Record Collection is the third studio album by British producerMark Ronson. The album was released under the moniker Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. and was released on 27 September 2010 in the UK and on 28 September 2010 in the US.
The cover, credited to art directors Gerard Saint and Mat Maitland, made reference to several famous record covers, notably Rio by Duran Duran (whose members, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, appeared on the album).
"Bang Bang Bang" was the first single released from the album, on 9 July 2010. The single peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, marking Ronson's fourth Top 10 hit; as well as peaking at number 18 on the Irish Singles Chart.
"The Bike Song" was the second single released, on 17 September 2010.
"Somebody to Love Me" was the third single released. It was to be released on 6 December 2010, however due to high interest in the single, it was moved forward to 26 November 2010.[1]
Record Collection was generally well-received by critics. It holds a score of 70 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The AV Club's Marc Hawthorne assigned the album a grade of A−, saying: "Ronson raised the bar pretty high by making the synth fantasy "Bang Bang Bang" the lead single and placing it first on the album... but there's enough big-bang boom throughout to make Record Collection feel complete." Other positive reviews came from Entertainment Weekly, who described the album as "impressively varied" and added that "Ronson's got the production chops to hold it all together;" and AllMusic, who praised the album as "one of the best albums of [Ronson's] career." A review from Pitchfork writer Stephen M. Deusner was mixed – "It's a bit too clipped and choppy to be especially funky," he wrote, "but it does keep things fleet and agile as Ronson introduces and develops new ideas, revealing a musical curiosity that Version seemed to preclude." Other reviews, while praising guests such as Boy George and Rose Elinor Dougall, were unimpressed by Ronson's stylistic approach. Dot Music described the album as "disappointingly weak", while Uncut noted that the album's guests were the only thing that "save[s] the venture from total ignominy."
Rose Elinor Dougall – keyboards, co-lead vocals on "You Gave Me Nothing", lead vocals on "Hey Boy", backing vocals on "The Night Last Night" and "Sound of Plastic"
Additional engineering, editing and programming by Vaughan Merrick at 90 West Street, New York apart from "The Color of Crumar" (recorded by Ben Kane and D'angelo assisted by Chris Soper and mixed by Ben Kane at MSR Studios and Electric Lady Studios), "Selector" and "Missing Words" (recorded by Thomas Brenneck and Vaughan Merrick and mixed by Kennie Takahashi at Little Big Room, Los Angeles).
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