American Flight 1493 (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Mark Ronson)
Once upon a crowded club in San Francisco, I spent two hours listening to Mark Ronson spin records. I wasn't there to hear Mark Ronson. I didn't particularly like what I heard anyway so I didn't care in the least. I was listening to kill time. I was waiting and I don't wait well.
I read better than I wait, but I tend to read too fast. I sat down on American flight 1493 and cracked open "After Dark", the newest novel from my favorite Japanese author Haruki Murakami. In less than two hours I was finished and staring out the window at the blanket of clouds floating beneath the windows of the airplane. So now I am waiting again. Two more hours left on the airplane to kill. My entertainment has become the coffee grounds left lingering on a dying coffee filter. It's left the caffeine in my brain, but is essentially all used up. Re-reading a brilliant book doesn't generally make it better in my mind. I am a first-impressions-really-matter kind of girl.
Mari nods. The record ends, the automatic turntable lifts the needle, and the tone arm drops onto its rest. The bartender approaches the player to change records. He carefully lifts the platter and slides it into its jacket. Then he takes out the next record, examines its surface under a light, and sets it on the turntable. He presses a button and the needle descends onto the record. Faint scratching. Then Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" begins to play. Harry Carney's langorous bass clarinet performs solo. The bartender's unhurried movements give the place its own special time flow.~ Excerpt from "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami
So here I am, killing time and waiting, back with Mark Ronson. In the approximately two years since Mr. Ronson and I stood in the same San Francisco club, he's become all manner of hit-maker. From Lily Allen1 to Amy Winehouse and soon to be Candie Payne2, Mark's understanding of groove has made him one of the hottest producers on the other side of the Atlantic. So here I sit, the first-impressions-really-matter kind of girl, giving him a second chance and actually listening to his record Version.
I have no idea who is on this record, don't know why he made it, why these particular cover songs, etc, but quite a few voices have popped out at me as familiar... the aforementioned Ms. Allen, Amy Winehouse, Ricky Wilson (Kaiser Chiefs), Robbie Williams, etc. On one hand, I'm glad I don't know a whole lot about this record. It forces me to process the sound based purely upon it's merit and without my normal prejudice.3.
Mari asks the bartender, "Don't you ever play anything but LPs?"
"I don't like CDs," he replies.
"Why not?"
"They're too shiny."
~ Excerpt from "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami
I let the album play through and wonder if I might need to refine my earlier statement, perhaps I should more often be a upon-second-impression-things-might-not-be-so-bad kinda girl. I have been won over by some of the best string arrangements I've heard in years. Soaring where appropriate and hiding in the shadows when necessary (ex. "Stop Me" and "Valerie" are particular well done). The funk and horns added to most of these songs sound so perfectly natural. And I swear to god, these have to be the Dap-Kings blowing full force on "The Only One I Know". No one else could have pulled off the perfect timing on the horns and the oh-so-authoritative percussion4 I never thought I'd actually appreciate a Charlatans' song sans Hammond organ but I am left a bit stunned and with a "Wow" on the tip of my lips. It's actually not particularly easy to take a musical staple like The Smith's "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" and completely re-imagine it into a dancehall stomping mashup with The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". Even if it the combination of strings, drum machine and church bells makes Morrissey roll in his polyester shirts, it more than amuses me as the plane floats above the Grand Canyon.
Mark Ronson has me pleasantly surprised. This record isn't nearly the bland dance-by-numbers 'ehhhh' we heard in the crowded San Francisco club. Even if it is a bit presumptuous to have released a record full of covers you produced, this record is relevant and fresh, pretty much like everything Mark touches lately. Something about the whole "Mark Ronson" sound is so intuitive to me. Beyond the soulful use horns, Mark's clearly idolizes the 60's pop world of luminaries like Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. In fact, had Phil Spector worked with The Funk Brothers5 on a record of "modern" covers and mashups, the result could have been pretty damn similar to Version. I don't suppose I could actually come up with any higher praise than that.
"My uncle used to have lots of LPs," Mari says. "Mostly jazz records. He could never get himself to like the sound of CDs. He used to play his stuff for me when I went over there. I was too young to understand the music, but I always liked the smell of old record jackets and the sound of the needle landing in the grooves."~ Excerpt from "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami
1 The actual reason I was in said club.
2 I really still think this girl should win over the world.
3 Oh, hell yes, do I carry musical prejudice with me. You're kidding yourself if you don't think you do.
4 Homer Steiweiss really does have his own signature sense of timing. I heart Binky but sometimes I wonder if Homer isn't holding it all together musically.
5 THE songwriting soul of Motown.
Buy some: Mark Ronson, Haruki Murakami
Comments
Oh, yeah. I love that Mark Ronson record. It seems a little superfluous, but it's also definitely a record of love. "Valerie" is so brilliant that the Zutons must be smacking their heads for missing how much better the song sounds with a Motown beat. And I love how he had the guts to turn "Pretty Green" into a silly, annoying Boney M-type pop song.
Also, did you notice how he put in the stuttering guitar line from "You Keep Me Hanging On" into the chorus of his version of "The Only One I Know"? I didn't actually realize it until listening again after reading this post.
Posted by: Reid | October 14, 2007 8:51 AM