REVIEW: Various Artists, Music To Shag By (Beast/Universal)
- Bill Holmes
Star Wars: Phantom Menace is fast becoming the first movie that does not need one dollar of paid advertising. See, yet ANOTHER freebie reference! Ka-ching! Sorry...
That would leave the door wide open for the sequel to Austin Powers, and you'd better believe that from magazine covers to Heineken ads, the Mike Myers shag--a--thon is all over that. And since every screamingly fast object creates a draft vacuum, other objects get to cruise in their wake like barnacles, some good, some eeee--vulllllll.
Music To Shag By is a collection of lava lamp love songs, most of which survivors of the original decade will remember. (Yes, we survivors do remember some details of the decade!) Bookended by the Jones boys - that's "Love Boat" Jack and "Trouser Snake" Tom to you young'ns - the eighteen song romp glorifies the era when the vocals were as lazy as the listeners. String arrangements and tiki whistles rule most of these love grooves, as crooners like Andy Williams and Vic Dana warble through wide collars and puca shells.
Chris Montez, who depending on your outlook is either the coolest or wimpiest vocalist in recorded history, checks in with the classic "The More I See You," as do Peaches And Herb ("For You Love"), Jerry Butler ("I Dig You Baby") and the amazing Dusty Springfield ("The Look Of Love"). If you need a little more hipness in your shag serenade, it's hard to top three bonafide pop classics like "A Groovy Kind Of Love," "You Showed Me" and "Love Is All Around." And one more vote for Tom Jones, whose gospel-influenced version of "Without Love" may be way over the top, but man, that guy can sing rings around just about anyone when he feels like it.
"Shag" catch-phrases will soon go the way of "Where's The Beef?" and "Show Me The Money," but song standards obviously live on - some of these date back fifty years. Like most compilations, appeal is limited, but the cross-section here is wide enough that there's something for everybody. Did I mention Tom Jones?
