Back to The 80's4 Out Of 5 Stars
The albums and 45's in Mark Ronson's "Record Collection" must have been starting to gather dust around 1982 or so, because so many of these tracks come off as collages from too much of that time period's MTV watching. The likes of Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, Boy George of Culture Club, and D'Angelo all make appearances. Heck, the first time I heard "Bang Bang Bang" (the album's first song) I could have sworn Amanda Warner (aka MNDR) was Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. There's also the usual pop-raps that that were common early in the genre. There's no gangstas in Ronson's world, but a come-on based on the ecological greatness of riding a bicycle is ("The Bike Song").
It makes "Record Collection" an endearing collage of styles without dropping into a sample happy garble. Ronson uses real instruments in place of most of the samples, which does give the album an old-school feel. Vocalists MNDR and Andrew Wyatt (along with Ronson himself) are dominant through the disc, with the cameos often blending in seamlessly among the regulars. For an album that is a collaborative stack of "singles," "Record Collection" works amazingly well. It's a testament to Ronson's eclectic taste in music and skills as a writer/producer that "Record Collection" holds together as well as it does.
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