Unorthodox Jukebox by Bruno Mars

I will gladly say it, you can put me in the Bruno Mars fan club. This young man has got an incredible voice, and perhaps an even greater talent. Channeling Sam Cooke, Prince and Micheal Jackson and that my friends is not just hyperbole this fellow might have the strongest, most versatile voice in music today.

As good, as catchy, as the first album was there is no doubt in my mind that this album is better than his first one. The first single Locked Out of Heaven has been all over the radio but even that is more of a generic hit, more a result of Mars ability to make a catchy hit in his sleep than a reflection of his talent.

On Moonshine Mars sounds like he has come off a Micheal album from the eighties with a chorus that is silky smooth, even makes me think a little of Dan Hartman. The first song on the album is Young Girls a song that Mars sang a couple of months ago on Saturday Night Live. This will soon be soaring to the top of your charts without a doubt.

Four other songs on the album deserve exceptional notice and in sets of two they are as different as any you will find. When I was Your Man finds the singer lamenting the loss of a woman that he should have bought flowers and held her hand. He was however too young and too dumb and now she is Dancing with another man. Heartbreak through the voice of Bruno Mars is pop friendly but that should mitigate this exceptional talent. If one is still not convinced the last two minutes and thirteen seconds on the album should seal the deal. If I Knew could have been sung by any of the forefathers of black music from the sixties, for me Sam Cooke comes to mind but you can take your pick. It is a perfect song.

To talk about the other two songs of note one needs to turn the page and put the kids to bed because that is when bad Bruno comes out. With his nod to Prince and perhaps even Marvin Gaye and Rick James the song Gorillas has Mars dropping his Mf's with the best of them advising his girl " you and me baby will be making love like gorilla's." After expressing no worries about the cops being called about their loud carnal activities, his girl calling him Daddy, and calling him, for you Prince, a sexy mother,,,,,r, we know that Bruno knows where all his sweet songs end up. It is a contrast but it is well crafted and Prince is surely smiling somewhere.

Following that song with a spoken into about squirrels and MF's again we here Treasure which starts like Delirious era Prince but before you get settled you get comfortable with another naughty song you realize this is just another slice of eighties pop sounding more like Kool and the Gang or El Debarge than anything else.

In short, and, with Bruno's height, that is indeed a pun, one does not know who Bruno Mars really is. Perhaps the Pandora skit on SNL earlier this year spoke volumes, perhaps the song title of Jukebox is meaningful. Whatever it is Mars has numerous influences and with his talent his albums are like a tour of popular black music of the last few decades. He has a voice like sugar and is incredibly talented.

This is a very good album.