Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
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Music Reviews of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Music Review: Awesome CD
Rating: 5 Stars
I'm really picky about my music, I hate lots of artists and songs, however if there's one thing I'm not picky in it's the type of music. Bring on the hip hop, the pop, the country, whatever. If it sounds good enough, I just might like it. And I tell you, this is an awesome CD.
Almost every song in here rules, hence the 5 stars. Although I'd probably give it a 4.8 if it could be more specific.
My Reviews:
1. What You Waiting For -10/10- Probably the most rock song on this CD, and although I do miss No Doubt, I still love Gwen's new style. One of the best songs on this CD, enough said. I love it!
2. Rich Girl -8.5/10- Hmm, this is a great song! However it does get annoying after a while and it's a ripoff, but a cool song nonetheless. Great!
3. Hollaback Girl -9.5/10- Awesome song, but the whole bananas is weird, and the lyrics do matter to me. Still, if you're there to listen and not judge, and just dance and maybe cheer, this is the song. It's cheerleader-type and great to dance to. A hit!
4. Cool -7/10- Hmm, not the best song on this CD, but a 7 is a great score with my judgement nowadays! Great to listen to, very pretty. A dance ballad, I do like to listen to it once in a while.
5. Bubble Pop Electric -5/10- Uhh, okay. I didn't like this song much. Sure it's very funky and I can't describe it better than Bubble Pop Electric, but this isn't the best song on the cd. Definately not. It's nice when you want some funkyness, though. But otherwise it's not a very good song, but it's still okay.
6. Luxurious -7.5/10- I loved the asian background, and the song is just stunning. What annoyed me is the beat, I just didn't like it, but everything else is gorgeous. But then again, the beat is important.
7. Harajuku Girls -2/10- Okay I LOVED the beggining, but it was weird. Very pointless. I hated this song, even if I do like asian backgrounds.
8. Crash - 9/10- I guess this is another cheerleader-like song, and to be honest I loved it. It was great, dynamic, but you'll have to listen to it a couple of times to "get it". It's awesome. A hit. Took off points for the "get it" and weird beggining, but without that it's the shiz.
9. The Real Thing -9/10- I can't describe this song other than; a beautiful ballad that will still make you dance. That's what it is, and I love it. An awesome, beautiful song that enchances the CD a lot.
10. Serious -100/10- My absolute favourite song on this CD. A funky 80s song, with a ball-like start and gorgeous ending. You need to listen to this, but if you hate 80s then you won't like it I suppose, but then again why the hell are you listening to Gwen? She's one 80s chick. THE song on this CD. HIGHLY UNDERRATED. Listen to it and ask Gwen for a video. Awesome. Just great. The best. Got it? Listen.
11. Danger Zone -10/10- Another 80s hit. I love the 80s, and this song sure is one of the best on this CD. A must.
12. Long Way To Go -4/10- Uhh, no... not at all.
Overall do buy this even if you hate funkyness. You'll probably like it.
Music Review: I Love This Angel And Her Music, Baby
Rating: 5 Stars
I've been exicted about this album since I first heard "What You Waiting For?" which has rapidly ascended the charts. It's 80s style and Gwen's blunt lyrics caught my attention immediately. I had some doubts. She's made such excellent music with No Doubt, so I wondered if she could do it without them. They REALLY are gifted performers and don't get enough credit.
I got this CD the day it came out, which is today, and put it in the computer when I got home. Wow. I'll go track-by-track.
WHAT YOU WAITING FOR: This is the best song on the album, but maybe that's because I've had time to get used to it. The video is amazing, and as I said, everything comes together.
RICH GIRL: Can Gwen and Eve follow their first amazing collaboration? No, but it's still great. The musical arrangement sounds somewhat exotic but Gwen gives it her own feel.
HOLLABACK GIRL: This is one of the best songs, and it could be a single if she didn't use the s-word so much. But the beat is awesome, and the chorus is one you'll get stuck in your head quickly.
COOL: This is a perfect example of the 80s musical style Gwen applies to the album. It's a breakup song, but instead of being sad, it's happy and optimistic, with the two remaining friends. Gee, what can this be about?
BUBBLE POP ELECTRIC: Wow. This needs Ritalin. But in the best possible way. The music and lyrics are so manic, and it actually takes a few seconds to get the beat together, because you get lost in how fast it is at first. The title says it all.
LUXURIOUS: This breaks the dance-pop formula of the album. This has more of an R&B edge. There's a synth-hook in this song that I know I've heard somewhere else this year, but I have no idea where. It's still good though.
HARAJUKU GIRLS: This is her homage to Japanese girls. She mentions them several times in other songs. It's strange, but good. The lyrics are the most fun.
CRASH: This is another 80s culprit. The hook is really good and the song talks about driving a lot. I think the lyrics stand for something else. You know.
THE REAL THING: This song started out as a ballad, but it turns into a mid-tempo song. It's nice and soothing. The chorus is very Eurodance club-like.
SERIOUS: This song begins with synth-strings, and then an awesome beat comes in. The electric style plays out very well here.
DANGER ZONE: This song is another one that can get stuck in your head. The chorus is repetitive, but it's infectious and a fun listen.
LONG WAY TO GO: This song, sung with Andre 3000, is about interracial romance. The beat is somewhat like a video game, and the lyrics are very relevant. But the Martin Luther King Jr. clips just don't mesh, especially when they're so splicy and worked into the dance music.
Overall this is a winner. The cover is awesome, the inside art is AMAZING, and Gwen Stefani has outdone herself. The songs are original and she's "got some wicked style." This album better do well, or else my pity for the American public's bad taste will grow even more.
Music Review: Unprecedented departure for Ms. Stefani
Rating: 5 Stars
Gwen Stefani has already had years to prove that she is more of an artist than her abrupt image projects. We all know she has an incredibly strong voice and a talent for writing as lead singer of the group No Doubt, but I truly wondered what the frontwoman of such a band could possibly do on her own that would differentiate herself from the songs and sounds she was responsible for within a group that offered such unforgettable hits as "Just a Girl," "Don't Speak" and their brilliant cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life."Much to my surprise, Gwen Stefani has released a solo album that the world was dying to hear...a reflection of the Gwen Stefani we have been wanting to wrap our ears around for some time. And she did it without even hinting at the sounds that she helped emerge on so many brilliant No Doubt tracks.
The album opens with the hard-hitting debut single, "What You Waiting For," but the fun hardly ends there. The album is packed with tracks that hit just as hard, with none of them sounding remotely similar. This stunning collection of music is just cause to say that Gwen is one of the most diverse artists to emerge in the last few years, showing she can do rock and punk with ease with No Doubt, but she can swim effortlessly into pop, dance, hip hop and RnB without batting a fake eyelash.
The second single, "Rich Girl," takes a forever-recognizable chunk of Fiddler on the Roof and makes it into an infectious pop tune. "Rollaback Girl" is the best cheerleading pop track since Toni Basil's "Mickey." The pensive retro of "Cool," with it's touching lyrics of unwavering friendships after a relationship ends, is a dream and a treasure to listen to repeatedly.
It is evident that Gwen was a child of the 80s as you sit back and listen to what is, no doubt (and no pun intended), the best track on the album: "The Real Thing." Her collaboration with New Order's Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, although not produced or written by New Order, is the track I was most looking forward to hearing and it is a sweeping four minutes of extraordinary music making and a crashing of the past and the present. It is obvious the influence of writing this song spilled over into the also retro-New Order sound of the brilliant "Serious."
"Bubble Gum Electric" is a fun romp, and "Danger Zone" is a blast to sing along to, with it's sweeping vocals and beats.
Although not a fan in the least of Outkast or its individual members, even her collaboration with Andre 3000 is audibly bearable with a message that should be heard and understood by everyone.
It is only the forgettable "Luxurious" and the ever-disappointing Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced track "Harajuku Girls" that add any disappointment to this album, but with so many strong to absolute pop-perfection tracks surrounding it, this is definitely a grand achievement for this woman and should be remembered as one of the most anticipated solo albums of recent years...an album that delivers more than anyone could have ever expected.
Music Review: L.A.M.B., not sure what to make of it.
Rating: 3 Stars
I really love Gwen's work with No Doubt, but solo albums tend to be hit or miss. Gwen's done a great job of hooking up with Today's Top Producers, but this doesn't always bode well for her. Somehow she comes across like too much of a fan copying other people's musical styles. I was expecting something a little more unique because Gwen was always so original with No Doubt.
I think Gwen's album is okay ear candy for a little while. The songs are catchy and sometimes infectious. If you don't take the whole thing seriously you might even like it. But if you want substance I doubt this album's what you are really looking for. Standout tracks are What You Waiting For, Long Way To Go and The Real Thing. Eve's rap in Rich Girl sounded dancehallish and cool, but Eve's words and Gwen's lyrics were so wack. The rest of the songs on Love Angel Music Baby suck in my opinion.
Gwen talks too much about Harajuku girls and objectifies them in a demeaning light. Maybe she doesn't mean to do this, but when I watch her performances, videos and interviews with these Harajuku Girls in the background like ornaments and mimes, I cannot help but notice this.
Sometimes I cannot understand Gwen's lyrics in her songs because they are difficult to hear in the midst of the noise in the background. I hear a bunch of stuff going on and it gets annoying and distracting. I've had to go online to get the lyrics to her CD. When I do understand what she is saying in her music, I am not impressed with what she is talking about. I think her references to drug use are so unnecessary. I know this is supposed to be a fun album, but saying nonsensical and vulgar stuff to make yourself appear relevant and cool is not the prerequisite in order to make fun music.
I also don't like how Gwen starts to pose like she is gangsta by cussing, pseudo rapping and singing about immature stuff you only hear from young hip hoppers and some R&B singers. Gwen's like 35 and she seems to have arrested development on this disc. Either she is grossly immature or she's turned into a loony.
I really like Gwen's takes on New Wave because I love 80's music myself. There were some songs that were TOO New Wavish because they sound like they were ripped from any album back then. There's a difference between being inspired and influenced by a certain sound and copying that kind of music to the point where it sounds like you are doing karaoke.
I really disliked how Gwen's album turned into a blatant and tacky ad for her fashion line. The music industry has become so commercial it's nauseating. Wherever you are, you are being shoved the latest hot item and now we gotta put up with even more advertising on CD's? Whatever happened to listening to music to unwind and forget about everything?
Love Angel Music Baby really could have been great album but Gwen's vanity, obsession with Harajuku girls, fear of taking musical risks, lack of creative control, and originality, fixation with material things and immaturity really spoiled L.A.M.B.
Music Review: Gwen went "Koo Koo" in '04...
Rating: 4 Stars
For those who may not get the "Koo Koo" reference in the title, it is the name of Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry's first solo outing from 1981.
Gwen & Deborah have many parallels, being frontwomen for groups that emerged from underground sounds (ska, punk) & blasting out of those scenes with those groups with records that defied those genre's ("Rock Steady" & "Autoamerican"). Also, both groups issued "best-of's" at the peak of their groups success & issued solo records soon after. Though, whereas the Nile Rogers & Bernard Edwards (of Chic fame) produced effort was more avant-garde in it's urban, hip-hop, pop sounds, Gwen had the benefit of 2004 being a time where hip hop is the new "pop".
"Love.Angel.Music.Baby" comes off as ironic, in the sense that it is just a fun record being made for the sake of fun, not a brilliant songwriter "selling out" to make the MTV grade. As such, Gwen makes a record that is all at once "retro" & very modern. Many hands mix the brew for Gwen's sound: Dallas Austin, The Neptunes, Nelle Hooper, Linda Perry, Andre 3000, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis & Tony Kanal (former boyfriend & No Doubt bandmate).
The first single & opener "What You Waiting For?" is a clever acknowledgement of Stefani's own insecurity of branching away from No Doubt, & at the same time finds her being brave in a fun manner. No Doubt fans will rejoice at the recycled lyric from the "Return of Saturn" era b-side, "Beauty Contest". This was the most underrated, after the record wrapped, of the singles. Smart, self-deprecating, it found that even amongst the camp, Gwen is still a strong songwriter.
"Rich Girl" successfully reunites Eve with Gwen, sampling "Fiddler on the Roof" for another sparkling pop gem. "Cool" sounds like it was pulled from 1986, though the subject matter deals with her & Tony Kanal's checkered romantic past. "Bubble Pop Electric" catches Gwen on a date with Outkast's Andre 3000's alter ego from the "Hey Ya!" video, Johnny Vulture. Cue the camp here. "Hollaback Girl" finds Gwen returning to "So-Cal" Orange County with a stomping, marching band inspired call-back chant.
Also, Gwen's love of all things Japanese comes in, as she weaves the underground Japanese fashion culture in on "Harajuku Girls". It is also here where Gwen's pop iconography took a strange comical twist, as four silent Japanese girls followed her through all her videos on this project, the record is named after them by the way.
There are those that may've winced since 2000, that Gwen's ethos has moved beyond the confines of ska music. But, "L.A.M.B" was one of the most successful (commerical & critical) pop recordings of this decade. It didn't fall victim to cult status like "Koo Koo" did in 1981. Though, like that record it saw Gwen embracing her natural knack for sampling culture visually & musically, if in a more Cher oriented way than Madonna per se.
Either way, "L.A.M.B." sounds good whilst playing & stays around with you afterwards. That's the shocker, highly recommended!