Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Gwen Stefani

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 23, 2004)
• Original Release Date: November 23, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Interscope Records
• ASIN: B00064AEJW
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (932 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,016 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Alternative Dance

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
On No Doubt's great Rock Steady, Gwen Stefani was a "girl that hangs with the boys... just sippin' on chamomile." Three years and a KROQ-nerd Talk Talk cover later, she presents a solo debut that wants it all--Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, backseat love and lifetime devotion, '70s pop throwbacks and hip-hop beats as well as Clash adoration (she continues to be managed by the firm of Rebel Waltz, named for a mournful Sandinista! cut). Among the standout tracks are the stomping, Neptunes-driven "Hollaback Girl," the tongue-in-cheek Eve/Dr. Dre collaboration "Rich Girl," and the girl-power manifesto "What You Waiting For?"; another tune, "The Real Thing," nods toward role-model Madonna's "Holiday." Though it can't match Rock Steady's inexorable track-by-track flow, Love, Angel, Music, Baby is such state-of-the-art pop that the description almost feels like damning it with faint praise. --Rickey Wright

Product Description
In her own unique way, Gwen Stefani has managed to shift our culture since coming onto the scene as the lead singer of No Doubt. With years of defining style and 30 million in record sales under her belt, she will again turn heads with this debut record that is as fresh as it is retro and as progressive as it is feel-good familiar.

With this project, she has enlisted some of the biggest names in music (Dr. Dre, Eve, The Neptunes, Andre 3000, Nellee Hooper, Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Linda Perry and Tony Kanal) to create a genre bending masterpiece that is guaranteed to be one of the most talked about records of this year (2004) and beyond.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars why?... dear god why, April 24, 2005

By	John H. Kalin (Blacksburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album is amazingly awful. The most tolerable track, and the first single, was "whatcha waiting for"... I didn't care for it especially, but it wasn't all bad; I could shrug it off as an experimental phase for which we cant fault gwen.

After that we have "rich girl". The lyrics to this song seem like they were written in a different language then translated to three or four other languages before being translated to english. Of course I know that this is not the case. But generally you pick a decent song to cover, you can put all the seasonings you want on a piece of crap... but it's still a piece of crap.

Now we have "hollaback girl"... I've convinced myself that the only reason it gets any video play is because it has gwen in skimpy outfits that so excite 14-year-old boys. The lyrics of this song leave much to be desired. I like comparing it to the rap portion of blondie's "rapture"... but at least the rest of rapture was catchy. I mean... in the middle of this song, gwen repeatedly spells 'bananas'... it hurts it hurts.

Having said that, if you like the songs above you will like the album as a whole. But if that's the case, I fear for the future of popular music.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Retro. Boring. Bland. Weak., September 23, 2005

By	Alexander Nesbitt "Alchrist2" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While I admire Gwen Stefani for trying so hard to fulfill her diva fantasy, this album is living proof that the zeitgeist can be terribly misleading. Gwen's L.A.M.B is 80's retro way past the revival's expiration date, and she is perhaps hoping that the pop history books will overlook the tragedy of her record label's inability to release this album when it should have been hot. Tellingly, the first single What You Waiting For was meant to hit us over the head, yet it failed to garner much attention at all. When that song tanked, the label immediately pulled a Mariah and released a single with a dancehall/hip hop edge and a rapper, albeit a female one. The hideous Rich Girl set the charts on fire, and made way for the initially catchy Hollaback Girl. Essentially a cheerleader routine as well as a carbon copy of Hey Mickey, the song managed to capture the attention of the ADD set through its dumb and dumber simplicity, and the rest of us bought stockpiles of Advil.

No need to confess to my Gwen aversion as she does the explaining for herself. The silly skateboard chick image of her No Doubt years was always a travesty in my mind: When someone is pushing, or has pushed, thirty, that image borders on ridiculous. I suppose she realized it was time for a change, but her harajuku "reinvention" was more contrived than any other concept I can recall in recent pop history, and having a bunch of wacky japanese schoolgirls rub your ego onscreen seems about as innovative as taking pictures of yourself on the toilet.

Image shouldn't be a part of this review, but it is inevitable: Gwen's interpretation of the 80's is one of a person who wasn't really there, and we all know that she was. It is all fluff and made pretty, when the 80's were quite dark and wild in actuality. She is like the ultimate wannabe who read a book about Andy Warhol and saw a few Madonna and Pat Benatar videos, and then decided to make a record, only, to play it safe, she added a few really rank hip hop tracks to try to convince herself and the rest of us that she "gets it".

Well, she really doesn't. I don't understand why this album has sold so well as it has for the songs really are almost as weak as her Paula Abdul-inspired vocals. The only song worthy of the premise of this album is Cool, a new wave ballad that captures the best of Gwen's limited voice and a decent melody. The rest is truly dire and deserves to be cast aside in your tape drawer alongside Martika, Paula & Tiffany.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, April 29, 2005

By	Kittyglitter "Fists of Fashion" (Underground Party) - See all my reviews

Poor Gwen is rapidly running out of subcultures to leech from so this latest album seems to be a spray and pray of styles, hoping that one of them will stick.

I predict: the most popular track will be the next "style vision" that she has. Either she'll continue to try and attach herself to the Japanese culture becoming a dried up bellweather of lackluster American talent against the likes of Kahimie and Puffy. Perhaps the more R&B/hip hoppy tracks will be the popular ones and she'll bring back ghettofabulous, much to the horror of *everyone*.

In any event, this CD is a waste of money filled with watered down "appreciative" (read: plagiarized) sounds from far more talented artists. Buy the originals instead.