The Sweet Escape Reviews

When The Sweet Escape came out, I liked it better than Love. Angel. Music. Baby. because more of its songs had substance and hit on something deeper than fashion and being obsessed, almost to derangement, over the Harajuku shopping district. It’s still only half of great album and half of a middling one.

“Breakin’ Up” has got a sick beat, but the lyrics fail her. The same lines are repeated two or three times, and the chorus is just the title repeated over and over and over again. It’s like a very rough demo that never got completed but somehow made it onto the finished product. “Yummy” starts off like any of the all too numerous Pharrell produced tunes before turning into an industrial bump and grind at the last minute. If it had sounded like that from the very beginning it would have been more interesting. The descriptive phrase “disco tetris” is possibly the smartest assessment of his production skills to date. And “Wind It Up” never should have been the first single. There’s no chorus, barely anything resembling a melody and it’s a borderline porno nursery rhyme. Look, I love The Sound of Music and Julie Andrews too, but I wouldn’t make a dance song out of “The Lonely Goatherd.”

“The Sweet Escape” still charms though. I believe that Lady Gaga took it an renamed it “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “Love Game,” and “Paparazzi.” Stole the big banged blonde wig too. Gwen’s still sounds better. But like L.A.M.B. the best songs are the mid-tempos and ballads. “Early Winter” is one of my favorite songs that Gwen has ever put her voice on. It’s a gorgeous ballad about the end of a relationship. Nellee Hooper knows how to bring out the warmth and sadness in her voice. “Wonderful Life” sounds like something off of Violator, but with a female lead singer. It’s a beautiful song. “U Started It” sounds like a Dirty Mind era Prince mid-tempo dance jam. And “4 in the Morning” sounds like a No Doubt song, which should come as no surprise since bandmate Tony Kanal produced it. He also knows how to bring the versatility and pain in her Anaheim girl sass. Not to say that it’s only the slow songs that are the best, “Fluorescent” and “Now That You Got It” are pretty wonderful, but they contain her best lyrics.

You could tell by the time that this was released that she was over the whole solo thing. I know that when I saw her in concert she seemed to be putting on a good show, but was ready to go back to the boys. It was pretty fun while it lasted, and she pretty much gave Lady Gaga her career template and general sound, but I’m glad she’s back where she belongs. Gwen and I might love dance music, but our hearts belong in alternative rock. DOWNLOAD: “Early Winter”