Happy Love Sick

by Shifty

Overview

Happy Love Sick is the solo debut from Shifty, an impressively tattooed fella who was Crazy Town's frontman. He's traded in every last bit of that band's aggression and heaviness for a light, frothy pop-rap sound that also has traces of dancehall, funk, and neo-soul. Along with collaborator TC and others, Shifty has crafted a sweet summer album loaded with lilting ballads and love raps. Just about every song is about love and sex and is built around the same kind of bouncing hip-hop beats with acoustic guitar combo that worked so well for Sugar Ray, 311, and others. The best songs on the album sound like they've already been pumping out of car radios for weeks: "EZ Cuz You're Beautiful," a sticky love song based on Minnie Riperton's "Loving You," "Turning Me On," a slinky Neptunes lift produced by Paul Oakenfold, and the bopping "Slide Along Side." Actually the best song on the album had been on radio for a while: "Starry Eyed Surprise" is a glittering party track also produced by Oakenfold that was featured on his album from 2002, Bunkka. The two Oakenfold productions unfortunately show the weakness of the album as they are much more successfully produced and are quite a bit more exciting than the song after song of stoned grooves on the rest of the album. A little more variation might have served Shifty a little better and made the album much stronger. Also, even though it is a poignant song about his best friend who died, he probably should have left "A Better Place" in his lyric book, as its platitudes really throw a spotlight on Shifty's shallowness. Shallow is perfect for summer pop but just sounds dopey on the serious tracks like this and the ponderous and boring "Take Away the Pain." A couple missteps can't dim the good-time peaceful easy feeling though, and Happy Love Sick is a surprisingly good album that should be a feature at late-summer slow drags, beach bonfires, and freshman mixers. ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2004
Label:	Maverick
UPC:	0093624869726

Tracks

1. Special
2. Ez Cuz You're Beautiful
3. Slide Along Side
4. Turning Me On
5. Lolita
6. Magical
7. Shorty Rock
8. Starry Eyed Surprise
9. A Better Place
10. When We Were Young
11. Take Away the Pain
12. All Along

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Shifty   Primary Artist,Vocals
Paul Oakenfold   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Tom Dumont   Guest Artist
Mark Ralph   Guitar
Emerson Swinford   Guitar
TC   Vocals

Technical Credits

Seth Binzer   Composer
Ed Chadwick   Assistant Engineer
John O   Musician,Producer,Engineer
Spike   Mixing
Andy Gray   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Steve Osborne   Vocal Mixing
Ian Green   Engineer,Musician,Producer
Jeff Turzo   Mixing
Brian Gardner   Mastering
She Wants Revenge   Musician
Richard Rudolph   Composer
Ko and the Knockouts   Composer
Michael Patterson   Mixing
Minnie Riperton   Composer
Tom Dumont   Composer,Engineer,Musician,Producer
Ringside   Engineer,Musician,Producer
Bret "Epic" Mazur   Composer,Engineer,Musician
DJ AM   Musician
Epic Soundtracks   Producer
Shifty   Composer,Musician,Producer,Photography,Art Direction,Vocal Producer,Vocal Arrangement,Executive Producer
Paul Oakenfold   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Vocal Engineer
Flem   Art Direction
Sqrl   Producer
Kelly Gravel   Logo Design
Dave Church   A&R
Carmen Rizzo   Vocal Engineer
Guy Oseary   A&R
Chapman Baehler   Photography
TC   Engineer,Musician,Producer,Vocal Producer,Vocal Arrangement,Executive Producer