Music / Quench: Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson - Version

Does what it says on the tin

By Sofie Jenkinson

As a rule, albeit one of over generalised and grandiosely assuming proportions, there are two occurrences in the field of music that are rarely enjoyable; cover versions and compilations.

The combination of the two smacks of arrogance with a hint of lunacy. Add to this already repugnant mix a marching band’s worth of noodling brass instruments and you have is something akin to a reconstituted broth made from the unsuspecting body parts of ‘the talented’.

Overtly summery by nature Version offers up glimmers of real enjoyment as a funked up beat saunters in, most welcome, in parts. No doubt this will make this album a storming success.

It is the combination of moments like these with the unquestionable talent and sheer presence of some collaborators that save this album from sliding into oblivion. Both Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse appear with pluck. Drenching note after note in their unique vocal stylings and intonation, respecting, rather than stamping on, the spirit of the oringials. The appearance of the late ODB is unsurprisingly spot on and saves an otherwise disastrous track.

However, for the most part every turn sees Ronson, pork pie hat and all, burying his shiny metal axe of a trumpet deep into the warm tender flesh of each moment of music gone by.

Sweet, sticky blood spraying out as each root, toot and toot diluting both the spirit and pace of the original, leaving nothing but a ghost in its wake. From groundbreaking British indie bands (The Smiths, The Charlatans) to iconic Americans (Britney, ODB) to new acts (Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs), nobody is safe.

Granted it is an interesting experiment, the kind that can move music forward but for the main part Version pushes in the wrong direction and ends up slumped against the wall. Put simply, for the most part, this is a turgid lump of nothingness.

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