Spotlight: Version (Mark Ronson)

One of my favourite albums of 2007 was Mark Ronson's Version. It's got to be one of the best cover albums ever made. Some of the songs are reinvented more dramatically than others, but all make for enjoyable listens.

Tracks:
1. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (feat. The Daptone Horns)
Here we get a peppy instrumental remake of the Coldplay tune. The Daptone Horns also supplied some instrumentation for Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and I believe are part of The Dap-King which back Sharon Jones. This is a great album opener, but just a taste of what's to come.

2. Oh My God (featuring Lily Allen)
Songstress Lily Allen does good work with her vocals on this remake of the Kaiser Chiefs' song from their excellent album Employment. It's not better than the original, but it's still damned good.

3. Stop Me (featuring Daniel Merriweather)
This one is amazing. It's a remake of The Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" with a bit of "You Keep Me Hanging On" thrown in at the end. The arrangement is quite different, but it's frickin' awesome. As great as the original is, this one rivals it. One of the best singles released in 2007, easily. Daniel Merriweather's vocals are perfect for this song.

4. Toxic (featuring Tiggers)
This track isn't one of my favourites. It's a remake of the Britney Spears song and it's okay, better than the original but still not a wonderful listen. Still, I wouldn't call it bad either. It's just not too exciting compared to most of the other tracks, which are of extremely high quality.

5. Valerie (featuring Amy Winehouse)
This is another one that rivals the original, which was performed by The Zutons. It's hard to pick one over the other, but at the moment I'm writing this I would lean toward the Ronson and Winehouse version. Truly a wonderful listen, this!

6. Apply Some Pressure (featuring Paul Smith)
The Maxïmo Park vocalist helps remake his own song here. This is one that I don't find too different from the original, but as that is a highly enjoyable listen, so is this.

7. Inversion
A nice instrumental interlude here

8. Pretty Green (featuring SantoGold)
A remake of The Jam with a unique but in the end highly enjoyable sound. This one is a bit addictive.

9. Just (featuring Phantom Planet)
Not thrilled that this saw a single re-release over some of the great unreleased tracks, but I do still very much like it. It's a remake of the Radiohead tune.

10. Amy (featuring Kenna)
This is definitely my favourite track on the album that hasn't seen single release. Truly amazing work here. It's a remake of the Ryan Adams track.

11. The Only One I Know (featuring Robbie Williams)
I really like Robbie Williams, but when I saw that he was the vocalist on a Charlatans remake, I couldn't help but wonder if it turned out all that well. However, I think it ended up top notch. I never should've doubted Mr. Williams.

12. Diversion
Another cool instrumental interlude

13. L.S.F. (featuring Kasabian)
This one is also not amongst my top tracks from the album, but it's still a good listen. The original was by Kasabian, and here they remake themselves with Ronson. I don't believe I've heard the original, so I can't compare the two.

14. Outversion
And with this brief bit, it ends.

Listen to a tune or two, and if you like what you hear, then trust that the rest of the album is just as good.