[译]Rolling Stone滚石评No Doubt《Rock Steady》

The American people didn’t take too long to get bored with the ska boom of 1996, which came and went even faster than ska booms usually do. But we still haven’t gotten over No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, who lingers around the radio like the last of the hot-pink rock chicks. Stefani wears her all-American vulnerabilities and anxieties in public not because it’s a fashionably alienated pose but because she’s vulnerable and anxious. She’s a pure product of the American girl factory: blunt and guileless in detailing the ways that femininity has screwed her up and screwed her over. She’s not coy about her pleasures, either; she’s a loudmouth party girl in the grand Eighties lineage of Pat Benatar, Dale Bozzio and Debbie Gibson. Her let’s-go enthusiasm makes her an excellent sound effect on other people’s records: First, she added the right tone of gum-snapping Valley Girl sass to Moby’s “South Side,” and then she blew ya mind with Eve in “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” which showed just how much trouble a hip-hop girl and a New Wave girl can get each other into if the beat is right.

美国人没过多久便对1996年复兴的ska风潮厌倦了，这次ska浪潮来了又去的速度比往常更快。但我们仍没忘记来自No Doubt的Gwen Stefani，她在电台的热度如同最后一代的摇滚巨星。鸡瘟在公众展现出美国式的脆弱和焦虑，不因这是在时尚上较冷门的造型，而是因为她自身就是脆弱而焦虑的。她是典型纯粹的美国女孩：坦诚直言不讳地讲着自身所带的强烈女人味将她搞砸的事。谈起让自己开心的事情也不带羞涩，她是80年代Pat Benatar, Dale Bozzio，Debbie Gibson家族的交际花。她的活力热情对后人的唱片具启发性：首先以如同嚼口香糖粗鲁的腔调助阵了Moby的“South Side,” 之后在Eve的歌曲“Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” 中也大放光彩，证明了在正确的节拍下，New Wave与Hippop也能水乳交融。

It was only a matter of time before Miss G and the boys in her band addressed the obvious question: Why can’t they have this much fun on their own records? And so they finally do on Rock Steady, No Doubt’s fifth album. They bash away at reggae and funk and New Wave party grooves with a light touch that was sorely missing on 2000’s Return of Saturn. On that album, No Doubt tried to show how mature they could be, and unlike so many other bands with similar goals, they worked on some music that was actually worth the trouble: “Simple Kind of Life” was a flat-out excellent song, with massive folk-rock guitars ringing out as Stefani sang about her pushing-thirty issues sincerely enough to make you squirm. But while the album was heartfelt and subtle, it was a little overcooked. Rock Steady is looser and friskier, recorded in L.A., London and Kingston, Jamaica, among other places, with a revolving-door of producers: reggae vets Sly and Robbie, dance-hall hitmakers Steely and Clevie, techno geezer William Orbit, U.K. hip-hop avatar Nellee Hooper, New Wave oracle Ric Ocasek and some guy named Prince.

鸡小姐与乐队里的男性成员心中难免会想：为什么自己的乐队不能做出这样有趣的东西呢？但他们终于在五专《Rock Steady》中做到了。在雷鬼，放克，新浪潮领域的小试牛刀便大放异彩，这也正是2000年发行的《Return of Saturn》所缺失的。在《Return Of Saturn》中，No Doubt展示了他们极具成熟的一面，不同于其他乐队的原地踏步，他们在一些歌曲中尝试了些成效卓越的新东西，“Simple Kind of Life”是首实实在在的好歌，歌曲在大量民谣吉他声下，鸡瘟赤城地诉说着年近30的难题，足以让你感同身受。尽管上张专辑感人肺腑，精湛，但却有点过度加工。相比之下，Rock Steady则显得更活跃轻松，专辑录制于洛杉矶，伦敦，牙买加金斯顿，也有一大批制作人加持：雷鬼老将Sly与Robbie，舞厅热单制造者Steely与Clevie，techno老头William Orbit，英国Hip-pop大神Neilee Hooper，新浪潮“祭司”Ric Ocasek，还有一个名叫Prince的家伙。

As you’d expect from titles like “Hella Good,” “Hey Baby” and “Start the Fire,” the music on Rock Steady is simple and propulsive, which in the time-honored rock & roll manner forces the songs to improve; chord changes and turns of phrase that would have obfuscated themselves to death on Return of Saturn have no choice here but to get hot or go home. “Don’t Let Me Down” is the obvious jewel, the song that breaks away from the pack like “Spiderwebs” on Tragic Kingdom or “Simple Kind of Life” on Return of Saturn. It zooms on jerky Devo rhythms and juicy guitar hooks, along with a synth solo straight from the Cars’ “Just What I Needed” — Ocasek’s production jobs rarely, if ever, sound anything like his old band, but he’s definitely on some serious Candy-O shit here. “Hey Baby” cranks up the dance-hall-style party beats, with guest toasting from Bounty Killer. “Platinum Blonde Life” takes Elastica to funk school, while the gorgeous ballad “Running” kicks off with a two-finger synth riff that’ll keep you awake nights trying to figure out which Yaz or Erasure or early Depeche Mode song it came from.

正如你从 “Hella Good,” “Hey Baby” “Start the Fire,”这些歌曲想的那样，《Rock Steady》里的歌曲是简单且具推进力的，这正是久负盛名的rock & roll逼迫歌曲不断改进的地方；和弦的变化与乐句的转向使他们从土星回来时晕头转向，要么选择狂欢或灰溜回家。“Don’t Let Me Down” 是闪闪耀眼的宝石，这首歌如同《Tragic Kingdom》里的“Spiderwebs”或《Return of Saturn》中的“Simple Kind of Life” ，聚焦于不平稳的Devo乐队式的节奏与丰富的吉他hook，直接搬运了the Cars乐队的合成器歌曲 “Just What I Needed”中的synth独奏 — Ocasek的制作（如果有的话）很少像它的老乐队，但他绝对是在做一些严肃很棒的工作。“Hey Baby”加快了舞厅风的派对节奏，并由Bounty Killer的雷鬼说唱助阵，“Platinum Blonde Life”将Elastica乐队风格带入了funk学校中，而华丽的民谣“Running”以一段两指合成的反复乐段开头，让你彻夜难眠并试图找出它灵感来源于Yaz 或Erasure或早期Depeche Mode还是什么东西。

“Waiting Room” is a surprisingly juicy duet with Prince, who wanted to pay Stefani back for singing on his Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album; it proves that whatever the little dude has lost as a producer and songwriter — which is just about everything, sad to say — he’s still some singer. There are a few lame tracks for sure on Rock Steady (“In My Head,” “Making Out”), and the extremely annoying “Underneath It All” reheats the stalest ska cliches while it revisits the question of whether Gavin Rossdale is really the right guy for Stefani, a topic that even Rossdale has to be way sick of by now (especially Rossdale, come to think of it). But it’s impressive to hear No Doubt summon the musical imagination to transcend the formula that used to imprison them — even if you liked “Just a Girl,” “Don’t Speak” and “Spiderwebs” in 1996, you wouldn’t have guessed they had “Running” or “Don’t Let Me Down” in them. And despite all the predictions that Stefani was a goner for a solo career, she still stands by her band, living the pop life while the boys take care of essential rock-star business, up to and including dangling naked from chandeliers at award-show parties. On Rock Steady, No Doubt get their yin and yang in balance, and after the finely wrought turmoil of Return of Saturn, it sounds like a relief.

“Waiting Room”是与Prince的二重唱惊喜之作，鸡瘟也曾为Prince的专辑《Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic》献唱；这也证明了 无论这个家伙失去了一些作为制作人与词曲作家的东西 — 遗憾的说几乎是全部—他仍然是一个歌手。专辑里有几首质量拖后腿的歌曲 (“In My Head,” “Making Out”)与极度令人厌烦的“Underneath It All”炒冷饭“烂ska陈词滥调之作”，与此同时歌曲再次讨论Gavin Rossdale是否是鸡瘟真命天子的问题，一个Gavin本人都厌烦了的话题（特别是Gavin因此的胡思乱想）。但令人印象深刻是 听到No Doubt激发出音乐想象力，超出了过去囚禁他们的模式。— 即使你喜欢1996年的 “Just a Girl,” “Don’t Speak” 和 “Spiderwebs”，你也不会想到他们会在专辑中收录“Running”或 “Don’t Let Me Down”。尽管当时人们都预测鸡瘟即将开启solo事业，但她仍支持着她的乐队，过着流行明星的生活，其他男孩成员则经管最本质的摇滚业务，包括在颁奖典礼派对上裸身悬挂在吊灯上。《Rock Steady》中，No Doubt达到了阴阳平衡，在《Return Of Saturn》制造的骚乱后，这更像是一种解脱。