Mark Ronson - Uptown Special

There was a brief time - around two weeks or so - back in 2013 when Get Lucky received its first play on radio and was uploaded to YouTube, where there was the (now laughable) concern that maybe this excellent comeback wouldn't be quite so warmly received by the single-buying public. There are hundreds of examples of falling addictively in love with a pop song that didn't quite turn out to be universally shared - I still get sleepless nights over the lack of chart success for Tegan and Sara's Closer - but, thankfully, Uptown Funk was not one of them. OK: it's now tipped over to the other side of the scale (like Get Lucky) and getting the eyeroll treatment that comes with every above-average anthem, but we'll always have that brief period between "Fleur East covers the song on the X Factor" and "Uptown Funk spends its third week at number one".

Because it did come as a bit of a surprise: Record Collection, Ronson's third album, didn't quite set the country alight, and if anything was a stuttered assembly of great tunes outnumbered by inconsequential ones, much like its predecessor Version. Where the hype and the success stories about that mid-noughties production era (that included considerable excellence with Lily Allen, Adele, Amy Winehouse and Christina Aguilera) began to die, out came a Ronson that was trying to hone one particular style of production, rather than grab big names quickly and try to cover something as a bit of fun. Uptown Special does still have its star names - Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars - but the majority of guest vocalists here aren't household names but indie darlings. Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker help create an album that doesn't feel too crowded or patchy, but rather flows smoothly.

Saving Stevie Wonder and his unmistakeable harmonica for the briefest of intros and outros may well have us all Living for the City but Uptown isn't quite the same. For starters: the resounding feeling of being a chillout record is unmissable - 'Summer Breaking' is the first of three Kevin Parker vocals and as such is perfectly suited to a bit of Isley Brothers-derived opulence, with a smattering of the Buena Vista Social Club's aesthetic thrown in for good measure. I'll grant you that it doesn't scream originality but what's the point in striving for that when you can resurrect the greats masterfully? Heck, even James Brown gets reincarnated in the body of Mystikal on 'Feel Right'. 2012's excellent Hit Me already established that comparison and it's a fantastic return to music from the man who used to tell us to shake our asses. Feel Right isn't too different: it's a screaming, rip-roaring piece that is the only song powerful enough to set up what's to follow. That would be 'Uptown Funk'. Again, the influences and soundalikes are endless (some have said Oops Up Side Your Head, others have said the Sugarhill Gang, more officially there's a bit of Trinidad James in there too) but the end result is a uniquely majestic phenomenon, and one that should last way into the summer of 2015.

Even the album's more forgettable moments pack a punch: 'I Can't Lose' takes the unknown Keyone Starr and turns her into a disco powerhouse vocalist, whilst 'In Case of Fire' is basically a Steely Dan hit that never was. 'Heavy and Rolling', too, doesn't quite fit - it comes across as an awkward vocal on a backing designed for a much clearer and resolutely emotional one. Much of the rest passes by with more of a shake to the system.

Anyone who's followed Tame Impala since Lonerism will have already formed a heavily romantic infatuation with their take on psychedelia and drug-use, and Parker's turn on 'Daffodils' will most likely have the same effect, even if it's missing those fuzzy glam-rock guitars we've come to love. In their place are a Kirin J Callinan funk riff and all sorts of synth detours and breakdowns keeping it from a total hallucination. 'Crack in the Pearl' is, oddly, the most startling resemblance to those classic Stevie Wonder records and blurs in and out of focus sublimely, whilst 'Leaving Los Feliz' is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ronson's feelings of outgrowing the hipster scene ("I cruise the room without attracting a glance/ My Ksubi jeans are more like armor than pants") set to a quirky, bouncy, almost Mott the Hoople standard.

The only real problem with Uptown Special is that it's over so quickly and could've done with just one more star performance. The brief time it's on, however, it's more than just a hit single - it's a hit album.

Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Uptown Funk; Feel Right; Summer Breaking; Leaving Los Feliz; Daffodils
Avoid: n/a

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