The greatest hits of the Cranberries

So much has happened since the last Cranberries album, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee was released.

For one, there is now another big selling Irish pop group: The Corrs. I honestly believe The Corrs made it big these past two years because of the absence of the Cranberries.

It doesn’t have Dolores O’Riordan’s distinctive vocals but the Corrs like the Cranberries has a penchant for romantic melodies and booming chords.

The time is ripe for a new Cranberries album and I honestly thought that was what I was getting with the arrival of Stars. It is new all right but it is not made up of new materials. Stars is instead a compilation of the best of the Cranberries culled from recordings made during the past ten years 1992-2002. While I would have really preferred to listen to something new, the charm of the band’s early hits is as potent as ever and literally sweeps the listeners away to the various moods and situations the Cranberries establish with the music.

Songs are sequenced in chronological order save for the end cuts which are two new recordings New New York and title track Stars. Everything else comes in order. It starts with two cuts from the group’s debut album Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We. These are the first single release Dreams and Linger, the first number one seller. Then there are Zombie, Ode to My Family, Ridiculous Thoughts and I Can’t Be with You, songs from the monumental second album No Need to Argue. I still recall that time when almost everybody singing on local TV made sure they get a crack at their own version of Zombie.

Salvation, Free to Decide, When You’re Gone and Hollywood come from the group’s third album, the Cranberries’ take on the dead and dying titled To the Faithful Departed. Promises, Animal Instinct, Just My Imagination and You and Me are the singles from Bury the Hatchet while Analyse, Time is Ticking On and the rousing This is the Day are from Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.

The dreamy Daffodil Lament is an early recording selected by Cranberries’ fans as their favorite non-single. Then there are the new songs, Stars of a most infectious beat and the hard rocking New New York. If these two songs are "previews" or indications of the direction the band is now going to then I can tell all of you out there that the next Cranberries album will be a big winner, maybe its biggest seller ever. The new songs have an easy feel and tremendous recall, you can just smell big hits in the making.

The Cranberries is made up of O’Riordan on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Noel Hogan on guitar, Mike Hogan on bass and Fergal Lawler on bass. They have been together for more than 12 years.

Album of hit music

There is a new MAX collection in the market and it is one you should consider for gift-giving this Christmas. MAX is this popular compilation of current hits, is a joint project among three of the major music companies on the world today, BMG, Sony Music and Warner Music. I consider compilations like MAX a very effective deterrent to piracy. Buyers get original versions and some add-ons as well. In the case of the new release, the tenth MAX volume, there is a bonus cut of Here is Gone by the Goo Goo Dolls and interview footage on a bonus VCD on Westlife, Alicia Keys, Holly Valance, Celine Dion and a1.

The 18 cuts included in MAX 10 are almost all winners. These are: I’m Gonna Be Alright by Jennifer Lopez featuring Nas; Underneath Your Clothes by Shakira; Insatiable by Darren Hayes; A New Day Has Come by Celine Dion; Hands Clean by Alanis Morissette; Everywhere by Michelle Branch; Wherever You Will Go by The Calling; Get the Party Started by Pink; Kiss, Kiss by Holly Valance; Make It Good by a1; Boom by Anastacia; Black Suits Coming (Nod Ya Head) by Will Smith; Cry by Mandy Moore; Friends & Family by Tryk Turner; What You Do About Me by M2M; What About Us by Brandy; Bop Bop Baby by Westlife and A Woman’s Worth by Alicia Keys.