No Doubt has announced a reissue of The Beacon Street Collection, the band’s widely celebrated sophomore album. The reissue will arrive on December 1.
Produced by No Doubt and recorded in various locations in Southern California including the band’s homemade studio on Beacon Avenue in Anaheim, California, the originally self-distributed album features 10 tracks that the band released independently during the creative period prior to the debut of their blockbuster Tragic Kingdom album. The project will be available on vinyl for the first time ever, pressed on 180-gram black vinyl.
The 1992 effort was released at an interesting time for the band. Before Stefani’s platinum-lacquered locks and track pants were a permanent fixture on MTV in 1995, No Doubt had experienced more than their fair share of setbacks. In 1987 they lost a friend and former bandmate, John Spence; personal breakups and disillusioned band members were taking their toll on the band; and radio wouldn’t touch them.
Their self-titled debut album was a victim of poor timing. Released just as the Pacific Northwest was blowing up, no one wanted to pogo along to ska in 1992. Tout plans were scrapped, and it wasn’t until 1994 that the band got back into the studio for a proper follow-up album. During this period, they self-released the now-celebrated Beacon Street Collection.
After that album, they released their third project, the wildly successful Tragic Kingdom. Despite its sunny veneer, the album is widely acknowledged as a breakup album – not just of romantic relationships. During the making of Tragic Kingdom, Gwen’s brother and bandmate Eric Stefani left the group to become an animator on The Simpsons, while her boyfriend and bandmate Tony Kanal also ended their eight-year relationship, leading to the jilted-lover’s pop anthem, “Don’t Speak.”
On a scale of One to Fleetwood Mac, the band’s internal dynamics lay somewhere in the middle, but heartbreak is a powerful motivator, and is responsible for the most affecting tracks on the album, from “Happy Now” to “Sunday Morning” and “End It On This.”
Pre-order The Beacon Street Collection.
