No Doubt – Rock Steady

Artist: No Doubt

Title: Rock Steady

Label: Interscope

Rating: 6/10

Rock Steady is said to be a back-to-roots record for No Doubt. It does have some ska, but whether these roots needed to be explored, I’m not sure.

Rick Ocasek of The Cars fame produces seemingly out of his range with new wave dronings of “Platinum Blonde Life”, a poor excuse for a wannabe hit, and “Don’t Let Me Down”. Now we come to a problem. The album is a jumble of producers and it sounds like it. There is the clever William Orbit contributing his dance mix of “Making Out” and a few others giving us “Hey Baby”, “Start The Fire”, and “Underneath It All”, a surprisingly good track.

There are others that miss out on the grand scheme of greatness No Doubt truly possesses. “Hella Good” is hella bad. It’s trite and just nothing in comparison to No Doubt of old. Gwen Stefani sounds stiff and lost under the glamorized production. Even when they appear to get it right on tracks like “Detective”, it’s still not right. “Simple Kind Of Life” should have been a moment of bliss, but the moment is fleeting and goes by unceremoniously.

Full of bombastic ’80’s grooves and island flavor, Rock Steady is a huge, absolutely monstrous, left turn. Where Return To Saturn was full of growth and inner peace, Rock Steady is an empty party. Really, if we want to be honest, it’s a step far backwards.

+ rae gun