- What You Waiting For?
- Rich Girl
- Hollaback Girl
- Cool
- Bubble Pop Electric
- Luxurious
- Harajuku Girls
- Crash
- The Real Thing
- Serious
- Danger Zone
- Long Way to Go
5
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0602498638507
![Love.Angel.Music.Baby.](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.9.4)
![Love.Angel.Music.Baby.](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.9.4)
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Overview
In the wake of Gwen Stefani's elevation to diva status in the early 2000s, it's easy to forget that for a brief moment at the start of the millennium it seemed that she and her band, No Doubt, were dangerously close to being pegged as yet another of the one-album alt-rock wonders of the '90s. Return of Saturn, their long-awaited 2000 follow-up to their blockbuster 1995 breakthrough Tragic Kingdom, failed to ignite any sparks at either retail or radio, despite receiving some strong reviews, and the group seemed on the verge of disappearing. Then, Gwen sang on Eve's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" in 2001. The Dr. Dre-produced song was a brilliant single, driven by a G-funk groove and a sultry pop chorus delivered by Stefani, and it was an enormous hit, peaking at number two on the Billboard charts and winning a Grammy, while redefining Gwen's image in the process. No longer the cute SoCal ska-punk kid of Tragic Kingdom, she was a sexy, glamorous club queen, and No Doubt's next album, 2001's Rock Steady, not only reflected this extreme makeover, it benefited from it, since her new ghetto-fabulous persona turned the album into a big hit. A side effect of this was that Gwen now had a higher profile than her band, making a solo album somewhat inevitable. Since she always dominated No Doubt -- she was their face, voice, lyricist, and sex symbol, after all -- it's reasonable to ask whether vanity was the only reason she wanted to break out on her own, since it seemed to the outside observer that she helped set the musical course for the band.
A quick listen to Love.Angel.Music.Baby., her 2004 solo debut, reveals that this is not an album she could have made with the group -- it's too club-centric, too fashion-obsessed, too willfully weird to be a No Doubt album. Working with far too many collaborators -- including Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Linda Perry, Dallas Austin, Andre 3000, Nellee Hooper, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and her No Doubt bandmate (and ex-boyfriend) Tony Kanal -- Stefani has created a garish, neon-colored, deliberately stylish solo album that's intermittently exciting and embarrassing. It covers far too much ground to be coherent, but a large part of its charm is to hear it careen from the thumping, minimal beats of the Neptunes-helmed "Hollaback Girl" to the sleek, new wave textures of the high school anthem-in-waiting "Cool" and back to the exhilarating freakazoid sex song "Bubble Pop Electric," featuring Andre 3000's alter ego Johnny Vulture. This is music that exists entirely on the surface -- so much so, that when Andre drops in Martin Luther King samples into the closer, "Long Way to Go," it's a jarring buzz kill -- and that's what's appealing about L.A.M.B., even if it is such a shallow celebration of fleeting style and outdated bling-bling culture, it can grate. This shallowness can result in intoxicating beats, hooks, and melodies, but also a fair share of embarrassments, from odes to "hydroponic love" and choruses built on either "That's my s*it" or "take a chance, you stupid ho" to the stumbling contributions from Linda Perry. But Stefani's dogged desire to cobble together her own patchwork style while adhering to both her new wave chick and urban goddess personas can be both fascinatingly odd (her weirdly homoerotic tribute to "Harajuku Girls") and irresistible. It's telling that the best moments on the album keep closest to her new wave roots (which include heavy electro synth beats and blips): no matter how hard she tries, she is not a cultural trailblazer like Madonna. Unlike Madge, she willingly adapts to her collaborators instead of forcing them to adapt to her, which means that L.A.M.B. truly does sound like the work of seven different producers instead of one strong-willed artist. Nevertheless, even if it doesn't work all the time -- and some of its best tracks still have moments that induce a withering cringe -- it's a glitzy, wild ride that's stranger and often more entertaining than nearly any other mainstream pop album of 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Product Details
Release Date: | 11/23/2004 |
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Label: | Interscope |
UPC: | 0602498638507 |
Rank: | 54690 |
Tracks
Album Credits
Performance Credits
Gwen Stefani Primary Artist,VocalsEve Primary Artist,Rap,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
André 3000 Primary Artist,Vocals,Guest Artist,Keyboards,Guitar
Johnny Vulture Primary Artist,Guitar,Keyboards,Featured Artist
Elan Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Bobby Ross Avila Vocals (Background),Guitar,Keyboards
Jimmy Jam Guitar (Bass),Bass
Seven Vocals (Background)
Mimi Parker Vocals (Background)
Zoey Martin Vocals (Background)
Bernard Sumner Vocals (Background)
MiMi "Audio" Parker Vocals (Background)
Wendy Melvoin Guitar
Peter Hook Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Kevin Kendrick Piano,Keyboards
Gavin McGregor Spoken Word
Tony Kanal Keyboards,Synthesizer
Lee Groves Keyboards
Rick Sheppard MIDI
Tony Reyes Guitar,Guitar (Bass)
Dallas Austin Drums,Keyboards
Sheldon Conrich Keyboards
Rusty Anderson Guitar
Greg Collins Slide Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Mark Batson Keyboards,Keyboard Bass
Linda Perry Guitar,Keyboards
Lisa Coleman Keyboards
Naomi Martin Vocals (Background)
Mike Elizondo Guitar,Keyboards
Aaron Mills Bass,Guitar (Bass)
James "Big Jim" Wright Keyboards
Cutmaster Swift Turntables
Iz Drums,Percussion
Technical Credits
Dallas Austin Audio Production,Composer,ProducerTony Kanal Audio Production,Programming,Composer,Producer
André 3000 Audio Production,Producer,Mixing Engineer,Mixing
Linda Perry Programming,Composer,Engineer
Jimmy Jam Audio Production,Producer
Dr. Dre Audio Production,Producer,Mixing Engineer
Nellee Hooper Audio Production,Producer
Nick Knight Photography
Jolie Clemens Art Direction,Layout Design
T. Lewis Composer
Ian Rossiter Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Pete Novak Engineer
Rouble Kapoor Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Nick Ferrero Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Andre Benjamin Composer
Chris Jasper Composer
James Harris III Composer
Paolo Sheehy Assistant Engineer,Engineer
Mark Anthony Williams A&R
Doug Harms Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Jason Finkel Engineer,Assistant Engineer
M. Batson Composer
John Warren Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Chantal Kreviazuk Composer
Ernie Isley Composer
Mark "Spike" Stent Mixing,Producer,Mixing Engineer
Pharrell Williams Composer
Mark Batson Composer
Sam Littlemore Programming
Francis Forde Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Issiah J. Avila Composer
James Quenton Wright Composer
Brad Winslow Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Izzy Avila Composer
Ian Cross Engineer
Gavin McGregor Composer
Sheldon Harnick Composer
Johnny Copeland Logo,Type,Artwork
Lee Groves Mixing Engineer,Mixing Programmer
Jerry Bock Composer
Phil Tan Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Martin Luther King, Jr. Composer
Rick Sheppard Engineer,Sound Design
Matt Marrin Engineer
Glenn Pittman Mixing,Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Rob Haggett Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Colin Mitchell Engineer
Warren Bletcher Engineer,Assistant Engineer
David Treahearn Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Eve Jeffers Composer
Jaime Sickora Engineer
Sean Tallman Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Ewan Pearson Programming
Chad Hugo Composer
Greg Collins Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Ronald Isley Composer
Jimmy Iovine A&R
Rudolph Isley Composer
Kara DioGuardi Composer
Marvin Isley Composer
Mauricio "Veto" Irragorri Engineer
O'Kelly Isley Composer
Mike Elizondo Composer
Aidan Love Programming
Johnny Vulture Mixing,Producer,Programming
Gwen Stefani Composer,Creative Director
Cesar Guevara Engineer
John Frye Engineer
Jason Lader Engineer,Programming
James "Big Jim" Wright Composer
Cutmaster Swift Cut
Andrew Coleman Engineer
Andre Young Composer
Simon Gogerly Engineer,Programming
Bobby Ross Avila Composer
Kevin Mills Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Terry Lewis Composer,Producer
Eve Composer
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