Album Review: The Cranberries, Something Else

It’s frightening to think that The Cranberries’ early hits ‘Linger’ and ‘Dreams’ are almost a quarter-of-a-century old. While, in one sense, Dolores and the boys seem to have been around forever, they still appear strangely contemporary. These songs and other gems from their breakthrough years are re-imagined on this instantly appealing album – their first in five years. Recorded over two weeks in the band’s home-town of Limerick, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra providing a suitably lush backdrop, they return to those triumphs with the benefit of maturity.

The good news is that the aforementioned brace of classics never sounded better – fans of the originals will be happy that the arrangements haven’t been tampered with too much, apart from the fact that the jangly guitars have largely been replaced by sweeping strings. ‘Dreams’ in particular is utterly gorgeous, the staccato punch of violins and sweeping textures adding even more romance and nostalgia, while Dolores’s vocals have never sounded sweeter.

The new interpretation of ‘Zombie’ – an odd candidate for an indie hit – might even be an improvement on the original, with the backdrop offering a more restrained antidote to the insistent, repetitive vocal. Meanwhile, the doo-wop melody of ‘When You’re Gone’ reminds us just how good they were at coming up with melodic indie-pop gems. Then there’s overlooked tunes like ‘Just My Imagination’ and ‘Ode To My Family’.

A couple of new songs are added to freshen things up, though you’d barely notice a difference among the classics – underlining perhaps how much they’ve remained faithful to the sound that first launched them into the big league.

7/10.