Mr Boombastic is back. Cheeky, cheesy and twice as big-headed as ever. Shaggy, the 'man who loves to make you moist and wet, the man who loves to make you moan and sweat' is not a modest man.
There's enough sexually explicit lyrics to print on a forest of Andrex, all set to a poppy Caribbean beat. Monster single 'It Wasn't Me' is probably the strongest track on the album, though laidback ballad 'Angel', which plunders Steve Miller Band's 'Joker' has already topped the US charts.
Shaggy adds his distinctive vocals to smoothly produced pop tracks which range from the silky 'Keep'n It Real' to the booming rap beats of 'Luv Me Luv Me'. Styles flit between reggae, rap and funk. Shaggy even dabbles with a Latino style on 'Chica Bonita' and there's a funky, happy-house style remix of 'Dance and Shout'.
Such an eclectic range of sounds marks Shaggy as one of the more credible mainstream pop acts around, but his vocals aside, there's not much which stands out from the bland bulk of this album.
Everything seems like it's been McDonald-ised. It's mechanical pap lacking in taste, but at least you know what you're getting. Still, summer's just around the corner and Shaggy, love him or not, is a sunny kind of guy.
