Return of Saturn is the fourth studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released on April 11, 2000, by Trauma Records and Interscope Records. It marked the band's first album as a quartet, following the departure of original keyboardist Eric Stefani in 1994. After touring for two and a half years to promote their breakthrough third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), No Doubt wrote several dozen songs for its follow-up and eventually settled on working with producer Glen Ballard. Creating the album became a tumultuous process lasting two years, during which there was dissension among band members and between the band and its label. The album was completed after the band returned to the studio and recorded what became two of its singles.
The album maintains the ska punk and reggae influences of the band's previous work, but with slower, more ballad-like songs. The lyrics to many of the songs describe singer Gwen Stefani's pining for a more domestic life, contrasting that with her commitment to a music career.
Upon its release, Return of Saturn received favorable reviews from music critics, although several of them were divided over its different sound to its predecessor. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 but was unable to measure up to the sales of Tragic Kingdom. The album spawned four singles, only one of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, It was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards.
Background
After the success of No Doubt's breakthrough album Tragic Kingdom (1995), the band wrote more than 20 songs for a new album, influenced by artists such as the Cure. Having toured extensively for two and a half years since the release of Tragic Kingdom, they initially had trouble producing material and decided to experiment with new sounds. Many of the songs were written in a rented house in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, where bassist Tony Kanal was living. During early production in mid-1998 the band worked on seven tracks in Los Angeles with Matthew Wilder, who had produced Tragic Kingdom, but had creative differences with him. They planned on going to New York City to work with producer Michael Beinhorn, who had produced for alternative rock acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hole, and Soundgarden.
When scheduling conflicts arose with Beinhorn, the band interviewed several producers and decided on Glen Ballard, who had produced Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (1995), because of pressure from manager Jimmy Iovine and Ballard's belief in not using heavy production techniques. Ballard went through the band's 40 demos and ruled out half of them. They frequently missed due dates, arguing that hurrying the album to cash in on the success of Tragic Kingdom was unwise since three years had passed. In early 1999, No Doubt released "New", co-produced by Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison, for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Go.
By that July, the band stopped work on the album, intending to be done with the record. Interscope, however, recommended that they continue writing so they would have a more marketable single. The band was split when singer Gwen Stefani offered to do so but drummer Adrian Young and guitarist Tom Dumont did not want to, hesitant to trust Interscope after it had sublicensed Tragic Kingdom to Trauma Records. After a brief break, Dumont sent Stefani some of his demos as a peace offering.
The album's working title was originally announced as Magic's in the Makeup in May 1998 Stefani was confused by her feelings of depression and interest in Sylvia Plath while recording the album. Her boyfriend Gavin Rossdale told her that she was going through her Saturn return. Saturn's orbit takes 29.4 Earth years and, in astrology, the time when Saturn returns to its position during a person's birth is believed to be a period of self-evaluation. Stefani was born October 3, 1969, and many of the songs were written during her Saturn return. "Six Feet Under" and "Staring Problem" were described as a more self-aware return to the band's earlier material, a combination of work by new wave band Missing Persons and hard rock band Van Halen.
No Doubt experiments with several new styles on the album. "Ex-Girlfriend", which originally featured a Prince-style funk sound, was rewritten and includes rapped vocals over piano and flamenco guitar parts. After opening with Gabrial McNair's jazz funeral horn part over Young's beatboxing, "Bathwater" proceeds into a song written in swing time. She contrasts this, however, with her need for independence:
Notes
- "Too Late (Instrumental)" is 4:56 and appears after one minute of silence as a hidden track after the end of the last credited song.
- "Dark Blue" is 4:36 on the international and Japanese editions.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Return of Saturn.
No Doubt
- Gwen Stefani – vocals
- Tony Kanal – bass guitar
- Tom Dumont – guitars
- Adrian Young – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
- Gabrial McNair – synthesizer, piano, all keyboard instruments, trombone, horn arrangements ; synthesizer programming
- Stephen Bradley – trumpet
- Bryan Carrigan – synthesizer programming
- Michael Boddicker – synthesizer programming
- Theo "Hound Dog" Mondle – tablas
- Orion Crawford – chart preparation
- Mike Garson – piano
- Paul Buckmaster – string arrangements
Technical
- Glen Ballard – production
- Jerry Harrison – production
- No Doubt – production
- Alain Johannes – recording
- Karl Derfler – recording
- Jack Joseph Puig – mixing
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Scott Campbell – additional recording
- Bryan Carrigan – additional recording
- Sean Beavan – additional recording ; sonic manipulation
- Colin "Dog" Mitchell – pre-production recording, equipment coordination
- Jolie Levine-Aller – production coordination
- Rachel Cleverley – production assistance
- Matthew Wilder – production
- Thom Panunzio – recording
Artwork
- David LaChapelle – photography
- Robert Fisher – design
- Joe Mama-Nitzberg – photography, art coordination
- Cindy Cooper – album package coordination
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Weekly chart performance for Return of Saturn
! scope="col"| Chart (2000)
! scope="col"| Peak<br>position
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! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 7
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! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 18
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! scope="row"| Portuguese Albums (AFP)
| 13
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Year-end chart performance for Return of Saturn
! scope="col"| Chart (2000)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 133
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 73
|}