Retrospective: No Dout – The Singles 1992 – 2003

1. Just A Girl 
2. It's My Life 
3. Hey Baby 
4. Bathwater 
5. Sunday Morning 
6. Hella Good 
7. New 
8. Underneath It All 
9. Excusme Mr. 
10. Running 
11. Spiderwebs 
12. Simple Kind of Life 
13. Don't Speak 
14. Ex-Girlfriend 
15. Trapped In A Box 
16. Girls Get The Bass In The Back

Greatest Hits collections are rarely any band's best albums. There are several reasons for this phenomenon:

1. There aren't enough hits (Kellis – The Hits, 2008)

2. The hits are far from being the band's best songs (Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits, 2009)

3. The songs are good, but don't match with each other well (Madonna – GHV2, 2001)

4. There are another half a mill greatist hits collections darkening the artist's memory (Michael Jackson)

5. The band doesn't approve of the album at all and it's been released only to make money (Guns N' Roses – Greatest Hits, 2004)

Miraculously, No Doubt avoids all these sins with their greatest hits collection. Fans may have their own favorites in the No Doubt catalogue that are not present, but to just an ordinary consumer, it's hard to go wrong with this collection because it gives what it promises, all No Doubt's singles. Only one studio album (The Beacon Street Collection, 1995) isn't featured here at all.

No Doubt is a band that has aimed to change their style a bit for all their records. Despite this the change between tracks on The Singles stays smooth and easy while retaining refreshing variety. Most of this is because in its core No Doubt stays the same even if they had an opera singer on their record. Bass and drums rock the rhythm section steadily, while Gwen Stefani gives No Doubt something extra special with her vocals. Music seems to also matter a lot to this band as they take their time with each record.

The listener gets wrangled in immediately by the hasty rock piece Just a Girl, followed by a cover of Talk Talk's It's My Life which was recorded to promote this compilation at the time of its release. While the band was reportedly dubious on performing a cover, the song sounds right and like No Doubt couldn't have covered any other song. Other highlights of this collection are Sunday Morning, Hella Good, Simple Kind of Life and always so touching Don't Speak. If these songs spark any interest in you towards this band, exploring deeper to world of No Doubt might be time worthy.

After half a dozen postponements, No Doubt is expected to release new music this year. Some songs from the record have already been played to the press and so far the reception has been panegyrical. The only problem No Doubt seems to be having right now most likely isn't the quality of their music, but their obsession to keep perfecting it. They clearly have something in their sleeves. Let's just hope it won't be Chinese democracy.