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Anyone doubting that Gwen Stefani would reunite with the ska-pop band she formed in high school, after taking time off to launch a solo career and start a family, should take note: the group behind the Grammy-winning hits “Hey Baby” and “Underneath it All” have returned. There was good reason to be doubtful. The “Hella Good” singer had transformed herself into one of pop’s most visually arresting artists, with her own fashion line, L.A.M.B., and given birth to two sons with rocker Gavin Rossdale. But Stefani’s bond with her bandmates obviously runs deep. No Doubt’s sixth studio release picks up where its last album, 2001’s Jamaican-influenced Rock Steady, left off. “Settle Down” boasts infec...

Gwen Stefani is sitting in her 1920s mansion, east of Hollywood, waxing breathlessly about her solo debut album, Love Angel Music Baby. “Dude, the record is so frickin’ good,” she gushes, “not in a braggy way—I’m not the only one who worked on it—but I feel like every track could be a single.” Stefani’s enthusiasm is understandable; the singer has just finished work on her much-awaited “dance record” which, by her own admission, had a difficult genesis. “I got to work with so many talented people,” she continues, referring to collaborations with such heavyweights as songwriter Linda Perry and producers like Dr. Dre and Outkast’s Andre 3000, “that I’d sometimes feel that I was drowning in the...