Version

by Mark Ronson

Overview

You know that a producer has become a star in his own right when he's given a contract to put out an album under his own name -- but, really, if any producer deserved his own vanity project in 2007, it's Mark Ronson, the man behind much of the two best British pop albums in 2006, Lily Allen's Alright, Still and Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. Ronson, of course, had been a fixture in the N.Y.C. and London DJ scenes long before this, and had even released an album called Here Comes the Fuzz in 2003 that found him enlisting a cast of American hipsters -- everyone from Ghostface Killah and Mos Def to Rivers Cuomo, Jack White, and Saturday Night Live comedian Jimmy Fallon -- to front tracks he crafted. Ronson keeps that same blueprint for his second album, Version, but he sets his sights on the U.K., the country that finally turned him into a star thanks to those Allen and Winehouse productions, bringing in Lily and Amy and a parade of modern Brit stars to sing over his tracks. This time around, Ronson has ginned up the original concept with a better concept: to cover a bunch of contemporary British pop classics and modern hits, ranging from the Jam's "Pretty Green" to Maximo Park's "Apply Some Pressure." All of the tunes have been run through Ronson's grinder, turning them into splashy, clever, but not-quite-campy blends of old-school hip-hop, '60s soul (equal parts Motown and Stax), postmodern pop, and classic kitsch, so it sounds like a modern update on a late-'60s variety show. Since Ronson has a distinct musical viewpoint -- one that's heavy on style, of course; one that's designed for club play but emphasizes melody and feel over beats -- Version holds together as a proper album, but that's primarily because Ronson turns everything into a soundtrack for an absurd retro-fantasia of a Northern soul club, one where the Tamla beat never stops pounding even as it morphs into rolling hip-hop loops, one where the horns never stop blaring, one where the pop hooks are as prominent as the groove. Whether you're into club music or pop, it's easy to be seduced by Ronson's fantasy, and Version sure is fun as it plays the first time through, and several of his reinventions are giddy, devious delights, as when he finally injects some humor into Coldplay by turning "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" into an instrumental fueled by the Daptone Horns, or doing a similar deed to Radiohead's "Just" (here sung by Phantom Planet), or how the Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is turned into a soul medley with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" as sung by Daniel Merriweather. That latter track in particular is a neat trick, but it's like the bulk of Version in microcosm: the imagination and skill is dazzling at first but subsequent spins reveal it as more style than substance, particularly because Merriweather isn't a sensitive interpreter and his affectless delivery becomes grating upon repeated plays, turning this into a shallow display of production virtuosity. Too much of Version is like this -- great ideas shackled by bland vocalists -- to make it a lasting pleasure, but in the moment it's a great party record anchored by two brilliant moments: Lily Allen's take on the Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God" and Amy Winehouse's flat-out stupendous reworking of the Zutons' "Valerie," which turns it into a lost Motown classic. Not for nothing are these two highlights from the artists who made Mark Ronson a star -- not only do their aesthetics match his, but they're the only ones with enough charisma to overpower his showy tracks and make them into their own. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	04/17/2007
Label:	Rca
UPC:	0886970800327

Tracks

1. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
2. Oh My God
3. Stop Me Medley: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before/You K
4. Toxic
5. Valerie
6. Apply Some Pressure
7. Inversion
8. Pretty Green
9. Just
10. Amy
11. The Only One I Know
12. Diversion
13. L.S.F.
14. Outversion

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Mark Ronson   Primary Artist,Bass,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Clapping,Clavinet,Percussion
Phantom Planet   Primary Artist
The Daptone Horns   Primary Artist
Santogold   Primary Artist
Kasabian   Primary Artist
Paul Smith   Primary Artist,Primary Artist
Kenna   Primary Artist
Robbie Williams   Primary Artist,Vocals
Lily Allen   Primary Artist,Vocals
Tiggers   Primary Artist
Daniel Merriweather   Primary Artist,Vocals
Amy Winehouse   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ivo Jan van der Werff   Viola
Cochemea Galecum   Sax (Baritone)
Chris Scianni   Guitar
Questlove   Percussion
Mark Berrow   Violin
Stuart Zender   Bass
Jordan Galland   Piano (Electric),Piano
Johnathan Rees   Violin
Emlyn Singleton   Violin
Nick Movshon   Bass
Thomas Brenneck   Guitar
Paul "Scooby" Smith   Vocals
Alia Marie   Vocals (Background)
Jackie Shave   Orchestra Leader,Violin
Michael Tighe   Guitar,Vocals
Alex Greenwald   Guitar,Vocals
David Woodcock   Violin
Christopher Tombling   Violin
Tom Pigott-Smith   Violin
Ray Angry   Piano,Clavinet,Keyboards
Chris Elliott   String Conductor,Piano,Conductor
Santi White   Vocals
Sam Farrar   Bass
Cathy Thompson   Violin
Julian Leaper   Violin
Perry Mason   Violin
Warren Zielinski   Violin
Ol' Dirty Bastard   Vocals
Peter Lale   Viola
Martin Loveday   Celli,Cello
Rita Manning   Violin
Everton Nelson   Violin
Ben Chappell   Celli,Cello
Ian Hendrickson-Smith   Sax (Baritone)
Garfield Jackson   Viola
Rachel Bolt   Viola
Thomas Bowes   Violin
Alia Marie Mitchell   Vocals
Matt Allchin   Guitar
Sam Koppelman   Drums,Percussion
Cenophia Mitchell   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Binky Griptite   Guitar
Bruce White   Viola
Gavyn Wright   Violin,Orchestra Leader
Neal Sugarman   Sax (Tenor)
Homer Steinweiss   Drums
Boguslav Kostecki   Violin
David Daniels   Celli,Cello

Technical Credits

Leila Stacey   Assistant Contractor
Abi Harding   Composer
Dominic Morley   Engineer
Eddie Bezalel   Executive Producer
Lee Reinke Bright   Executive Producer
David "Sparky" Hughes   Photography
Russell Pritchard   Composer
Boyan Chowdhury   Composer
Isobel Griffiths   Contractor,Orchestra Contractor
Taz Mattar   Engineer
Duncan Lloyd   Composer
Tom Elmhirst   Mixing
Dave McCabe   Composer
Derek Pacuk   Engineer
Sean Payne   Composer
Jon Brookes   Composer
Peter Adarkwah   Executive Producer
Steef Van De Gevel   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Rohan Onraet   Engineer,Assistant
Archis Tiku   Composer
Chris Elliott   String Arrangements
Sam Farrar   Engineer
Serban Ghenea   Mixing
Henrik Jonback   Composer
Gabriel Roth   Engineer
Russell Elevado   Mixing
John Hanes   Digital Editing
Mark Ronson   Beats,Engineer,Producer
Tim Roberts   Assistant
Tim Burgess   Composer
Lukas Wooller   Composer
Edwyn Collins   Composer
Dan Parry   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Matt Paul   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Paul Smith   Composer
Andy Marcinkowski   Assistant,Mixing Assistant