the vinyl record rundown: no doubt - return of saturn

Some people have a hard time fitting No Doubt into a certain “genre box”. Ska? Punk? Pop? Rock? Who knows, but I do know that they never fail to deliver something special. 

Recently, the band’s 4th studio album, Return of Saturn, came into our store, one I’ve been excited about for quite some time. Let’s take a dive into the tracks, history, and technicalities of the album. 

We open with “Ex-Girlfriend” , the lead and most successful single from the album. It sets the tone perfectly for the album with genre switches (like most of the album will soon have). This is probably the best vocal performance by Stefani on the album, matching the intensity perfectly. 

The intensity continues through the entire album on tracks like “Six Feet Under”, “New”, and “Staring Problem”. No Doubt is certainly great at blasting through a chorus and keeping a flashy drum beat behind it, and they do it pretty well on this album, but not as well as it was done on Tragic Kingdom. That’s a theme here, every song feels like it could have been on Tragic Kingdom. A good thing for some people, and a bad thing for others. 

However, a pretty unique part of the album is the sheer quality and emotion of the ballads, of which there is an abundance. “Simple Kind of Life”, one of the two songs written by Stefani for the album, is about her struggle with wanting to settle down but her commitment to the band. Another very similar soft song, “Too Late”, has instrumentals so good they appear twice on the album as a hidden track. It’s even got a trumpet feature. What’s not to like?

“Artificial Sweetener” is a really odd enigma on this album. It almost feels like a post-grunge song, with an alternate-picked verse and a jarring switch to distortion for the chorus. Stefani keeps up with the pace, as she’s known for, and she proves that she can play just as hard, if not harder, than the guys. A powerhouse vocalist, as she’s known, she soars through this album triumphantly on “Comforting Lie”, “Magic’s in the Makeup”, and “Suspension Without Suspense”. 

What a track “Bathwater” is. For context, I’m a big fan of Broadway and altogether campy songs, so it’s no surprise that this is my favorite song on the album. This is apparently an unpopular opinion that had many people torn upon release (Entertainment Weekly wrote “Even lovelorn teen girls may… think it’s pretty yucky.” Any major publication using the word “yucky” in a review is just perfect to me.), it still felt like a song with the same sparkle No Doubt is used to delivering. It nearly feels like an extension of the bridge of “Sunday Morning”, a ragtime swing feel complete with piano and a brass section. 

Another great one is “Staring Problem”. Man, this makes me want to stand on my bed, turn my headphones all the way up, and dance. Gwen almost sounds like she’s mocking someone, the horns are equally as angry, and the “ooh”s and the “s-t-a-r-i-n-g” following her sound like a swarm of girls closing in for their prey. Truly great stuff. 

The production on this album, while brilliant on some songs (the reverb on the bass drum in “Dark Blue” was pretty special to me, as were the distorted drums on “New”), it almost felt like it was undermining the true potential of the album as a whole. Some of the songs could have felt a lot brighter, emotional, energetic, or powerful with just a little bit more behind the board. Thankfully, the songwriting and composing of the band keep this pretty minimal, doing everything they can with what they have. 

Overall, while quite a ballad-heavy album, No Doubt delivered spectacularly. Nothing will ever live up to Tragic Kingdom for me, but this feels like a spiritual successor. Therefore, Return of Saturn by No Doubt gets four stars. 

Riley Kindler is currently a student at Brick Memorial High School who hopes to use her passion for both writing and music in her future career. Beginning to play guitar at age 5, she now plays drums, bass, and guitar in multiple projects in school and her community. She works with her family at Clarizio Music Center in Point Pleasant Boro, New Jersey, as part of the Record Department. The Record Department partners with the main store to help expose their community to the joys of both listening to and playing music. Many of their in-store selections are available for purchase online through their website. For more information,  please go to www.Clariziomusic.com or contact us at clariziomusic@gmail.com or (732) 295-6644