You listen to this, and you’ve got to love it. Stripping songs from his previous albums dating back to ’95 and ’97, these are fourteen tracks that you’ve heard before, and want to keep on playing.
The firstborn “Boombastic” spins it off, with a remixed version by Sting, which doesn’t sound very different from the original, except to hint at a more mellow musical arrangement. You then have the classics - “Oh Carolina”, “In The Summertime”, “Luv Me Luv Me” (featuring Janet Jackson) and “That Girl” (featuring Maxi Priest). Prominently into old-time reggae, Shaggy, alias Orville Burell, is clearly a big fan of the old legends, having done a turn on Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”, while “Why You Treat Me So Bad””flicks a part of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues”, and the adorable “Piece Of My Heart” has a bit by Erma Franklin.
This article was first published on 01 May 2002.