No doubt on Saturn

Band's new release is a solid pop effort tinged with many other music influences

By MIKE DUTRA
Music Editor

If No Doubt's last record, Tragic Kingdom, was a mess of different styles, the Orange County quartet's latest effort, Return of Saturn, is virtual sonic train wreck, combining ska, hip-hop, punk, New Wave and jangle pop into a cohesive and compelling album. Surprisingly, the melange of styles works - Return of Saturn is easily No Doubt's finest work as the band maintains its collective focus over the entire album, exploring different styles, but never straying too far.

No Doubt is one of the most remarkable success stories of the '90s, selling more than 11 million copies of Tragic Kingdom since its release in 1995 after laboring in relative obscurity on the Orange County club scene for the better part of a decade. No Doubt rode the brief surge of popularity in ska into the limelight with "Just a Girl" and scored major crossover successes with the reggae-flavored "Spiderwebs" and the sappy "Don't Speak," just as grunge entered its terminal decline. In fact, it could be argued that No Doubt, with its feel-good songs with a slight punk edge, epitomizes the transitional bridge period between the angst-ridden alternative rock of the early Œ90s and the saccharin teen-focused pop that rules the airwaves today.

The cohesiveness of Return of Saturn is even more surprising considering that one of No Doubt's principal songwriters, Eric Stefani, left the group after the release of Tragic Kingdom for a job as an animator for The Simpsons. Pink-haired riot girl pixie Gwen Stefani (Eric's sister) and bassist Tony Kanal have taken over most of the songwriting reins and have done an excellent job, albeit with some help from überproducer Glen Ballard of Alanis Morissette and Aerosmith fame.

Return of Saturn starts with the punchy first single, "Ex-Girlfriend," which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its surprisingly complex rhythmic shifts, Stefani spewing half-rapped lyrics, and a hip-hop bridge that sounds like it belongs in a Kelis or Foxy Brown song. As soon as "Ex-Girlfriend" ends, No Doubt switches into ballad mode and delivers "Simple Kind of Life," the finest and most melancholy song on Return of Saturn. "Simple Kind of Life" is just one of those simple songs that's able to completely capture a range of emotions, as well as fragility, all in one.

The rest of Return of Saturn continues in a similar vein with the Go-Gos-esque "Six Feet Under" and the straightahead pop-punk of "Artificial Sweetener." The album does tend to lag a little toward the end with fairly generic "Home Now" and "Dark Blue," which are only dull compared with the rest of the album's diversity of styles. Surprisingly, the hidden track at the end of the album is instrumental piano music that could have been recorded in any Nordstrom's.

Lyrically, Stefani mines new territory, singing about the difficulties of becoming an adult and dealing with responsibility and making long-term emotional commitments. Even the title, Return of Saturn, refers to the 29 years it takes for the ringed planet to orbit the sun, the same amount of time, at least according to Stefani, it takes for someone to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Stefani focuses primarily on the urge to settle down and the fears associated with it. On "Simple Kind of Life," she wonders If we met tomorrow for the first time / Would it start all over again? / Would I try to make you mine? That, combined with song titles like "Marry Me," is indicative of most of Return of Saturn.

But there is a darker side, as Stefani exposes her own insecurities on "Bathwater" beginning it with, You and your museum of lovers / The precious collection you've housed in your covers / My simpleness threatened by my own admission. HmmmŠMaybe she should hire a private detective to keep tabs on her beau, Gavin Rossdale of Bush.

There are a few problems with Return of Saturn, mostly stemming from No Doubt's effort to be the band-that-pleases-everyone. The presence of Ballard means that Return of Saturn is a commercial record packed with potential singles, but sometimes his immaculate production sounds too polished and No Doubt sounds like it's pumping out pop hooks because it's expected, not because the band wants to. There are a few other miscues, including "Staring Problem" and its trite chorus repeating S-T-A-R-I-N-G over and again (the guitar riff was also lifted from Sugar Ray's "Personal Space Invader," believe it or not). Also, why was "New," the single from the "Go" movie soundtrack, included on the album more than a year after it was released?

Overall, Return of Saturn is more than just a guilty pleasure. Its diversity is its strength as well as its weakness. Below its polished surfaces, Return of Saturn is a sign that No Doubt has matured from irresponsible adolescence into a mature band with a vision for its future.

Chumbawamba is what happens when anarchists learn to write catchy songs. The musical collective's newest release, What You See Is What You Get, conceals anti-establishment rhetoric in sugar-coated pop garbage. As Jello Biafra once said when he appeared on a talk show dressed in a suit and tie, "Halloween rules!" In this case, however, it's just too easy to see through Chumbawamba's latest disguise.
Deplorably, What You See Is What You Get immediately dates itself by targeting specific enemies - Jerry Springer, Scientology, Microsoft - rather than addressing the underlying, timeless problems behind the current events. In this sense, Chumbawamba places itself on the same level as a 19th century political cartoon. Even the least obvious of its 22 tracks are rife with trite insults like I'm with stupid / 'Cause I'm with you and / You can buy your friends / But I'll hate you for free.
If only the music was worthwhile on its own, with or without the anti-Disney lyrics, perhaps this album would merit a second listen. Sadly, this is not the case. Chumbawamba borrows copiously from fellow revolutionaries Negativeland (in reference to last year's trans-continental collaboration, The ABC's of Anarchism) and offers very little as far as real music for those not of the anarchist persuasion.
Overall, besides some precious few interesting moments in the realms of segue and audio collage, What You See Is What You Get is aptly titled.

- Joe Tepperman | Staff Writer

With On the Floor at the Boutique, the Lo Fidelity Allstars, most famous for their rehash of a Pigeonhed song, have made available a soundtrack to all those nights spent dancing at any respectable dance club.
With precise cuts and mixes, the Lo Fi Allstars successfully mix big beat, house, R&B and funk into a nonstop megamix of funky beats.
Blackstreet's "No Diggity" segues smoothly into Indian Ropeman's "Stand Clear," a sitar-laden big-beat ditty. Lo Fi also samples such techno staples as The Prodigy, Armand Van Helden, Les Rhythmes Digitales and themselves.
Even with the rap and R&B influence, the mood is still blatantly big beat, something that the Lo Fi Allstars excel at. The samples may be culled from all genres, but they all have one thing in common - they'll make anyone want to dance.
As great of a mix as On the Floor at the Boutique is, its purpose is limited. The album may provide great background music to a party, but other than that it's just about useless. Just sitting around and listening to the album soon becomes boring since the constant onslaught of big-beat rhythms isn't exactly dynamic.
On the Floor at the Boutique is a stellar mix album, but for most occasions, experiencing the live thing and dancing at a club will yield more favorable results.

-Ian Young | Diversions Editor

Copyright 2000 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 139, No. 60 (Tuesday, April 18, 2000), beginning on page 7 and ending on page 10.