Re: Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape [2006]
The Sweet Escape on first listen can sound all over the place, and thats cause it rather is. After a few listens it's apparent that while Stefani still knows how to produce hot tracks, sometimes she lets her quirky nature run amok, as seen on the somewhat listenable hot mess of a first single 'Wind It Up'. 'The Sweet Escape" is by far the albums best track and stands out as such, but she really experiments with urban sounds on Yummy, a bass thumping romp with Pharrell. 'Fluorescent' is this albums 'Serious' (from LAMB) and just as infectious. Early Winter and 4 In the Morning are wonderfully written ballads as well. 'Wonderful Life' stole a page or two out of the Depeche Mode catalog without completely raping their sound and is very enjoyable too. Breakin' Up is a silly song where cell phone reception is used as a metaphor for breaking up. Hey you can't win em all.
B