Album Review: Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops and Hooligans

Posted by Anthony - 1st June 2011

Currently enjoying huge sales with his first solo album released last year, Bruno Mars is no overnight success. From an early age he performed in his family's band and when he left school in 2003 he went straight into the music business.

Bruno Mars is a talented musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. In 2006 he met songwriter and producer Philip Lawrence and engineer Ari Levine. They formed a production team called The Smeezingtons who have written and produced a number of best-selling tracks for other artists. Bruno featured on 2 big singles, Nothin' On You by B.o.B and Billionaire by Travis McCoy.

In 2010 Bruno released his first solo album called Doo-Wops and Hooligans, which reached number 1 in the UK and is a platinum seller. Singles from the album to date have been Marry You, Just The Way You Are, Grenade and The Lazy Song, the last 3 reaching No 1 in the UK.

All the songs on the album were co-written by Bruno Mars, produced by The Smeezingtons and engineered by Ari Levine. The production is excellent with a clean, modern sound and feel. Bruno's style is happy pop with reggae and hip hop influences. At times, such as on the track Our First Time, he has a Michael Jackson sound.

What is remarkable about the album is the quality of the songs. Four tracks have already been hits and there is no doubt that the remainder of them could be future hit singles. The stand out song is Talking To The Moon, the one slow ballad on the album. The song is included twice, the second time being an acoustic piano version. This brings me to my only complaint about the album. It has a rather short running time of 42 minutes and with the inclusion of one song twice it did leave me feeling a bit short changed. A few UK only bonus tracks would have been appreciated.

This album is crammed full of top songs and has a happy feel to it. If this doesn't get you dancing around the ironing board I don't know what will! Based on this evidence Bruno Mars is here to stay and it will be interesting to see how he performs on stage when he tours here later in the year.