No Doubt - The Singles 1992-2003

Eleven years, four albums, and one of the least likely career arcs in mainstream American rock, compressed onto fifteen tracks and finally pressed to vinyl for the first time. It runs from "Trapped In A Box," the sound of a scrappy Anaheim ska band nobody outside Orange County cared about, to a Talk Talk cover that landed the group a Grammy nomination and closed out their imperial run.

What makes this a stranger listen than most hits collections is how little the pieces resemble each other. The Anaheim horns give way to the Tragic Kingdom heartbreak of "Don't Speak" and "Just A Girl," then to the anxious Glen Ballard new wave of "Simple Kind Of Life," then to the Sly and Robbie dancehall of "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All." "Hella Good" splits the difference between rock band and disco act. The sequencing follows flow rather than chronology, which turns out to be the right call: played straight through in release order it would sound like four different groups, and this way it sounds like one restless one.

"It's My Life," recorded new for the collection, was the last piece. It hit number 10 on the Hot 100, went gold, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. Then No Doubt effectively stopped, which lends the whole record a finality it did not have in 2003.

This Interscope exclusive pressing puts the collection across two silver vinyl LPs. First time on the format, and the obvious way to own the band's hits.