Cranberries are for life, not just for Christmas!

As a lifelong fan of The Cranberries I was delighted to hear earlier this year they were bringing out a new album in late April. I read a few more articles and realised it was a Greatest Hits compilation so, with a shrug I thought, oh well, I have all their albums on my phone so not much use to me but hopefully, it will bring new fans to the door who in turn will sing along to Zombie and Linger at the inevitable concerts and festivals.

I didn’t think more about it until yesterday when I knew the album was to be released so I thought I’d take a peek in Spotify to see what they’d included in the album.

So, I’m looking at the track listing on Spotify and I see; “Linger – Acoustic Version” so, I’m like okay…… other than in a couple of intimate concerts of thirty or forty people I’d managed to blag my way into, I’ve not heard an acoustic version. So, with curiosity I click the play button and I’m blown away!

I mean WOW!!! What a haunting, beautiful, melodic, spine tingling version! I love Dolores O'Riordan’s voice, it never, ever fails to give me goose bumps but in this stripped down, raw, honest version, Oh My God! The superlative, “she has the voice of an Angel!!” doesn’t even come close!

The album collects the Irish band’s most popular songs including fresh faced, otherworldly 1992 single “Dreams”, was it really 25 years ago!!

All of their original classics have been acoustically re-recorded with the Irish Chamber Orchestra so far from being a money grabbing attempt of some musical veterans to boost their coffers it appears to be an attempt to celebrate their own place in the musical world, their inspiration to others by reinventing and reconceptualising the music that has for years defined one of the greatest bands in the world.

To reinforce that they have added three new tracks that for all intents and purposes could have and maybe should have been written at that period of genuine inspiration – all three have already become personal favourites!

The album almost feels like a back to basics approach, the actual music on Something Else has not been significantly re-arranged or remixed, which will be a relief to Cranberries purists like me. It’s true, the strings and the lack of electric guitar make the songs sound different, but not as much as you might think, Dolores’ unmistakable vocal is the constant that makes this instantly recognisable as the mighty Cranberries. At first glance there are a few classics missing but considering the orchestral nature of the album, these classics probably don’t lend themselves to the arrangement.

The version of Zombie is nothing short of astounding, the rolling, sweeping, haunting strings accompanied by the melancholy chords from the acoustic guitars and the unique tones of Dolores are simply food for the ears and musical brain.

Dolores has lost neither her Irish cadence, nor the articulated curved lines in her voice that will be warmly recognizable to any of the Cranberries faithful. She sounds invigorated on “Just My Imagination”, and on “Free To Decide”, she smiles wryly at her own relationship with the paparazzi with the altered line “Harassment’s not my forte/ But you do it bloody well.”

In the press release accompanying Something Else, Dolores commented that she loves these new, reimagined versions of The Cranberries’ classics: “I prefer them like this, with a little bit more experience behind them, with a new lease of life.” And the songs do hold up, showing their age only when their lyrics are specific to a point in time.

The fact the songs are as full of grace and spark years on is testament to the strength of Dolores O’Riordan’s and Noel Hogan’s songwriting. “Linger” is still timelessly beautiful, lent even more sparkle by Hogan’s acoustic guitar.

Delores has always made a nod to her love of family and friends and one of the new songs, “Why” is a five minute tribute to the father she lost a few years ago, the song is bursting with love, pathos and raw emotion, a beautiful tear jerker in the best possible way – the fact she managed to sing it with such power and conviction is beyond me.

The album is summarised succinctly and accurately by Karen Gwee;

“In our current age of potently, relentlessly marketed rock nostalgia, some ruthless cynics might even question if this Cranberries project is even necessary. Do we need faithful new versions of old songs, no matter how immaculate the results? It’s hard to say without considering one’s predisposition to the band in the first place. Some listeners will inevitably pass on Something Else for The Cranberries at their ’90s peak, while diehards will undoubtedly rejoice at hearing the band in action again, and with new material to boot. If you’re caught in between, you are, as O’Riordan would say, free to decide for yourself.”

Thank you Karen for confirming I am a Cranberries Die Hard!

I couldn’t find much on the interweb to share with you outside Spotify but I did find this – enjoy!