THE self-proclaimed bombastic Mr Fantastic's back - and modest as ever.

"They don't call me Mr Lover because I like ice-cream," he croons on the album's title track. "I am Mr Lover because I fulfil dreams." Yes, er, thanks for that, Shaggy. You wouldn't have thought a guy nicknamed after a Scooby-Doo character would have such an assured sense of his own sex appeal, but there's not much that can hold back Shaggy. Of course, it helps that he's got a voice that suits reggae down to the ground, and while he sits firmly in the chart-friendly end of the genre, he's still worth listening to, if only for the variety he manages to conjure up.

Hookie Jookie sounds like the reggae version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, while single Hey Sexy Lady manages the Ennio Morricone equivalent. Elsewhere, there's the splendid Strength Of A Woman, while Barrington Levy and Chaka Khan notch noteworthy guest spots. He may sometimes stray towards the territory of boy bands, but Shaggy does have the extra class to stand out from the crowd.

Updated: 10:15 Thursday, November 21, 2002