John Aizlewood
CD OFTHEWEEK
As Freaky Girl settles into its jogging groove, Orville “Shaggy” Burrell growls over The Kraft’s Stakhanovite vocal legwork and lets slip a chuckle. In an instant, its good-natured lasciviousness encapsulates the unlikely but undisputed king of reggae.
Shaggy’s shtick on Hot Shot (MCA) is straightforward but appealing. His love songs girl meets Shaggy, girl wants Shaggy, Shaggy obliges are platforms to discuss his bedtime prowess (“Passion and ecstasy; you know the drill”, he explains on Not Fair) or his life as a sexually active superstar. It is invariably harmless fluff, but Shaggy is often a spectator on his own album: Dance and Shout heavily samples Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground), and Hope is a close relation of Love of the Common People. Shaggy does not sing as such, so he gets others to do it. Yet when he growls against a choir on Joy You Bring or duets with Samantha Cole on the naughty Luv Me Luv Me, he is impossible to dislike. In fact, he is a guilty delight.