Pop Superstar Bruno Mars will releases a limited deluxe edition of his double platinum certified hit album, UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX.
The new limited deluxe edition of UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX features the original album as well as five additional tracks, including new remixes of ‘Moonshine’ and ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’, the original demos of ‘Young Girls’ and ‘Gorilla’ as well as a brand new, unheard and unreleased track, ‘Old & Crazy (Feat. Esperanza Spalding)’.
Review
Bruno Mars’ debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans made the talented
singer/writer/producer into a star, he racked up hit singles, hosted Saturday
Night Live, and became something of a romantic icon thanks to loverman anthems
like “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade.” On the way to writing and
recording his second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, something seems to have gone
sour for Mars. Where on his debut he sang about falling on a grenade for his
girl, on this record he’s more likely to throw her on top of a grenade.
Between the songs about how he can’t help but succumb to the dubious charms of
young girls (“Young Girls”), the “B” who stole his money and left him
broke (“Natalie”), and the type of charmer who can only be made happy by fat
stacks of money (“Money Make Her Smile”), Mars’ opinion of the opposite
sex seems to have taken a nosedive. Add in the song about taking cocaine and
having a romantic evening so violent the cops are called (“Gorilla”) and
it’s clear that the heart of the album is a cold, dark one. That the rest of
the songs have some of the easy-going charm of Doo-Wops, like the lilting reggae
come-on “Show Me” or the MJ-inspired disco jam “Treasure,” isn’t quite
enough to overcome the queasy feeling that comes with even a cursory listen to
the lyrics. It’s too bad, because at his best, like on the single “Locked
Out of Heaven,” which sounds like a breezy mashup of “Beat It,” the
Police, and Dire Straits, or on the Sam Cooke-inspired album-closing ballad "If
I Knew,” Mars’ light vocal delivery and way with a hook is quite appealing.
The record sounds good, too, with able production help from heavy hitters like
Mark Ronson, Diplo, Emile Haynie, and his own crew, the Smeezingtons. Too bad
it’s a step back from Doo-Wops in so many ways, leaving people who saw
promise in his debut shaking their heads in disappointment and hoping Mars can
sort out his feelings about women and get back to being a sweet romancer,
instead of an icky hater. Tim Sendra – AllMusic