Various Artists: Look at the Love We Found: A Tribute to Sublime : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

There must be more to Sublime's persistence in the popular imagination than the dead-dude mystique of late frontman Brad Nowell -- after all, there's no Blind Melon tribute album yet. This new disc, with contributions from No Doubt and Jack Johnson, reconfirms that the California ska-punkers' songs were good enough to transcend the short-lived (and, frankly, wack) genre they helped popularize. Still, two of the best-known tunes fall flat: Michael Franti and Spearhead's undergrad-cover-band-level version of "What I Got" is pointless, and Avail's attempt to turn "Santeria" into generic punk strips the song of all groove and charm. But Fishbone supercharge "Date Rape" with their superior chops; Jack Johnson pays touching tribute to Nowell's singer-songwriter side, merging "Badfish" and "Boss DJ"; and No Doubt revisit their ska past with a live version of "D.J.s" that also offers the pleasure of Gwen Stefani singing lyrics about shooting people.