| The Beacon Street Collection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 25, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1993–1994 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 41:02 | |||
| Label | Beacon Street | |||
| Producer | No Doubt | |||
| No Doubt chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The Beacon Street Collection | ||||
The Beacon Street Collection is the secondstudio album by Americanrock bandNo Doubt. It was releasedindependently on March 25, 1995, through the band's label Beacon Street Records. Produced by the band and recorded in a homemade studio in the garage of their house on Beacon Avenue inAnaheim,California, from which the album takes its name,The Beacon Street Collection was released during a period when the band was receiving little attention from their labelInterscope Records, and were not getting a chance to record a second album, as the label was disillusioned with them after the commercial failure of their1992 eponymous debut. No Doubt had written large numbers of songs and knew that they would not make it onto any Interscope album, so they built their own studio and recorded the album there. Two singles were released: "Squeal" and "Doghouse".
The album sold over 100,000 copies, over three times as many as their first album sold. Its success ensured that Interscope financed the band's third albumTragic Kingdom, which was a massive success, selling 16 million copies worldwide and attracting extensive interest in the band.The Beacon Street Collection was re-released in 1997 by Interscope as part of the band's back catalog.
No Doubt releasedtheir self-titled debut album in 1992, a year after being signed toInterscope. The group's blend of upbeat brass-dominated songs and funk-style bass riffs came at a time when most of the United States was in the thrall ofgrunge music, a genre whose angst-ridden lyrics and dirty sound could not have contrasted more with the atmosphere of most of the songs on No Doubt's pop-oriented album.[4] Not surprisingly, the band lost out to the now-ubiquitous grunge music and the album was a commercial failure, with only 30,000 copies sold.[5][6] In the words of the program director ofKROQ, aLos Angeles radio station on which it was one of the band's driving ambitions to be played: "It would take an act of God for this band to get on the radio."[6][7] The band started to work on its second album in 1993 but Interscope, having lost faith in the band, rejected most of its material.
A large number of songs onThe Beacon Street Collection were written byEric Stefani, who left the group before their third album was released. This gave the album a similar sound to their first album,No Doubt, in which Eric had collaborated in the writing of all the songs.
No Doubt became frustrated at the lack of progress they were making with Interscope, who were proving unreliable in their support of the band.[8] Instead, they built their own studio in their garage on Beacon Avenue inAnaheim,California[6] Although the band had knowledge that they didn't want any songs to be released in an Interscope-distributed album, they recordedThe Beacon Street Collection in their studio and Clear Lake Audio in one long weekend.[8] Their independence shocked their company representative, Tony Ferguson, who had assumed they were recording a third single.[9]
In 1994, before recording of the album had even begun, No Doubt released two seven-inch singles for their fans.[10] The first was "Squeal", a song written by Eric Stefani, detailing a criminal's reaction to her partner's betrayal to the police. They had agreed to be "in this together" but, after he "squeals", she resolves to "kill thenarc who wrote it and said it [that she was guilty of a crime]". The single'sB-side was "My Room Is Still Clean", written byTony Kanal and recorded live at the Icehouse inFullerton, California on February 13, 1993.[11]
The second single was "Doghouse", written by Eric Stefani. It is about a man who is bullied and dominated by his girlfriend and is unwilling to force the situation to change. The song uses the metaphor of a dog and its master to illustrate the nature of the relationship, saying that she had got him "by the reins" and he has been "conditioned" by her. The single's B-side was "You Can't Teach an Ol' Dog New Tricks", written by Eric Stefani.[11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Blender | [13] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B−[2] |
| Los Angeles Times |  [14] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [15] |
On its original release in March 1995,The Beacon Street Collection was only available in local record stores inOrange County, California and at No Doubt's shows. Its rawer sound proved popular with the band's fans and the band's first batch of one thousand copies sold out within only a few months after its release.[6] Interscope realized the band's potential and allowed them to record their third album,Tragic Kingdom in variousLos Angelesstudios, "wherever they could get a deal on a studio".[8] During a recording session, the band was introduced to Paul Palmer, who was interested in mixing the new album. He owned his own record labelTrauma Records, which was associated with Interscope. Interscope willingly sublicensed the project to Trauma Records in 1995 andTragic Kingdom got the personal focus that comes from a small company.[16]
By the end of the year, 100,000 copies ofThe Beacon Street Collection had been sold, over three times as many as their first album,No Doubt.[6] These sales were mostly due to the release ofTragic Kingdom, which was released seven months afterThe Beacon Street Collection in October 1995.Tragic Kingdom was a massive commercial success, reaching sales of over 10 million in the United States and 16 million worldwide,[17] peaking at number one on several charts and beingcertified Diamond (10,000,000 units) in the US[18] and Canada[19] and Platinum in the UK[20] and Australia.[21] This success created an extensive interest in the band's back catalog so, in October 1997,The Beacon Street Collection was re-released on Interscope.[6]
In an interview with Axcess Magazine in April 1996, Gwen Stefani described the release ofThe Beacon Street Collection as "one of the best things [they] ever did because [they] were able to take some songs that would have probably gotten lost and document them".[22]
AllMusic called the album "finer than the [band's] debut", and described it as containing more of a "raw sound inspired [...] by punk" than the style of No Doubt's first album, which was heavily "synth andnew wave".[12]Entertainment Weekly, in 1997, called it "more focused thanTragic Kingdom" with "reggae frat-house grooves and perky horns", and complimented "Gwen's feisty Kewpie-doll wail" and the "swaying ballads", attributing it to "the band's willing spirit".[2] Rock on the Net retrospectively called the album "a raw expression of their sound" and describing it as "80spunk with 90s grunge.[3]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Open the Gate" |
| 3:40 |
| 2. | "Blue in the Face" | E. Stefani | 4:35 |
| 3. | "Total Hate '95" (featuringBradley Nowell ofSublime) |
| 3:18 |
| 4. | "Stricken" |
| 4:06 |
| 5. | "Greener Pastures" |
| 5:05 |
| 6. | "By the Way" |
| 4:29 |
| 7. | "Snakes" |
| 4:37 |
| 8. | "That's Just Me" |
| 4:08 |
| 9. | "Squeal" | E. Stefani | 2:38 |
| 10. | "Doghouse" | E. Stefani | 4:26 |
Additional personnel
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1995 | Beacon Street Records | CD | 3 |
| 1997 | Sea Creature Records/Interscope | CD | 90156 |
All information is from theAllMusicpage andNo Doubt's officialwebsite discography.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)