Vibe.com, March 26th, 2004
After three critically and commercially successful albums, a greatest hits package seems like an odd move, unless something colossal is in the works. With a burgeoning film career and high profile collaborations with the likes of Moby and Eve, Gwen Stefani's solo album seems like a natural progression, but not without the No Doubt catalogue collection first.
Gwen is the uber rock front woman. She exudes confidence, beauty, playfulness and calculated vulnerability that combined, produce a total hit-making package. She wields the type of sexuality that transcends gender, race and sexual orientation and hypnotically intrigues us all. Her wide range of appeal has enabled No Doubt to straddle the ever-moving line between rock, pop and ska-punk without suffering from any of the backlash that can come from not fitting into a single genre.
Cue the ethereal cover of INXS's "It's my life," the lone new track on the album. It perfectly blends No Doubt's ability to cultivate their divergent influences while infusing 80's pop nostalgia. Other highlights include Rock Steady's Bounty Killer blessed "Hey Baby," and the acerbically sweet "Ex-Girlfriend" from Return of Saturn.
We could probably live without a couple of the wistfully introspective tracks that populate the album like "Simple Kind of Life" and "Bathwater" (no one wants to hear rock ballads about marriage). Standouts like "New" and "Underneath It All" featuring a gully cameo by Lady Saw more than compensate for those shortfalls. While this compilation may mark the beginning of a self-imposed hiatus for the band. It's no doubt, that this collection is a must have for lovers of good music.
