Mars, Bruno

Vinyl Records and Rare LPs:

	24K Magic New - LP - 558305-1 Sealed Latest Repressed Gatefold With Gold Foil Printing. "Released Four Years After The Multi-platinum Unorthodox Jukebox, 24k Magic -- Or Xxivk Magic, If You're Foolish Enough To Go By The Cover -- Might As Well Be Considered The Full-length Sequel To "Uptown Funk," Bruno Mars' 2014 Hit Collaboration With Mark Ronson. On His Third Album, Mars, Joined Primarily By Old Comrades Philip Lawrence, Brody Brown, And James Fauntleroy, Sheds The Reggae And New Wave Inspirations And Goes All-out R&b. This Is Less An Affected Retro-soul Pastiche -- Like, Say, The Return Of Bruno -- Than It Is An Amusing '80s-centric Tribute To Black Radio. Sonically, '80s Here Means The Gamut And The Aftershocks Felt The Following Decade, From The Sparking Midtempo Groove In "Chunky," Which Recalls Shalamar Even More Than Album Two's "Treasure," To Some Full-blooded New Jack Swing Moves. The Clock Is Turned Back A Couple More Decades To Passable Strutting James Brown-isms In "Perm," While "Too Good To Say Goodbye," Co-written By Babyface, Draws Its Structure And Certain Components From Early-'70s Philly Soul. Almost All Of The Material Involves Mars In Winking Bad-boy Player Mode. He's Often Just Ampin' Like Bobby, Yet The Performances Are Undeniable, Dealt Out With All The Determination And Attitude Of A Kid Who Just Bought A Custom Lavender Razz With His Paper Route Money. Lead Single "24k Magic" Is A Scrupulous Compound Of Early-'80s Funk Tricks, Another Needed Injection Of Good-time Energy Into Commercial Airwaves, But The Album's True Triumph Is Buried Near The End -- Not That It Takes Long To Get There -- And Scrapes The Dawn Of The '90s. In Living Color, Decked Out With A Rattling Breakbeat And Zipping Bassline, "Finesse" Revisits The Era When Producers Like Teddy Riley, Dave "Jam" Hall, And Dr. Freeze Pushed Their Genre Forward By Fusing Hip-hop To What They Learned From Electronic Post-disco R&b Pioneered By Leon Sylvers Iii, Kashif, And Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis. Like Much Of What Precedes It, The Song Is A Blast. Those Who Want Their Rich And Modern Synthesizer Funk Minus Flash Would Do Well To Seek Bugz In The Attic's "Consequences," Dâm-funk's "Galactic Fun," Amalia's "Welcome To Me," And Anderson Paak's "Am I Wrong," For Starters." AMG Review By Andy Kellman. more
	24K Magic New - LP - 558305 Sealed 2016 Gatefold With Digital Album Download. more
	Doo-Wops & Hooligans New - LP - 525393 Sealed 2010 Original With Custom Hype Sticker On Shrink. Features The Hits "Grenade" And "Just The Way You Are." more
	Doo-Wops & Hooligans Colored Vinyl - New - 075678647062 Sealed 2020 Special Edition Reissue On Translucent Orange Vinyl. Different Bar Code To 2010 Original. This Is The Debut Album From Mars, Containing His Radio Smashes "Just The Way You Are", "Grenade", "The Lazy Song" & "Count On Me". more
	Doo-Wops & Hooligans New - LP - 7567-88930-3 Sealed 2024 reissue. Tiny custom hype sticker on shrink. "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. When he turns up the volume and boosts the tempo, however, the album suffers a little. "Runaway Baby" is a pretty cheesy rocker, suffering from clichéd lyrics and production. Faring better thanks to some dynamics and nuanced production is the pleasantly silly "Marry You." (The less said about the over-the-top "Grenade," the better.) 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. As it is, Doo-Wops & Hooligans is an uneven debut that shows why Mars is likeable and popular, but doesn’t tap into his full potential as a writer or producer." All Music Guide - Tim Sendra more
	Doo-Wops & Hooligans Used Import - 0075678647000 2020 limited edition pressing on Yellow vinyl; EU import. Small corner crease. The debut release from the 11x Grammy winner. more
	Grenade Sessions New - 10 - 530676 Sealed, Limited Edition 2010 Record Store Day Exclusive 10 Inch. Tracks Are "Grenade (Album Version)," "Catch A Grenade (The Hooligans Remix)," "Grenade (Passion Pit Remix)" And "Grenade (Acoustic)." more
	Unorthodox Jukebox New - LP - 531747 Sealed 2013 Original With Custom Song Hype Sticker On Shrink. Features The Hit Single "Locked Out Of Heaven." more
	Unorthodox Jukebox New - LP - 531747-1 Sealed 2021 Reissue. Contains The Hits "Locked Out Of Heaven", "Gorilla", "When I Was Your Man" & "Treasure". "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." AMG Review by Tim Sendra. more
	XXIVK Magic Colored Vinyl - New - 558305-1 Sealed 2022 Limited Edition Gatefold Reissue Pressed On Orange Vinyl. "Released Four Years After The Multi-platinum Unorthodox Jukebox, 24k Magic -- Or Xxivk Magic, If You're Foolish Enough To Go By The Cover -- Might As Well Be Considered The Full-length Sequel To "Uptown Funk," Bruno Mars' 2014 Hit Collaboration With Mark Ronson. On His Third Album, Mars, Joined Primarily By Old Comrades Philip Lawrence, Brody Brown, And James Fauntleroy, Sheds The Reggae And New Wave Inspirations And Goes All-out R&b. This Is Less An Affected Retro-soul Pastiche -- Like, Say, The Return Of Bruno -- Than It Is An Amusing '80s-centric Tribute To Black Radio. Sonically, '80s Here Means The Gamut And The Aftershocks Felt The Following Decade, From The Sparking Midtempo Groove In "Chunky," Which Recalls Shalamar Even More Than Album Two's "Treasure," To Some Full-blooded New Jack Swing Moves. The Clock Is Turned Back A Couple More Decades To Passable Strutting James Brown-isms In "Perm," While "Too Good To Say Goodbye," Co-written By Babyface, Draws Its Structure And Certain Components From Early-'70s Philly Soul. Almost All Of The Material Involves Mars In Winking Bad-boy Player Mode. He's Often Just Ampin' Like Bobby, Yet The Performances Are Undeniable, Dealt Out With All The Determination And Attitude Of A Kid Who Just Bought A Custom Lavender Razz With His Paper Route Money. Lead Single "24k Magic" Is A Scrupulous Compound Of Early-'80s Funk Tricks, Another Needed Injection Of Good-time Energy Into Commercial Airwaves, But The Album's True Triumph Is Buried Near The End -- Not That It Takes Long To Get There -- And Scrapes The Dawn Of The '90s. In Living Color, Decked Out With A Rattling Breakbeat And Zipping Bassline, "Finesse" Revisits The Era When Producers Like Teddy Riley, Dave "Jam" Hall, And Dr. Freeze Pushed Their Genre Forward By Fusing Hip-hop To What They Learned From Electronic Post-disco R&b Pioneered By Leon Sylvers Iii, Kashif, And Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis. Like Much Of What Precedes It, The Song Is A Blast. Those Who Want Their Rich And Modern Synthesizer Funk Minus Flash Would Do Well To Seek Bugz In The Attic's "Consequences," Dâm-funk's "Galactic Fun," Amalia's "Welcome To Me," And Anderson Paak's "Am I Wrong," For Starters." AMG Review By Andy Kellman. more
	XXIVK Magic Colored Vinyl - New - 558305-1 Sealed 2022 Limited Edition Gatefold Reissue Pressed On Orange Vinyl. "Released Four Years After The Multi-platinum Unorthodox Jukebox, 24k Magic -- Or Xxivk Magic, If You're Foolish Enough To Go By The Cover -- Might As Well Be Considered The Full-length Sequel To "Uptown Funk," Bruno Mars' 2014 Hit Collaboration With Mark Ronson. On His Third Album, Mars, Joined Primarily By Old Comrades Philip Lawrence, Brody Brown, And James Fauntleroy, Sheds The Reggae And New Wave Inspirations And Goes All-out R&b. This Is Less An Affected Retro-soul Pastiche -- Like, Say, The Return Of Bruno -- Than It Is An Amusing '80s-centric Tribute To Black Radio. Sonically, '80s Here Means The Gamut And The Aftershocks Felt The Following Decade, From The Sparking Midtempo Groove In "Chunky," Which Recalls Shalamar Even More Than Album Two's "Treasure," To Some Full-blooded New Jack Swing Moves. The Clock Is Turned Back A Couple More Decades To Passable Strutting James Brown-isms In "Perm," While "Too Good To Say Goodbye," Co-written By Babyface, Draws Its Structure And Certain Components From Early-'70s Philly Soul. Almost All Of The Material Involves Mars In Winking Bad-boy Player Mode. He's Often Just Ampin' Like Bobby, Yet The Performances Are Undeniable, Dealt Out With All The Determination And Attitude Of A Kid Who Just Bought A Custom Lavender Razz With His Paper Route Money. Lead Single "24k Magic" Is A Scrupulous Compound Of Early-'80s Funk Tricks, Another Needed Injection Of Good-time Energy Into Commercial Airwaves, But The Album's True Triumph Is Buried Near The End -- Not That It Takes Long To Get There -- And Scrapes The Dawn Of The '90s. In Living Color, Decked Out With A Rattling Breakbeat And Zipping Bassline, "Finesse" Revisits The Era When Producers Like Teddy Riley, Dave "Jam" Hall, And Dr. Freeze Pushed Their Genre Forward By Fusing Hip-hop To What They Learned From Electronic Post-disco R&b Pioneered By Leon Sylvers Iii, Kashif, And Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis. Like Much Of What Precedes It, The Song Is A Blast. Those Who Want Their Rich And Modern Synthesizer Funk Minus Flash Would Do Well To Seek Bugz In The Attic's "Consequences," Dâm-funk's "Galactic Fun," Amalia's "Welcome To Me," And Anderson Paak's "Am I Wrong," For Starters." AMG Review By Andy Kellman. more