★★★★★
Gwen Stefani trades in her Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack for The Sound of Music (and her Harajuku girls for the von Trapp clan) on her sophomore solo outing, only this time the allusions are a little less pervasive, if not less bewildering. Julie Andrews's "The Lonely Goatherd" is the jumping off point for The Sweet Escape's gaudy lead single, "Wind It Up," but Stefani's primary muse is another famous blonde from the movies: Michelle Pfeiffer's Elvira Hancock...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2012-01-12
★★★★★
There are moments on "The Sweet Escape" where Gwen Stefani comes across as a bratty adolescent, moments where she delivers like a pop-music diva, and moments where she unleashes like a club queen vixen. While she tends to succeed at all three, the one thing missing from the No Doubt frontwoman's sophomore solo venture is a sense of consistency...
- www.soundspike.com
2010-12-20
★★★★★
Remember all those times Gwen Stefani said something to the effect of, "'Rock Steady' is our dance album," and all that? She didn't get it out of her system. "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" picks up where the hit "Hella Good" (from No Doubt's "Rock Steady") left off, with 12 tracks that are sure to find homes on dance floors everywhere. "Hollaback Girl" features a sultriness similar to Kelis' "Milkshake," which makes sense, since the track was produced by The Neptunes (the crew that spawned Kelis)...
- www.soundspike.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
If you'd have asked us a year ago what we thought of Gwen Stefani, we'd have been brimming with praise. This was a girl power stunner with a stirling back-catalogue of No Doubt songs, and a cracker of a debut solo album. 'Love Angel Music Baby' quite simply ruled: from the electro-pop of 'What You Waitin For', to the hyperactive 'Bubble Pop Electric', and the instant hip-hop classic 'Hollaback Girl', this 'shit was bananas'. But now, we come to the ever difficult second album...
- www.gigwise.com
2010-11-09
★★★★★
When Gwen Stefani said she was taking a vacation from touring and recording to raise her child, I didn't think she meant the standard two weeks. But here she is, back with another solo shot, and returning to the Bell Centre April 20. Based on the way I was forcibly compelled into artistic familiarity with the solo Stefani's previous work (i.e...
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
It's pretty fair to say that you know what you're going to get from Gwen Stefani. After the success of Love Angel Music Baby, it was always going to be a pretty safe bet that for her second album Stefani would return to the same template. And so it proves with the release of The Sweet Escape...
- www.musicomh.com
2010-08-23
★★★★★
Gwen Stefani imprinted her image so indelibly upon No Doubt that it's difficult to know what to expect from her first solo album. It could have been a continuation of her band's poppy ska style or she could have done a complete U-turn. Instead, what we have here is an interesting mesh of styles that, while not scaring away No Doubt fans, may persuade people who haven't been convinced by Stefani in the past to reappraise her...
- www.musicomh.com
2010-08-23
★★★★★
Gwen Stefani is famously just a girl ? and not just in a song she sang with No Doubt, her once and future band. During a dozen years as pop's Valley girl next door, she's carved out a reputation as a humble Cinderella who somehow keeps hitting the lotto ? whether it's with hits, boyfriends or Vogue covers. The truth, of course, is that there's ambition bigger than Orange County beneath that platinum blond dome, and it's the collision of image with appetite that makes her solo CD Love. Angel...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
★★★★★
The girl can't help it. "I came back for my spotlight," chirps Gwen Stefani in "Yummy...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
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