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Album Review
by Scott Sterling-Wilder
16-11-2004
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| Gwen: 'Love, Angel, Music, Baby', sex! |
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Gwen Stefani: 'Love, Angel, Music, Baby'
(Interscope)
Gwen Stefani: immaculate babe goes solo, finally
If you ever wondered about No Doubt’s frontwoman Gwen Stefani and how long it takes her, on average, to get ready; a conservative guess could be about a couple of hours but a photographer told us that it once took twice as long - five hours?! Also, being a woman, although married to former Bush leader Gavin Rossdale, there are plenty of rumours surrounding her and she refuses to discuss them.
But, she did go on a record that during her [quickie] honeymoon - the band had to tour as soon as she got married - she had her first doubts about marriage. It recently was shaken again when it was discovered that Rossdale is a father of a 15-year-old daughter from an one-off fling with Sadie Frost’s [ex-Mrs Gary Kemp and former Mrs Jude Law] best friend.
Stepping outside the No Doubt protection where she is the sole focus, she could never have been exposed by virtue of dragging another member to the interview. With a solo debut album, ‘Love, Angel, Music, Baby’, she is the sole target of our attention. But always such an ocular delight: perma-dressed in a couture, made-up and well-groomed, looking more like a film star than your average pop-princess.
Gwen Stefani’s never been a ‘dumb blonde’ as variety of business interests prove, one being a clothing line, Lamb, she frequently sports. She generally appears happy although making this album wasn’t so: unexpectedly she found the prospect of collaborating - the lead-off single ‘What Are You Waiting For?’ released ahead of the LP by two weeks - with a female co-writer, after years of the same three boys around a studio, harrowing.
Stefani didn’t feel ready when Linda Perry’s schedule dictated the only five days she had open to work with her but pressed on, with extreme reluctance, only to find the pace of the former 4 Non Blondes singer-turned-hit-producer for Pink and Christina Aguilera beyond her. Stefani reports no problems collaborating with OutKast’s Andre 3000, New Order, Dr Dre or The Neptunes.
‘Love Angel Music Baby’ [or ‘LAMB’, as the woman‘s fash-label] is an eclectic collection of songs that mixes 80s electro-pop with contemporary Urban style, some break dance/B-boy stuff with more Gothic flavour of The Cure kind, plus some alternative noises… Stefani also pays tributes to the some opinionated rock-femmes, such as Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Madonna and Salt‘n‘Peppa. There is also a track Prince could have had a hand in, ‘Bubble Pop Electric’.
Few weeks after the debut album’s streetdate, Stefani will be seen in her first movie role - playing Jean Harlow opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘The Avaitor’, Martin Scorcese’s biopic of Howard Hughes.
Experts reckon that she is the ‘babe’ when it comes to anything to do with fashion and rock… and, perhaps - film. Personally, can’t see the appeal of 35-going-on-18, a new version of Toni Basil... A Barbie-Geisha-Cheerleader-Moulin-Rouge-showgirl… Unless it were 1984.
6/10
Scott Sterling-Wilder
16-11-2004
Gwen Stefani’s album ‘Love, Angel, Music, Baby’ is released 22 November 2004 by Interscope/UMG
[‘The Aviator’ will be released in the UK on 24 December 2004]
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