The Cranberries : Releases >>

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Stars - The Best Of >>

Stars draws together, chronologically, the Cranberries' very best work. Their worldwide hit debut album is represented by the soft Celtic lilt of "Linger" and "Dreams". The follow-up, No Need to Argue, contributes five tracks, including the grungy "Zombie", while the anti-drug treatise "Salvation" and the street-corner-style "When You're Gone" appear from To the Faithful Departed, along with "Hollywood" and "Free to Decide". Both 1999's Bury the Hatchet and 2001's Wake Up and Smell the Coffee feature strongly as well, the latter being marked by the new-found contentment of the band's hitherto spiky vocalist Dolores O'Riordan.

As often with best-of packages, previously unreleased material is included, but as fans will know, the main reason to possess this CD is the Cranberries' unique combination of agonised love songs, vicious invective and beautiful melodies. --Dominic Wills

No Need To Argue >>

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We: Remastered >>

Their first full-length shows a band fully formed, with faint debts to the Sundays and the Smiths, but turning out more-than-tuneful pop behind the gorgeous lilt of Dolores O'Riordan. "Dreams" and "Linger" both seem to weave magic spells that remain even after the tracks pass, and there is a glorious freshness to the performances that's impossible to resist. It remains their most satisfying outing. --Chris Nickson

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (The Complete Sessions 1991-1993) >>

Stars - The Best Of 1992-2002 >>

Bury The Hatchet (The Complete Sessions 1998-1999) >>

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee >>

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee is a bit of an anomaly. Happiness, the music industry truism goes, doesn't lead to good songs--but the Cranberries' new sense of contentment, as parents and as seasoned musicians, has resulted in their best album yet. Gone is the slight tendency towards turgid rock fare, or the sense (as with 1999's Bury the Hatchet) of going through the motions. This offering is strictly focused and emotionally direct, with all 13 songs welded to Stephen (Smiths, Blur) Street's crystal clear pop production. There's a new honesty to the songwriting, too. "I, at 24, was insecure / Would do whatever it takes," sings Dolores O'Riordan in the title track, a passionate song about how motherhood changed her life. Moving from hard-edged rock ("Do You Know") to the quietly reflective ("Chocolate Brown"), the Cranberries prove they're still major contenders. --Lucy O'Brien