Time for another review of an album nobody wanted but which I somehow found in my postbox anyway. This month, we’re giving “Mr Lover Lover: The Best of Shaggy…Part 1” a more in-depth listen than it was ever supposed to receive.
In some ways you have to be impressed at someone who can produce several albums of music in which every song is a lecherous rap addressed at one or more women, virtually pleading with them to have sex with you, over samples of the most unlikely music. But Shaggy has done exactly that, and in this best of, he’s presented us with no less than fourteen examples of this unending catalogue of ladybothering. Well, actually, he’s presented us with thirteen examples, because the last track is the same as the first track.
The cover photo – where a stock picture of a woman in a bikini has been unconvincingly superimposed over Shaggy looking like he’s creeping up on her with his flies unzipped – sets the tone for the entire record, though unfortunately while this hints at the lyrical content it gives no warning of the alarming samples contained within: Janet Jackson, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and “Green Onions” by Booker T and the MG’s are all in there, and Boombastic actually samples “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, which is ironic because when the song comes on I just want to get it off.
| Track | Title | Word 1 | Word 2 | Word 3 | Word 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boombastic (Sting Remix) | Vacuous | self | aggrandizing | muck |
| 2 | In the Summertime | Lame | cover, | extra | rapping |
| 3 | Oh Carolina | “Oh | Carolina | jump | across”? |
| 4 | Luv Me Luv Me | Needy | with | Jacko | samples |
| 5 | Nice and Lovely | Lecherous | lyrics | over | be-bop |
| 6 | Train is Coming | About | sex | not | trains |
| 7 | Why You Treat Me So Bad | Couldn’t | actually | hear | Shaggy |
| 8 | Big Up | Fast, | noisy | and | meaningless |
| 9 | Piece of My Heart | Sentimental | with | reggae | shouting |
| 10 | Sexy Body Girl | Sleazy | song | samples | Survivor |
| 11 | Something Different | Creepy | and | not | different |
| 12 | That Girl | Great | sample | tragically | wasted |
| 13 | Get Up Stand Up | Bob | Marley’s | grave | rotating |
| 14 | Boombastic | The | first | track | again |
I counted up the tracks that start with some variation of Shaggy shouting his own name so you know it’s him, and there’s seven of them. I imagine this is what he does during sex. The name checks at the start are a handy way of knowing who else he’s roped in. Most of the tracks feature someone called Rayvon, to the extent that Shaggy takes a bit of a rest during track seven and it appears to be a Rayvon solo track put here by mistake.
My favourite bit of this album is the line in Boombastic about “your cous cous perfume”. My least favourite bit was the repeat of Boombastic in the final track. They’re apparently different mixes but I couldn’t tell the difference and deciding you want one of your songs to appear twice in your “best of” seems to be overdoing it. The whole album’s overdoing it, though, and my advice to Shaggy is that if he wants to live up to his name he needs to come across as being a bit less desperate.
23 comments on “Four Word Reviews: Mr Lover Lover, The Best of Shaggy Part 1”
He does bother a lot of ladies, doesn’t he?
I’ve always had a conspiracy theory about Shaggy, something I was saving for another time.
Whenever he was interviewed he would pretty much admit he was doing it for the money. You have to admire his honesty.
Actually, hearing that, I’m mostly just relieved that he’s not doing it for sheer love of the music he’s creating.
Oh no. You’d have to be some sort of sadist to think that.
Although, that said, notice how his greatest hits is called Part 1. It’s implying that’s not the end. It’s implying there’s more to come. He’s not quite finished.
There is more to come. Presumably there’s a Part 2 featuring “It Wasn’t Me” and other Craig David era shite.
Surely the epitome of his career was shouting, “Luv me luv me luv me SEX MACHINE” on classic track ‘Luv Me, Luv Me’.
You’re right, it’s been all downhill from there, though it’s worth remembering the climb up to that point wasn’t particularly long or steep.
Also I have to say, that woman on the front isn’t particularly attractive.
The thing that bothers me the most about her is that she’s slightly out of focus. I wonder if she looks like that in real life.
At least she hasn’t pixelated herself, like the front of a Wang Chung album. I would take slightly blurry woman over lacklustre pop music hardly remembered by anyone except possibly Radio 2 woman.
Yes, I would take blurry lady over Wang Chung Man in almost any circumstance.
If you had to give the album a score out of 39, what would you give it?
I think it would have to be a sharp 11 out of 39 for me. The 11 marks are mostly scored by the quiet bits in between tracks, and the fact that it makes me laugh when he shouts “SHAGGY!” at the start of some of the songs. The rest was pap apples.
A sharp 11 isn’t very good at all. I’ve seen you keen and that score is not keen.
It’s less keen than I am when someone tries to talk to me about sports.
You HAVE seen me keen, and this is the polar opposite of that. It’s like there’s a world keen shortage when Shaggy cracks out his limp rhymes.
It’s a straight Nay to the nonny and right back to the no Nay when Shaggy is on the radio. I wonder what he’s doing right now.
Probably following some poor young woman down the street, alternately shouting his own name in a constipated voice and begging her to sleep with him or take her clothes off.
Do you think there’s a market for a Shaggy fly-on-the-wall documentary? If so, can I borrow your hugely expensive video camera and would you like a co-director credit?
I think there is. I’m happy to be involved. My terms are that you pay me money and I don’t do any work. How’s that?
Let me check with my legal team…
{Uh huh. Mmmm hmmm. Yep. Right.}
How about no?
I think I can work with that.
(Sits back smugly satisfied that he has done excellent negotiating)
I for one am chuffed that Shaggy could not only create a full album chocked with hits but also inspire a four word review and twenty plus comments from us.
Let’s face it, he’s punching above his weight with that result.
Agreed. He doesn’t deserve anymore. That’s that #matesquared