An electric combination

No. 7: No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom

No Doubt is kind of like a buffet line...you have all these great options for food, so why would you keep taking the same dish over and over? I say load your plate with as many things as possible!

Enter No Doubt. Eric Stefani, the group's founder, was still with the group as Tragic Kingdom was being recorded. He brought the ska feel and the love of an 80s group, Madness. Eric forced his little sister Gwen to sing, and she was inspired by Julie Andrews from "The Sound of Music." Bass player (and song inspirer) Tony Kanal was into marching band and jazz. Guitarist Tom Dumont had recently joined and added his heavy metal background. And then there was drummer Adrian Young, who became more famous for wearing g-strings on stage than for lying about how long he had actually been playing drums.

So the influences...ska, Julie Andrews, jazz, marching band, heavy metal, and...well, who knows about Adrian Young. And out comes 14 incredible, incredible songs. Everyone has heard "Spiderwebs," "Just A Girl," and "Don't Speak."

I love "Different People." It's one of those songs where every different instrument or vocal is delectible. And Gwen shows off some incredible control of her voice...from nearly whispering to nearly screaming, and the tight vibrato she flairs during high "screaming" notes blows my mind.

This entire album is packed with goodness (and a bit of vitamin C!) and it just seems fitting that the 14 tracks end with "Tragic Kingdom." The music continues to increase in tempo at a suicidial rate, finally culminating in an explosive "death" as a trumpet plays "Taps" and a saxophone plays "Star Wars." And that's it!

Tasted good, didn't it?