevie-esque harmonica line (while making you wonder why the hell Stevie Wonder isn’t doing anything more on this album other than playing harmonica).

I love it. Doh doh I, And here we have it: Wannabe '80s music in the 21st century. Released in 2003 it features the likes of Saigon, M.O.P. I've been waiting for funk to make a comeback. The retro in album making her so attractive and intelligent, introducing the listener on another world. Before you know it, Stevie Wonder’s returned for the sunrise swirl of "Crack in the Pearl, Pt.

But, what really matters is the art, the music; if it’s good, no one cares about the ancillary shit, and no one should.