by Ben » Mon Oct 21, 2002 1:51 am
Preamble: The only other No Doubt album I own is Tragic Kingdom, purchased way the hell back when, after hearing some of it on one of those "seven CD sides at seven" dealies, and basically thinking, "Whoa, this music is goofy, but it's pretty damn tight." My opinion of Tragic Kingdom is that it's one of the very VERY few albums I own, or have ever heard, that really, seriously, doesn't have a genuinely weak song on it, and there's a LOT of songs on there. The musicianship is outstanding, the rhythms are angular and funky, and Stefani's voice is unique enough, and good enough, to carry the whole thing off. Then I missed the followup album, because I'd forgotten about 'em.
Anyway, flipping around randomly on cable a couple weeks ago, I saw a snippet of a video for the song "Underneath It All", and I went, "Damn, Gwen's lookin' pretty good." But the music didn't much hit me, much like the other songs I'd heard from them over the past couple years.
So anyway, I'm riding around in the car a couple days later, and that very same song comes on and I blast it way up high, and I shift gears on that badboy pronto -- Hey, it's pretty good! And I like that middle part where the Jamaican chick takes over! Maybe I should pick this one up.
But of course, I didn't.
Except today I was in Target shopping for paper towels and Swiffer pads, and happened by the CD rack, and thought, "Hey! I haven't bought a CD in quite a while (months and months), let's give it a shot!" Interestingly, that was the basic thought process for the paper towels as well.
I get home tonight, and during a lull in the Angels-Giants game (one of the most exciting baseball games I've ever seen), I pop it in...
You ever have one of those songs that you hear in various places that you think sounds pretty cool, but you don't know who it's by, or what it's called, so you basically have no hope of ever finding out what the song is so you give up? I gave up on such a song a month or so ago...
...and then, much to my shock and pleasure, I find that that very song is the first song on this very album. That was a weird, welcome experience. The song is "Hella Good", and they play it in dance clubs and strip clubs a lot, and it is pretty much the hottest fucking tune I've heard in years. I was pleased with my purchase.
Then a funny thing happened, though... the rest of the album came on. Now, don't get me wrong, my opinion of the band members hasn't changed much -- really great singer/musicians/songwriters, all that stuff. It's just that the wicked edginess and musical creativity of that earlier album seems largely missing from this outing. Angular guitar riffs have been replaced by Casiotone bleeping and plinking, melodic interplay replaced by electronica thumping, the ska influence replaced by what sounds like the soundtrack to a Gatorade commercial.
So, all in all, I'm not particularly happy with this CD. However, it will always be indispensable because of that first song. I'd have paid $13.99 for that by itself.
Preamble: The only other No Doubt album I own is Tragic Kingdom, purchased way the hell back when, after hearing some of it on one of those "seven CD sides at seven" dealies, and basically thinking, "Whoa, this music is goofy, but it's pretty damn tight." My opinion of Tragic Kingdom is that it's one of the very VERY few albums I own, or have ever heard, that really, seriously, doesn't have a genuinely weak song on it, and there's a LOT of songs on there. The musicianship is outstanding, the rhythms are angular and funky, and Stefani's voice is unique enough, and good enough, to carry the whole thing off. Then I missed the followup album, because I'd forgotten about 'em.
Anyway, flipping around randomly on cable a couple weeks ago, I saw a snippet of a video for the song "Underneath It All", and I went, "Damn, Gwen's lookin' pretty good." But the music didn't much hit me, much like the other songs I'd heard from them over the past couple years.
So anyway, I'm riding around in the car a couple days later, and that very same song comes on and I blast it way up high, and I shift gears on that badboy pronto -- Hey, it's pretty good! And I like that middle part where the Jamaican chick takes over! Maybe I should pick this one up.
But of course, I didn't.
Except today I was in Target shopping for paper towels and Swiffer pads, and happened by the CD rack, and thought, "Hey! I haven't bought a CD in quite a while (months and months), let's give it a shot!" Interestingly, that was the basic thought process for the paper towels as well.
I get home tonight, and during a lull in the Angels-Giants game (one of the most exciting baseball games I've ever seen), I pop it in...
You ever have one of those songs that you hear in various places that you think sounds pretty cool, but you don't know who it's by, or what it's called, so you basically have no hope of ever finding out what the song is so you give up? I gave up on such a song a month or so ago...
...and then, much to my shock and pleasure, I find that that very song is the first song on this very [i]album[/i]. That was a weird, welcome experience. The song is "Hella Good", and they play it in dance clubs and strip clubs a lot, and it is pretty much the hottest fucking tune I've heard in years. I was pleased with my purchase.
Then a funny thing happened, though... the rest of the album came on. Now, don't get me wrong, my opinion of the band members hasn't changed much -- really great singer/musicians/songwriters, all that stuff. It's just that the wicked edginess and musical creativity of that earlier album seems largely missing from this outing. Angular guitar riffs have been replaced by Casiotone bleeping and plinking, melodic interplay replaced by electronica thumping, the ska influence replaced by what sounds like the soundtrack to a Gatorade commercial.
So, all in all, I'm not particularly happy with this CD. However, it will always be indispensable because of that first song. I'd have paid $13.99 for that by itself.