Album Review: No Doubt - Push And Shove

It could come as a surprise that Push & Shove, the sixth studio album by California's No Doubt, is the band's first full-length release in over ten years. A surprise perhaps garnered through the strength and durability of the act's previous 2001 record, Rock Steady, and their catalogue of hits produced through the 1990s – much of which remains alive in the public subconscious.

The fact that Gwen Stefani, the group's lead vocalist (and for many, the face of the outfit) has continued to produce music during this period via her solo career, could certainly be a further contributor to the shock upon realising that as a band, No Doubt has been absent from new release shelves for the best part of the last decade. Alternatively, one might consider the notion that No Doubt have simply dropped out of relevance; that since the group's 2003 hiatus, few really believed that the band would return to studio production. Is it possible that listeners had reconciled with the idea that No Doubt had become merely another touring act, reliant on a diverse and successful stock of tunes with which to bank the remainder of their careers on?

In all likelihood, it's the culmination of these theorems that might lead to this brief revelation and a moment of clarity in regards to No Doubt's inactivity. However, upon listening to Push & Shove, the latter resonates most prominently. At just under an hour, the album plays through with little variation in a sound that is verging on stale. While there are small highlights along the way (notably the single Looking Hot), this is for the most part a disappointing comeback album.