To Faithful Departed: Comp Sessions [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

The Cranberries | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 30, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B000068VHR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,889 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, January 20, 2007

By 

Melle Corfiotti Florence "drivenby" (Dechy, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Faithful Departed: Comp Sessions (Audio CD)

This album is briliant, ok dolores cannot dance, who's care???? If the Cranberries once sounded as if they were sleepwalkers in a world gone weird, TO THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED sounds as if they've finally awakened. The may not like what they see, but at least they're ready and willing to scream about it."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not their best, but still a good album!, October 5, 2007

By 

Davra (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Faithful Departed: Comp Sessions (Audio CD)

Let musicians experiment, please!!! Just because an album doesn't sound familiar or what YOU expected it to sound like, doesn't mean it's bad. Departed does have a different flair then the previous two albums & in many cases it still works well for them. Seeing this tour was a definite hype with all the rock tracks added to the song sets. It may not be traditional Cranberries, but it is still good. Hey, if we can forgive U2 for POP (I think POP was a great album by the way), we can chill out on the Cranberries. Great bands are allowed experimentations, or at least they should be. But then you're... Free To Decide.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long live Ireland, February 8, 2009

By 

Jiri Schwarz (Prague, Czechia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: To Faithful Departed: Comp Sessions (Audio CD)

Good guitar music. Interesting when you listen to it thoroughly, and not offending if you have it just as a background when driving your car. Good sound. Good balance of being a bit "poppy" and of solid rock, maybe less experimental than that on previous records. With Dolores's voice ruling the sound, with her voice strong, soothing, breaking, vulnerable, frustrated, but also self-conscious, and time-to-time, even happy.

The words harmonize with the tunes perfectly. You'll learn there are wars in the world ... in Russia, in Bosnia. You'll hear a reflection of meeting a homeless in New York who was wounded in Vietnam. You'll see it was because of someone's political pride, because of territorial greed. From NY, another sickening experience is communicated, depicting the killer of John Lennon. You can share the worries of parents whose kids are on heroin. The group has depicted the frustration of the world around them. They admit that when they were teenage hairy rebels with black nails, they did not, however, fight too much - but they ask whether they are any better now as more mature (self-reflection is always what I value). There are some pieces from private life (loneliness being the major theme), emancipation ("I'm Free to Decide"), and also, belief in God. Not extremely crude, rather elegant and intelligent, yet still authentic. If I omit that the many times noted Bosnian capital Sarajevo is always misspelt (as Sarejevo), one would say, credible. Interestingly, in the end of the original record, i.e. in "Bosnia," Rubinstein' s classical lullaby is used.

An impressive arrangement strikes you in the opener, "Hollywood," with the distorted guitar tones. A handful of then popular radio hits appear on the disc, the major of all being the slow-pacing "When You're Gone" (the others are e.g. "Salvation" and "I'm Free to Decide"). To me, especially track 6 ("Forever Yellow Skies") is delightful (and pretty fast, too). It presents a fantastic rhythm section (base / drums), and a surprinsingly very much U2-like rhythm-guitar playing. The 5 bonus tracks are fine - not mere appendices for collectors having little to do with the content of the original recording. Although they represent divergent genres (including Dolores's live duet with Pavarotti on Schubert's Ave Maria and the nicely-cut cover version of Fleetwood Mac's major hit "Go Your Own Way"), they fit quite well into the new release. The concluding number takes advantage of some Irish folk ingredients (e.g. a nice fiddle). So I conclude with the Cranberries, "God Be With You (... Ireland") (knowing "it's not Hollywood," as they claim in the opener). The Cranberries have faithfully depicted the postmodern world (including their Ireland) of the 1990's, in their own and very special way. I appreciate having bought this extended release (72:31 min). Five stars fit.