DOLORES O'RIORDAN - Are You Listening? Review

Oh Dolores, what would we do without you? You were the most distinct member of The Cranberries. You wrote most of their material. Your lyrics were quite cheesy, but charming all the same. You were pretty much the reason why The Cranberries were (are) so much fun to listen to. It's been four years since the Irish band announced that it would be going on indefinite hiatus, and while I have been only a fan of the band for maybe 10 months now, for the seasoned Cranberries fan it's been quite a time since they released their latest album, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, in 2001....full text Remember those scenes in High Fidelity (either the novel or the film, it doesn't matter), when record-geek Rob tracks down his top five loves of his life, and one by one, sees them with fresh eyes to lose his starry-eyed memories of each old flame? Hearing Dolores O'Riordan sing a once more is a little like that. Sure, she and her former band, The Cranberries, probably weren't ever in your Top Five all-time bands -- even back in 1995 -- but who can't hear "Zombie" without a little pang for the glory days of alt-rock?...full text Who walks down to the sea in the morning to sit in the long grass, and then rhymes "sea" with…"sea"? Dolores O'Riordan, that's who. Obscured by The Cranberries' lush, ornate arrangements, her lyrics always carried the illusion of import, but as the band's music got more hard-edged and political, O'Riordan's words got more and more cringe-inducing. "It's so thought-provoking, so emotion-evoking," she sings on her solo debut, Are You Listening?, without achieving either of those things....full text