Doo-Wops & Hooligans [LP]

by Bruno Mars

Overview

Bruno Mars was riding high when his first album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, was released in late 2010. He was also writing songs as part of the successful production team the Smeezingtons, and doing some hook singing (for huge hits by Travie McCoy and B.o.B.), Mars seemed to dominate the radio and charts. Indeed, the first single from the album, the lushly romantic "Just the Way You Are," was topping the singles chart. For the album, Mars worked with a large team of songwriters and producers, but still managed to come up with a record that sounds like it was written and recorded on a warm, sleepy summer Sunday afternoon. The intimate and relaxed feel can be traced to two factors; one, Mars mostly played all the instruments himself, and two, his voice is the kind of smooth instrument that slips into your ear like honey. Most of the tracks on Doo-Wops capture this laid-back groove, especially "The Lazy Song" and the reggaefied midnight love jam "Our First Time." Mars barely raises a sweat on these tracks, cruising in low gear but with a very likeable style. It's not very deep and it's not poetry, but sweetly played and sung songs like "Count on Me" or "Just the Way You Are" project a cuddly image and will melt hearts from tweens to old folks. The only glimpse of Mars as something more than an innocuous charmer is on the song that ends the album. "The Other Side" features Cee Lo Green and B.o.B. and has the most complicated melody, and the best production and singing; it sounds like the only song that Mars truly invested with some soul and grit. It was also recorded way before the rest of the album, and featured on the EP that came out earlier in 2010. It points to a direction Mars could have taken with the album but didn't. ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	12/07/2010
Label:	Elektra
UPC:	0075678893032

Tracks

1. Grenade
2. Just the Way You Are
3. Our First Time
4. Runaway Baby
5. The Lazy Song
6. Marry You
7. Talking to the Moon
8. Liquor Store Blues
9. Count on Me
10. The Other Side

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bruno Mars   Primary Artist,Vocals,Lead Vocals
B.o.B   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
CeeLo Green   Vocals,Featured Artist
Lupe Fiasco   Featured Artist
Supa Dups   Drums
DJ Dizzy   Scratching
Damian Marley   Featured Artist
B.O.B.   Featured Artist
Dwayne Chin-Quee   Drums

Technical Credits

Stephen Marcussen   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
J. Lopez   Composer
Kaveh Rastegar   Composer
Supa Dups   Arranger,Producer,Programming
Jeremy Ruzumna   Composer
Jeff Bhasker   Composer
Claude Kelly   Composer
K'NAAN   Composer
Manny Marroquin   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Ari Levine   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Musician,Instrumentation,Mixing Engineer
Patrick Stump   Composer
Mitchum Chin   Composer
Graham Marsh   Engineer
Damian Marley   Composer
Mike Caren   Composer,Producer
Christian Plata   Assistant,Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant
Erik Madrid   Assistant,Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant
Bruno Mars   Composer,Musician,Instrumentation
Andrew Wyatt   Composer
J. Wicks   Composer
Philip Lawrence   Composer
Khari Cain   Composer
John Wicks   Composer
Needlz   Producer
Michelle Piza   Package Manager
Lanre Gaba   A&R
Aaron Bay-Schuck   A&R
Dwayne Chin-Quee   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Programming
Nick Bilardello   Design,Art Direction
The Smeezingtons   Producer,Executive Producer
Alex Schwartz   A&R
Brody Brown   Composer,Musician,Instrumentation
Thomas Wesley Pentz   Composer
Joshua Lopez   Composer
Khalil Walton   Composer
Albert Winkler   Composer
Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr.   Composer
John Meredith Wicks   Composer
Jeremy Ruzmma   Composer