SINCE Mark Ronson’s  Record Collection in 2010, the bi-continental DJ-come-super producer has been going through what has been described in some quarters as a fallow period. For most, that might constitute a poorly received nationwide tour or a lowly charting EP release, but in Ronson’s world it means working with Paul McCartney and overseeing production on triple platinum pop albums. Such accusations are testament to the post Grammy level of fame Ronson was operating at back in 2008 and it’s inevitable plateau, rather than any serious belief that his star may have waned.

Uptown Special again sees Ronson dip into his star studded rolodex for reinforcements, this time enlisting services as disparate as his boyhood hero Stevie Wonder and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. There’s also a debut for Keyonne Starr, a 23 year old soul singer Ronson unearthed after holding a series of X-Factor style auditions up and down the Mississippi Bible belt in search of a “young Chakha Kahn”. When it comes to matchmaking, Ronson’s past record could be described as sketchy, but where Record Collection felt indulgent and bloated, the line-up here feels measured and apposite.

Opening with Wonder’s woozy harmonica cut, the album swaggers into life in the form of the Parker led ‘Summer Breaking’– a skeletal groove which sounds like how you’d imagine Tame Impala if they ditched the psych and started channelling Aja-era Steely Dan. ‘’Feel Right’ sees Mystikal explode over a flurry of funkadelic bass and guitar – the rapper assuming what is ostensibly his best James Brown impression – before giving way to the disco claps and doo wop bass of‘Uptown Funk’, the albums lead single and centre piece, saw Ronson pushed to the point of collapse. He said when trying to figure out the guitar line it took 82 takes over a seven month span to nail it down – the reward is what already feels like a vintage slice of Minneapolis sound.

While there’s an inevitable drop off in intensity on the latter half of the record, one of its highlights comes in the debut of Starr who performs with the conviction and confidence of someone who belies her experience on ‘I Can’t Lose’. Long-time cohort and wing man Andrew Wyatt is ever reliable on the blissed out ‘Heavy and Rolling’, the Miike Snow frontman’s delicate falsetto juxtaposing nicely with the background of glam-cool harmonies and jazzy bass. Wonder bookends the record with more harmonica – ‘Crack in the Pearl pt II’ serving as the intros jauntier and more cosmically tuned bigger brother.

Uptown Special stands up where Ronson’s previous records have sometimes fallen down – in its cohesiveness. Where the names may not have meshed sonically in the past, Uptown Special has a tightness and fluidity which results in an altogether more congruous sound. It’s already delivered him his first number one and is turning heads in the as yet unconquered USA. If the past few years were fallow, then he’d better have enjoyed the peace and quiet while it lasted.