No Doubt’s sixth studio album, “Push and Shove” was released this past Tuesday in both a standard and deluxe edition. Its first album in over a decade, “Push and Shove” highlighted the band’s strengths and almost none of its weaknesses, resulting in one of the best albums of 2012 and one of the best albums included in No Doubt’s discography. While listening to “Push and Shove,” it is hard to imagine that every band member is close to hitting the middle-aged category. None of them seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, even after lead vocalist Gwen Stefani’s launch into a high-profile career in the land of dance-pop solo artists.
The opening track and lead single, “Settle Down,” is an appropriate introduction to “Push and Shove,” starting off with a string section that brings listeners into a fairytale frame of mind before blasting off into the band’s signature ska-pop sound.
It’s surprising how well electronic themes mix with the band’s ska roots on this album, especially in the next track, “Looking Hot.” The Euro-trance-inspired club thumper combines a heavy dance beat with a horn section reminiscent of the band’s “Underneath it All.” It’s obvious that Stefani brought her experiences as a solo artist, along with her signature heavy vibrato, into the studio with the band, making ska something people are going to want to dance to again.
Lyrically, it was nice to see that the band is at a point in its career that the members don’t have to take themselves too seriously. It was also relieving to hear an album by No Doubt that wasn’t filled with references to Stefani and bassist Tony Kanal’s failed relationship. It has its more emotionally sensitive moments, but nothing beats hearing Stefani call herself a hustler in the title track “Push and Shove.”
Of those more emotionally sensitive moments, “One More Summer” stands out as the best among the bunch. The electro-ballad is the band’s biggest heartbreaker since “Don’t Speak” and hearing Stefani plead for one more summer when “I’m your lover and you’re my weakness,” even when she knows that there’s no hope, is what chick flicks are made of.
The bulk of the album features tracks like “Undercover,” “Real” and “Gravity” that further prove that the band’s sound hasn’t stayed stagnant over the past two decades. Once again, it’s unbelievable how well the band’s use of electronic synthesizers and beats mixes with its ska-punk sound without changing its identity. When one listens to “Push and Shove,” there’s no reason to think that this is anything but No Doubt’s musical genius gracing your headphones; however, it’s clear that the band has gone through a certain evolution that takes a punk group formed in the late 1980s and continues to make it relevant in the dawn of an electronic music takeover dominated by shallow pop stars.
This album is absent of any fluff or filler tracks, which is why it features a mere 11 tracks, but it contains a touch of creativity that has been missing for so long in the music industry. “Push and Shove” is going to force its way up the charts and prove to be the best album of 2012 and maybe even the decade.
Stephen Margelony-Lajoie can be reached at [email protected].
