No Doubt
Push And Shove

Ten years later (and more) and a few more facial wrinkles, the No Doubt of the histrionic and attractive Gwen Stefani return. A decade in which the female leadership of the band had thrown herself headlong into her solo career, churning out - with the invaluable support of a plethora of five-star producers such as Pharrell Williams, Dr. Dre, and Nellee Hooper - an excellent electro-retro-hip hop debut (Love.Angel.Music.Baby) and corresponding hits accompanied by hilarious funk-glam videos (first and foremost What You Waiting For and the controversial yet bawdy-trash Hollaback Girl) followed by a recycle-remix of less successful leftover tracks (The Sweet Escape), among which the funny yankee-Tyrolean yodeling of Wind It Up stood out. Meanwhile, Gwen, still on her own, also focused on the catwalks and Vogue-like glamour, fueling fashion ateliers with bizarre creations partly inspired by her distinctive look of a comedic femme fatale storyteller.

(Perhaps) permanently closing the solo chapter, Stefani is back in the game with her bandmates. I think a detailed biography of No Doubt is irrelevant: formed in the early '90s and commercially soaring with Tragic Kingdom and the evergreen hit Don't Speak, the band's interesting ska-rock trend did not maintain incredibly high peaks in the following years, and apart from a few chart singles here and there, the subsequent Return of Saturn and Rock Steady, although representing decent progressions, were unable to repeat the glories of the mid-Nineties. In 2003, a best of to recap a decade and a cover with good international echo (It's My Life by Talk Talk) temporarily put an end to the No Doubt project to allow, as previously mentioned, Gwen's triumphant entry into the pop divas' Olympus.

Eleven years after the last Rock Steady and almost overshadowed by the millions earned from Stefani’s solo albums, the quartet returns with a pleasant resurrection project from the ashes of semi-disbandment. And so, the Phoenix of No Doubt presents this Push And Shove, a kind of escape from the miserable underworld of the defunct music biz, an album without excessive pretensions and aspirations of sonic and stylistic experimentation. A small melting pot in which tradition (the classic ska-rock trend with multi-flavored punk-funky hints) and modernity (the electronic-new wave path taken by Gwen's solo acts) coexist in a delightful broth of pure and genuine pop simplicity, almost rare in the era of the spectacular mainstream juggernaut.

The entire tracklist breathes a warm summer cathartic breeze explicitly transposed onto the staff: Settle Down, the first single, is a carefree ragga-ska track, Push And Shove even introduces a funky-electronic circus march, Looking Hot shuttles between punk-rock and new wave, while Sparkle ventures into romantic Caribbean mid-tempo. Further, the synth-rock with clear 80s reminiscences in Gravity, nostalgia for the declining summer in One More Summer, the disco-carefree anthem Undercover, as well as the other pleasant electro-robotic ska experiment in Easy, should be noted.

"Push And Shove" is a work that well exceeds basic expectations for a comeback worthy of mention. Simple, balanced, calibrated, enticing but not cacophonous, mischievous and not trashy, it will surely appeal to the die-hard fans of the band, to the curious and pseudo-entrepreneurial new generations, to true lovers of non-artificial and non-computerized pop, and above all to the die-hard admirers of Gwen Stefani, particularly saddened by not being able to admire her anymore in the skimpy prison outfits from The Sweet Escape or in other whimsical antics conceived years ago.

No Doubt, Push And Shove

Settle Down - Looking Hot - One More Summer - Push And Shove - Easy - Gravity - Undercover - Undone - Sparkle - Heaven - Dreaming The Same Dream.