Almost all of the material involves Mars in winking bad-boy player mode. The clock is turned back a couple more decades to passable strutting James Brown-isms in 'Perm,' while 'Too Good to Say Goodbye,' co-written by Babyface, draws its structure and certain components from early-'70s Philly soul. Sonically, '80s here means the gamut and the aftershocks felt the following decade, from the sparking midtempo groove in 'Chunky,' which recalls Shalamar even more than album two's 'Treasure,' to some full-blooded new jack swing moves.

This is less an affected retro-soul pastiche - like, say, The Return of Bruno - than it is an amusing '80s-centric tribute to black radio. On his third album, Mars, joined primarily by old comrades Philip Lawrence, Brody Brown, and James Fauntleroy, sheds the reggae and new wave inspirations and goes all-out R&B. Released four years after the multi-platinum Unorthodox Jukebox, 24K Magic - or XXIVK Magic, if you're foolish enough to go by the cover - might as well be considered the full-length sequel to 'Uptown Funk,' Bruno Mars' 2014 hit collaboration with Mark Ronson. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

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