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Love, Angel, Music, Baby
by Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 71 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.6 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 119 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The solo debut for the No Doubt vocalist features an eclectic group of guests, including Martin Gore, Andre 3000, The Neptunes, New Order, Wendy & Lisa and Dr. Dre.

LABEL: Interscope
RELEASE DATE: 23 November 2004
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Alternative, Rock

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Dot Music
Welcome to the hottest, coolest, best-dressed pop album of the year.
Read Full Review
80
New Musical Express
One of the most frivolously brilliant slabs of shiny retro-pop anyone's had the chutzpah to release all year. [20 Nov 2004, p.56]
80
All Music Guide
It's too club-centric, too fashion-obsessed, too willfully weird to be a No Doubt album... a glitzy, wild ride that's stranger and often more entertaining than nearly any other mainstream pop album of 2004.
Read Full Review
80
PopMatters
Love.Angel.Music.Baby. is big, brash, and divisive -- but as such it deserves to be heard and re-heard.
Read Full Review
80
Rolling Stone
It's an irresistible party: trashy, hedonistic and deeply weird.
Read Full Review
80
Q Magazine
A ferocious declaration of independence. [Jan 2005, p.124]
80
Uncut
When LAMB is good, it's very good indeed.... It's one of the most audacioius pop albums of the year. [Jan 2005, p.120]
75
E! Online
This is undoubtedly the best excuse for a solo outing since Justin Timberlake's Justified.
Read Full Review
70
Playlouder
An ultra sleek and, it has to be said, generally impressive, 80s-inspired party record.
Read Full Review
70
The Guardian
Only a pair of beefy co-writes with rock mauler Linda Perry detract from the overall tingliness.
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice
And while LAMB is adventurous and playful--with nary a ska-punk riddim to be found--it's when Gwen reaches back and goes totally '80s that the CD reverberates with unwavering charm.
Read Full Review
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A few songs sound tossed-off, but a few of the stranger ones work.
Read Full Review
70
Billboard
Style trumps substance in Stefani's world, making "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" an ideal guilty pleasure.
Read Full Review
65
Neumu.net
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. has been acclaimed as a bright-and-shiny pop-music tour-de-force, but once the initial thrilling rush of the stylistic sheen and artistic conception has abated, the album seems too fragmented to be anointed as such.
Read Full Review
60
Blender
An only sometime thing. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.112]
60
Stylus Magazine
The fascinating thing about Gwen Stefani’s record is not how different it sounds from No Doubt, but how similar it sounds to the producers that she works with and how their collaborations usually fall flat because of the rehashing of tired ideas and plodding predictability of her arrangements.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times
A clever and sometimes enticing solo debut that doesn't quite add up. [22 Nov 2004]
Read Full Review
58
Entertainment Weekly
The ostentatiousness of it all grows irritating. [3 Dec 2004, p.83]
51
Pitchfork
LAMB has one mega-hit, one okay song, three stillborns, and seven full-fledged embarrassments.
Read Full Review
38
Los Angeles Times
An exercise in pointless artifice. [23 Nov 2004]
Read Full Review
20
Tiny Mix Tapes
The subject matter on the indistinguishably titled Love, Angel, Music, Baby is painfully mainstream throughout.
Read Full Review
10
Drawer B
It is pure fluff. And pretty awful fluff at that.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 119 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay M gave it a10:
An exceptional jewel of a pop album, each song is a different personality and a complete masterpiece in and of itself. Producers, Dr. Dre, Nelle Hooper, Tony Kanal, and the Neptunes have helped Stefani craft possibly the best album of the 2000s

ixat a gave it a10:
this is the type of album that needs alonger periods of time to indulge the pleasure... at first listen, i found this album crap and prodigal... but now that ive listened to it more and more, ts actually fun! i cant seem to undrstnd why "wut u waitin 4?" only peaked at #47 in the billboard hot100... it shud at least enter the top 10... its a great number, and stands out amongst other numbers in this album.. all upbeat tracks are dancy and logic(you wont think it is logic if u only listened to it one time!), and the best are the first cngle, "danger zone" and hollaback gurl... this album should win grammies..

Nick M gave it a7:
Usually I am not a fan of this type of music, but I found this cd to have a lot of catchy songs on it, and overall is just a fun cd to listen to. Maybe it isnt the most artistic cd, and its deffinatly not the most sophisticated, but it does provide some fun.

Boris f gave it a7:
though Gwen sometimes sounds like shes stretching her voice too far the album is a refreshing splash of color in todays black and white music scene she proves she can handle almost any type of music: hip hop. pop, dance, rock, & R&B

Lark S gave it a10:
The Best Cd of the whooole year. seriously.

Preston J gave it a9:
You have to take this album for what it was meant to be.... and fun project Gwen wanted to do for herself alone that ended up getting released. In a way this is much like rock steady in the fact that many of the songs were collaberations with other artists of varying genres to create an album that could be fun for all. Its not genious, nor is it crap, its not remarkable, but it wasn't supposed to be. It is alot of fun to listen to and dance to and relate to at times so why not back off Gwen' s back for wanting a to have a little fun with her time?

36Thoughtless gave it a0:
All I have to say is...Fuck you, Gwen Stefani for blaspheming Fiddler on the Roof with your whining, proboscised shit for vocals.

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