Sometimes we'd like to give an album a one line review. For Stefani's second solo offering, that line would be - "A severely confused cross breed busily chasing its own tail." Unfortunately life isn't that straightforward - much like an album in which there are five different producers alongside a slew of songwriters. An album should be a collection of songs that compliment each other, not a collection of entirely separate entities all vying for centre stage. The result is disjointed and confusing - much like most of The Neptunes collaborations. 'Wind It Up' is a baffling start to the 13 track record; a muddled amalgamation of remedial lyrics, misguided innovation and the bizarre pillaging of 'The Lonely Goatherd' - the only melody present. 'Yummy', 'Breakin Up' and 'Orange County Girl' all follow the same strain of self-involved prattling over industrial drums and various other non-related, overzealous "vanguard" noises. 'U Started It' however is actually a cohesively palatable, pretty song. Stefani's No Doubt bandmate/one time boyfriend Tony Kanall is the man responsible for '4 In The Morning' (something which boyband Blue would be all over), 'Fluorescent' (Britney does Debbie Gibson amidst some 80s throwback mishmash) and 'Don't Get it Twisted' (breakbeat/ragga/rap effort with a "bring out the clowns" type carnival chorus).Swizz Beatz comes across with 'Now That You Got It' - another nigh juvenile hip-pop ensemble, while Akon devised the album's titular ditty, which isn't a million miles away from Madonna's 'True Blue'. This leaves us with two remaining Nellee Hooper produced tracks. Hooper (most famed for producing Bjork's 'Debut') worked with Keane keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley on 'Early Winter' (so it's Gwen covering a Keane song covering a U2 anthem), and with songwriter Linda Perry on 'Wonderful Life'. Both songs possess a more mature sound and showcase Stefani's sweet vocal ability. The synth laden 'Wonderful Life' is gracefully Goldfrapp (no surprise given it features input from both Richard Hawley AND Martin Gore) and is definitely the direction Stefani's platforms should teeter towards if she wants longevity as solo artist. Even with all these big guns behind her, the consequent album still manages to sound like a herd of L.A.M.B. rejects - that's probably because most of them are. A reported 50% of the featured songs date back to the 2003 sessions that produced her debut. A sweet escape it is not.

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