No Doubt - Rock Steady

After the four-year agony of making Return Of Saturn, No Doubt did the opposite: decamped to Jamaica, then London, then California, cut tracks fast with a different producer on almost every song, and came away with the loosest and most cohesive record of their career. It should sound like a compilation. It sounds like a party that never breaks stride.

Sly and Robbie handle "Hey Baby," with Bounty Killer, and "Underneath It All," with Lady Saw. Nellee Hooper pushes "Hella Good" and the title track onto the dancefloor. Ric Ocasek brings the new wave crunch to "Don't Let Me Down" and "Platinum Blonde Life," which is exactly the assignment you would hand him. Prince turns up on "Waiting Room." Spike Stent mixed it and Brian Gardner mastered it, and between them they welded all of it into one glossy, dubbed-out surface where the seams should be.

The awards agreed. "Hey Baby" won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2003 Grammys, and "Underneath It All" won the same category the following year, back to back. The album itself was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. It was also the last full No Doubt record before Gwen Stefani's solo career took over, which makes it both a peak and an ending.

This is the original US double LP with printed lyric and photo insert. On Interscope.