The Bottom Line: If you can get it cheap, there's no reason not to get Simple Kind of Life. Otherwise, it might not be a bad idea to pick up the entire album.
Paneless's Full Review: Simple Kind of Life [Single] by No Doubt
I'm not much more than a casual No Doubt fan. I have Tragic Kingdom but not the Beacon Street Recordings and the abscence of any cuts off of Return of Saturn being played on the radio made me decline to purchase that album, as well.
But on a whim, I picked up the Simple Kind of Life single at Sam Goody for a mere 99 cents. I figured there wasn't too much of a risk in that, and if I didn't like it, I could foist it off on my kid sister, who doesn't have a lot of CDs.
After spending considerable time with the disc, I think she would have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers in order to get it.
The title track is classic No Doubt with a couple new twists, just the way a band's next album should sound. It's got all the trademarks (places where the instruments fade away so Gwen can hear herself sing, prominent drums and unusual instruments), plus some new things that they'll hope you will like a lot, too; these include one of the best opening chords I've heard in a long time, and some interesting lyrics.
The song is about parenthood and biological clocks, but don't worry--Gwen isn't going to be changing her ways--she's not getting all maternal on us, she just thinks it would be nice someday.
The second two tracks aren't as good as Simple Kind of Life, but Full Circle and Beauty Contest are still great songs, and complement the title cut more than the substandard trash that usually is tacked onto singles to get them to sell.
Beginning with a fun circus-like opening, Full Circle song soon flies into full No Doubt mode, with Gwen wailing and the instruments going crazy behind her. And who could dislike any song that manages to make England rhyme with Indian?
The last song, Beauty Contest is a bit more repetitive that I really care for, but it's far from the worst four minutes of music I've ever heard, and the last line, uttered by a mystery vocalist, moves it into the "Aww..." range.
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![Simple Kind of Life [Single] by No Doubt](http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/77/56/ad/45/2002169157.JPG)
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