No one can accuseTim “Tim-baland” Mosley of lacking ambition. The super-producer has announced his mission: “To blow up the boundaries and tear down the limits. That’s why I call it Shock Value. From the artists to the production, it will shock the system,” he says.

So anyone mistaking the 36-year-old’s second “solo” set for the results of a seasoned pro inviting his famous mates to do their turns now knows what is really at stake. The charmingly titled closer 2 Man Show might sound like Elton John doing a few instantly recognisable warm-up exercises on the old joanna in time to a metronome. But clearly there must be more to it. Surely?

Few producers have been as successful as Mosley. His signature sound, often created in collaboration with old friend Missy Elliott, married continental and British experimental techniques and Eastern sounds to American R&B and rap with astonishing results. From the late Aaliyah to recent successes with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Fur-tado his music sells, pushing the boundaries of the commercial. He’s the Peter Kay of contemporary pop, a figure who no one can reasonably turn down, although they are aware that the connection benefits him as much as them. It says plenty that tracks fea-turing Björk and Chris Martin were considered below par for inclusion.

It’s no shock, though, that Shock Value sprawls as wildly different talents appear. Furtado and Timberlake join in on the faintly oriental single Give it to Me, where Mosley boasts: “I get half a mil for my beats, you get a couple of gra-a-a-a-and” – a dig at rival producer Scott Storch.

Release is more jaunty Justin fun and Elliott, always a better rapper than Mosley, manages to rhyme “Britney Spears” and “no drawers” on the eerily unsexy Bounce (“Manezh etwah,” groans Timberlake, grimly). Then 50 Cent and Tony Yayo assist Mosley in disguising the charm of Come and Get Me’s gloriously deft backing track.

Still, Mosley’s latest pro-tégée, Keri Hilson, a woman whose songs are published by Keriokey Music (kudos!), impresses throughout. She’s especially effective alongside Pussycat Doll Nicole Scher-zinger on the entrancing soft-rock stomp of Scream, a classic example of the conundrum that faces all men who spend a lot of time in studios – can he get to outer space in his car?

He’s less sure with rock artists. The Hives seem an odd choice to enlist for the short, somewhat flat Throw it on Me, where Mosley rocks like a thirtysomething at a wedding reception. Next to the ghastly Fallout Boy, though, it sounds like the Ramones. Only Justin Warfield’s spoof-gothic act She Wants Revenge sound truly at ease.

Meanwhile, MIA’s Come Around reminds us why Tim-baland doesn’t usually work with bossy-sounding South London Sri Lankan girls.

But what we really want to hear is Björk’s own forthcoming collaboration of equals with Mosley, for which he certainly didn’t charge half a million a track. Shock Value might have its moments but it’s often indigestible. Garlic bread, then. With cheese.

Blackground/Interscope

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