boys say, girls say

Record Of The Week: 4 March

Hey Baby: No Doubt

Believe it or not, it's now five years since the lush ballad Don't Speak gave No Doubt three weeks as the UK's best seller. Lush as that track was, it was a complete red herring - most people who bought their Tragic Kingdom album expecting to find more relaxing stuff will have returned it to the store, annoyed by a relentless barrage of punk-ska. Though the two followup singles went top 20, 99's Return of Saturn was a commercial flop. This back story makes it all the more surprising, and pleasing, that Gwen and the chaps are back in the public eye, and have been accepted as genuine hit makers.

I'm just sipping on camomile, watching boys and girls with the sex appeal

Hey Baby is a pop hit, no more, no less. It's simple, catchy and has one heck of a hook. Indeed, we're back to the mix of ska, commercial pop, and a fair dash of reggae that has been the group's trademark right through. The reggae on this track comes from Bounty Killer; unless you're listening to the Radio 2 version, where his contribution is quietly edited out. For the instrumental fan, there's a keyboard riff that can only be described as bouncy - perhaps a little too bouncy for Stefani's gravelly yet cutesy voice. There's also the low drone of a video game. Grr.

No matter what they say, I'm still the same.

I have a fear that this is going to turn into a song that will be overplayed at radio and become really annoying really quickly, a fate that befell The Sunscreen Song and All I Wanna Do. For now, though, Stefani's non-participatory observations on young men and women, and how one of them seems to remember her from somewhere else, is the sound of the moment.

The album is Rock Steady. It's in stores now, not surprisingly.