The first single Settle Down reminded fleetingly to the previous album Rocksteady 2001, but sounds much more organic. The remaining songs of Push and Shove can be compared against it with any other No Doubt album. Looking Hot is a flawless electro number with Reggae Breakdown, One More Summer a melancholy New Wave song and Dreaming the Same Dream could easily come from an 80's love story.
No Doubt mix all their proven ingredients such as pop, rock, ska, reggae and new wave with many new influences such Elekttro, dubstep and dance without ever its "typical" lose sound. For such catchy pop songs like Undercover Gravity or a Katy Perry would probably go over corpses and Undone is probably the best No Doubt ballad since overheating Do not Speak.
Although the album through and through poppy fails, so you can hear it clearly out the differences to Gwen Stefani's solo albums. Oriented Gwen closer to Madonna and Cyndi Lauper and hid their 80s pop with hip-hop and R'n'B, as Push and Shove is quite clear from the New Wave pop dominated. The band wanted to make an album with music that they have heard in the 80s in their teen years and you'll hear: Blondie, New Order, The Cure and Depeche Mode are clearly the role models for this album was. In places, the album reminds also of The Sounds, especially at Looking Hot and Undercover. The biggest difference to Gwen's solo music is that you can hear in every song, that it is clearly dealing here with a band.
Completely without 80s influences are actually only Undone, Sparkle, Settle Down and the title track Push and Shove. The latter was from the team of producers Diplo and Switch (Santigold, MIA) produced and mixed the early ska sound of the band with Dubstep Elemten. Sparkle contrast, sounds more like the "classic" No Doubt, but also in virtually all other songs can be found again and again references to the earlier music of the band. The more electronic Looking Hot is interrupted by an old school Reggae part, when there are some Dub Easy listening Elemtente. Total failures there is no single, in my opinion, even each of the 11 songs have the potential for a single.
I can understand that the new album a lot of old fans might first scare. Yes, it sounds "different", but otherwise is not automatically bad. Return of Saturn sounded not a bit after Tragic Kingdom and Rocksteady sometimes not flawless ... Ska and rock have No Doubt eh never done, there were always new wave and pop elements in all albums (see Do not Speak .. . that's pop in its purest form!) and Push and Shove these were just a bit more worked out. In addition, we are living in 2012 and no longer in the 90s ... you want from musicians, all over 40 are now, really demand that they still make the same music as in their early 20's?
Who of No Doubt expected eternally making the same music, who's afraid of a few innovations or experiments and who can begin Pop so nix with New Wave, which I can only guess the finger of this album can be. Who against music minded and curious is who gets up well done and catchy pop and No Doubt not only reduces on Tragic Kingdom, which is this album warmly recommended.
Welcome in 2012. No Doubt! Welcome back!
Highlights:
Settle Down
Looking Hot
One More Summer
Easy
Push and Shove
Undercover
Sparkle
Dreaming the Same Dream
