To the Faithful Departed [The Complete Sessions 1996-1997] [Remaster] (CD - 1993)

The Cranberries: Dolores O'Riordan (vocals, acoustic guitar); Noel Hogan (guitar, background vocals); Mike Hogan (bass); Feargal Lawlor (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Mike Mahoney (background vocals).

Recorded at Windmill Studios, Dublin, Ireland.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

The Cranberries: Dolores O'Riordan (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, keyboards, whistle); Noel Hogan (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, background vocals); Mike Hogan (bass); Fergal Lawler (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel includes: Luciano Pavarotti (vocals); Richie Buckley (tenor saxophone); Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone); Bruce Fairbairn (trumpet).

Producers: Bruce Fairbairn, The Cranberries.

Recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland in November & December 1995.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Personnel: Dolores O'Riordan (vocals, whistling, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, keyboards); Noel Hogan (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin); Richie Buckley (tenor saxophone); Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone); Bruce Fairbairn (trumpet); Mike Hogan (bass guitar); Fergal Lawler (drums, percussion); Henry Daag (musical saw).

Audio Mixer: Mike Plotnikoff.

Liner Note Author: Dolores O'Riordan.

Recording information: Windmill Lane Recording Studio, Dublin, Ireland (11/1995-12/1995).

Photographers: Andy Earl; Adrian Green .

Arranger: Giancarlo Chiaramello.

The Cranberries, more so than almost any contemporary group now coming out of Ireland, translate the lyric delicacy and metaphorical melancholy of Gaelic folk music to a rock format. The Cranberries are a tight little band with a sound all their own, though at times many of their songs do suggest some sort of strange communion between U2 and Bjork.

How so? The gossamer strains of Noel Hogan's electric guitar recall The Edge's spacy chording, but Hogan's rhythmic focus tends more towards eclectic folk stylings (a la Richard Thompson) than the arena gestures of rock. Which isn't to say that his dancing interplay with bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Feargal Lawlor lacks impact. Quite the contrary. Songs such as "Dream" and "Waltzing Back" illustrate the band's special chemistry and harmonic buoyancy, as airy chording gives way to punchy riffs and gruff power chords.

But it is The Cranberries remarkable vocalist Dolores O'Riordan who defines the band's unique sound and broad appeal. O'Riordan has an eccentric, emotive style and a stunning vocabulary of guttural whoops and throttled cries (to particular effect on "Pretty"). On "I Still Do" she doubletracks her breathless voice (as she does throughout EVERYBODY ELSE...), creating a mournful melodic ambience as the band rises to match her emotional peaks in a tale of a played out love that will not die.

This plaintive tone of O'Riordan resonates throughout EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT, SO WHY CAN'T WE? "You mystify me, you mystify me" she intones dimly as if in a haze on "Sunday" as the band tolls away behind her, while on "Waltzing Back" her yodeling cries and muttered grace notes impart tremendous power to each phrase in this clannish dance.

The songs on the Cranberries' third album touch on painful topics, dealing mainly with loss and the difficulties of growing toward true adulthood. Tragic inspirations include the deaths of singer-lyricist Dolores O'Riordan's grandfather ("Joe") and John Lennon ("I Shot John Lennon"); some import pressings also include "Cordell," an elegy for Denny Cordell, who signed the Cranberries to Island Records in 1991.

Much of this material is bittersweet, but the songs are saved from dreary melancholy by the characteristic quirky Cranberries sound of O'Riordan's angelic voice, scattered with her trademark yelps and other vocal tics, juxtaposed against energetic, hard-edged guitar work by O'Riordan and Noel Hogan. In addition to the newly mature lyrics, there is also a new, rougher-edged sound to this album's production, which puts the music within easy reach and lends TO THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED an earthy appeal.

To the Faithful Departed: The Complete Sessions turned out to be where the Cranberries' best intentions finally and thoroughly tripped them up. Switching producers to Bruce Fairbairn was a troubling enough move to begin with; Stephen Street's ear for the band's dynamics was note-perfect, but Fairbairn's work with arena rock monsters like Aerosmith meant, on Departed, that everything was scaled up accordingly. The result may have been more commercial, but it took the identity of the band with it -- the opening song, "Hollywood," sounded exactly like a typical sludgefest; "Zombie" was to be expected. Dolores O'Riordan, meanwhile, decided she was a generation's spokesperson, fully taking over the songwriting, except on a couple of cuts written with Noel Hogan, penning some appropriate liner notes, and running with it. Song titles say it all -- "War Child," "I Just Shot John Lennon" (complete with cheesy gun shots), and perhaps -- most painfully obvious at the end -- "Bosnia." Then there's lead single, "Salvation," which preaches against heroin addiction in a manner worthy of after-school-specials, and with about as much depth. Not that good songs can't, and haven't, been written on these subjects, of course, but O'Riordan, lacking a truly individual or unique take on them, is not the person to be writing them. Or singing them. Her wails and yelps here run rampant, being less voice-as-instrument as they are her signature calling card to be employed throughout. There are bright points -- every so often Hogan's guitar comes through at its best, and there's the retro-'50s finger-snapping "When You're Gone," and the nicely arranged "Electric Blue." Still, when compared to No Need to Argue, and especially Everybody Else is Doing It, Departed completely suffers in comparison. [The 2002 reissue contains five bonus tracks of material cut from the original issue.] ~ Ned Raggett minimize