Mark Ronson & The Business Intl: Record Collection

After entering the dance floor in 2003 with an A-list entourage that helped him make Here Comes The Fuzz, Mark Ronson continued to surround himself with marquee names, but traded the hip-hop for horns on the brilliant 2007 covers disc Version. Now Ronson is back for his third joint with some of the usual suspects (Q-Tip, Ghostface Killah, and Phantom Planet frontman Alex Greenwald are repeat offenders), but this time, his Record Collection is dominated by keyboards, most notably vintage ones he bought on eBay. The melding of electro and pop inevitably conjures up the ’80s—as does the cover art and appearances by Boy George and Simon Le Bon—but Record Collection is more than just an homage to style: The writing is diverse and thoughtful, and the contributors are used in such a way that they’re allowed to show off without showing up the songs. The major force on Record Collection, however, is big drama, whether it’s the way Ghostface delivers the slamming chorus to “Lose It (In The End),” how Boy George passionately pleads, “I want somebody to be nice / see the boy I once was in my eyes” during the more subdued “Somebody To Love Me,” or former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall and Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt talking heartbreak during the Depeche Mode-esque “You Gave Me Nothing.” Ronson raised the bar pretty high by making the synth fantasy “Bang Bang Bang” the lead single and placing it first on the album—he and Q-Tip should seriously consider starting their own Gnarls Barkley—but there’s enough big-bang boom throughout to make Record Collection feel complete.