History has a funny way of proving rock writers right. Take the case of Dolores O’Riordan. She released an album this week, “No Baggage,” and was supposed to tour America this month.

The advance buzz on the album was anemic, so the tour was pushed back a month so that she could reunite the original members of the Cranberries in an attempt to gain momentum again.

The Cranberries have announced that they will reform for the first time in nearly seven years for a live tour.

“I’ve decided to reunite with my former band members and we will be writing new songs and performing tracks off my new album as well as our greatest hits during the shows. I'd love to see you out there,” O’Riordan stated on her website.

Guitarist and co-songwriter Noel Hogan offered, “Over the last few years, each member of the band has had time to work on different projects and learn so much from their experience. Now the time is right for the Cranberries to bring all of this together and move forward.”

Apart from U2, I can’t think of an Irish band more successful then the Cranberries. O'Riordan, Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, and Fergal Lawler were four young Limerick kids when their debut album “Everybody Else Is Doing It,” hit number one in Britain.

It hinted at a one hit wonder until the follow-up “No Need to Argue” cemented the group’s popularity via such monster tracks as “Zombie,” “Ridiculous Thoughts,” and “Ode to My Family,” ultimately being certified seven times platinum in the U.S. and five times platinum in Europe (hitting number one in Germany, Austria, and Australia, and number two in the U.K.)

The Cranberries went on to have four top 20 Billboard albums, eight hit singles and worldwide sales of over 40 million records.

This reunion has been in the works for a while and, unlike Oasis, there didn’t seem to be any animosity behind the band’s hiatus. In January, O’Riordan played a set at Dublin’s Trinity College with the Hogan brothers to commemorate her being made an honorary patron of Trinity’s Philosophical Society. The performance was the first time the band members had seen each other since 2003.

Never officially broken up, the band instead has been on hiatus, and being in the same room and playing music together for the first time made them realize how much they had missed each other.

“We got together socially and it was really great because we joked about the grey hair that we all had and we whipped out pictures of all of our kids,” Dolores says on a lengthy five-part interview on her website.

“None of us fell out. I am always in touch with Noel and Mike joined us for an acoustic set as well.”

To say that O’Riordan can’t make great music without the Cranberries is a mistake, as the great songs on “No Baggage” prove. Getting someone to listen to it, unfortunately, requires a colossal media stunt like this, and that is a shame.

The disc has everything that made the Cranberries such a great band -- the instantly infectious chorus and melodies combined with the emotional caterwaul vocal that touches a broad emotional spectrum has not lost an ounce of its potency.

The new single, “The Journey,” is an exuberant rocker brimming with hope as Dolores belts out the chorus, “This is your life, this is your moment.”

It’s the type of stirring track you could imagine being played in one of those athlete profiles that they air in the middle of NBC’s Olympic coverage. If Michael Phelps plays this in his iPod he is sure to get more gold!

“Switch Off the Moment” is another track with a great bassline that provides another example of the light, hopeful side that O’Riordan reveals, which is in stark contrast to the aggression we’ve heard in the past on tracks like “Salvation” and “Zombie.”

That’s not to say the road to peace and happiness that she is clearly on did not come without some pain. “You might scream, you might shout, trying to suss it out,” she sings on “Be Careful,” another infectious rocker.

“I had a fear of being rejected creatively but the fear I had in myself of not having experience outside of the band,” she says.

“I now see my life from many different perspectives, and when you drop those fears you end up having a lot more fun. I probably haven’t worn my heart on my sleeve like this since the second Cranberries album (1994’s “No Need to Argue”).

“It’s at times very confessional and dealing with my true emotions. Everyone, through their experiences or their background, has had terrible moments where they think they can’t handle it. With this record I’m trying to show that, no matter how bad things may seem, it’s not really that bad in the big picture.”

Some of this new optimism is no doubt generated from maturity and parenting.

“When you have kids, they are a piece of you and you get to see the world through their eyes,” she says. “Before kids, I only saw things through my eyes and nothing else. When you have kids, they bring you back to a time when you are eight years old again and you don’t put so much pressure on yourself anymore.”

“No Baggage” is not only a musical appetizer before the Cranberries reach our shores in November, it is quite simply a great album. In fact, if she didn’t have the baggage of the Cranberries, I wonder if “No Baggage” would have reached a broader audience on its own considerable merits. If the Cranberries do record again, they will have a tough time topping this music.

http://www.irishcentral.c...tml?page=2

he Canadian Press

TORONTO -- Dolores O'Riordan was weeks away from releasing her second solo album, "No Baggage," and going on tour when she dropped an unexpected bombshell on her fans.

The tour dates had been cancelled because her band, the Cranberries, had decided to reunite after an almost six-year hiatus.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, O'Riordan said it was a one-off get together with her bandmates that convinced them to mount a comeback, which was ultimately made possible because of the peace she achieved through her relocation to cottage country in Ontario, where she escaped to raise her family and avoid becoming a "has-been dead rock star."

Irish-born O'Riordan, 37, was 18 when the Cranberries formed in 1990, and the next 13 years were a whirlwind of touring and releasing albums, which produced a number of hits including "Dreams," "Linger," "Ode To My Family," "Zombie," "Salvation," "Ridiculous Thoughts" and "Free To Decide."

But the stresses of fame fissured the band in 2003, and in O'Riordan's case, she was emotionally falling apart.

"I was so young when I got so famous and then I kind of put up a wall around myself, I didn't really want to show people any fragilities or fears, I was trying to be this tough person that I felt was expected of me," she said Friday during an interview at a Toronto hotel.

"It's important to take time off because it's a long journey this life, and I want to be singing in 30 years time. You see a lot of artists who get caught up in the here and now, and they just burn themselves out, and I kind of did that myself with my third album."

"But I realized I didn't want to die, I wanted to live a long life and sing for a long time and have kids and have a reality outside of just being some has-been celebrity or has-been dead rock star."

O'Riordan sought solace in anonymity, which she found in the middle of the woods in Ontario, where she has a home with her Canadian husband, Don Burton, their two children and a child from Burton's previous relationship.

"What's amazing is -- I actually have problems getting it into my head -- Canada is so big, right? And Ireland's small you know; you drive from coast to coast in three hours. You can really get lost here, and I like that," she said.

"For an artist or an entertainer it's the ultimate when you can go to the forest when you're done your work and escape."

Her children have also been a life-saving, grounding force for her and are now her inspiration for her return to the Cranberries, O'Riordan said.

Between all the band members the Cranberries have 12 kids, who don't really remember the band's heyday and the fame their parents had.

A couple years ago, O'Riordan's kids had a hard time reacting to seeing their mom as a famous musician and she recalls one of her sons saying, "I don't know, it kinda weirds me out when you're head banging."

"I think it was weird for him also because ... he sees me on stage in front of all these people that have been following me for 20 years, before he was born, so he probably suddenly realized there was this whole life, this whole part of me that he didn't really know about," she said.

But now that they're a little older, she thinks they'll revel in seeing her on stage.

"They're kind of discovering it now... we want to show them what it is that their parents did, as opposed to reading about it."

The Cranberries' North American reunion tour is tentatively scheduled to begin sometime in November and the first show is expected to be in Toronto.

"I'm half a Canuck, I've spent half my life here now," O'Riordan joked.

The band also hopes to write new songs and put out another album, and given that next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Cranberries forming, the timing feels right, O'Riordan said.

"It's kind of cosmic too, right, that we were reuniting. I didn't think about it, but these coincidences to me signify you're doing the right thing," she said.

She said fans can expect something different with the new songs -- although she doesn't know exactly what.

"I think we're trying to lighten it up and try different things and go totally out there and try new ideas," she said.

"Not like anything you've heard before, that's the idea, just trying to make it different."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet...ertainment

AlexdeParis said:

Cool. I bought her new CD.

Nick715 said:

Nick, would you say it's worth a buy?

^ I like her 1st solo album better, that's for sure. I am still getting used to it. There are some good tracks though. The 1st single, "The Journey" is alright, but not one of my favorites.

Nick715 said:

i don't think it's as good as her first solo album but i still like it.

What I think about the Cranberries is that Karma is a bitch!

I was over them when they talked smack about Oasis and Green Day. After their peak, very few people outside the UK area actually remember them. I know people in their 20's who have no idea who they are or what they are. So there! Just when you think you owe the world, the world turns around and kicks you in the ass!

Marvelous!
[Edited 9/6/09 16:09pm]

LaSeles said:

There are people who don't know who Marvin Gaye is. That just means they're ignorant.

LaSeles said:

Hey, I think Oasis suck too. Let Dolores talk!!!

Nick715 said:

for real i didn't even know Oasis was still performing til i heard they broke up. however i'm fully aware of Dolores solo career. different strokes i guess.

AlexdeParis said:

That could mean they are ignorant or they just don't give a shit.

Besides, my comment was about how arrogant and entitled the Cranberries were when they thought they owned the world. I don't care about Oasis, what bothered me was the lack of humility and respect for other artists. But whatever, they are where they are and Green Day has had two awesome and critically acclaimed albums in the past few years.

LaSeles said:

Either way, they're still ignorant by definition.


I hardly think a band that could only hope to be the second-best band from its tiny country was arrogant, entitled, and disrespectful.

At any rate, you're wrong: there are plenty of people here in the US who remember/know them.

AlexdeParis said:[quote]

LaSeles said:

Sure...I'M wrong you say. On the other hand, I agree to disagree. I said that few people outside of the UK, not just the US. Sure some people in the US know who they are, but just like Ace of Base, for the "most" part the world has forgotten about the cranberries. Period.
[Edited 9/6/09 23:09pm]

LaSeles said:

So "the world" is just your little circle of friends? Or did you take some kind of poll? The success of Dolores O'Riordan's first solo album (top 20 in 5 countries outside of the British Isles) suggests you're wrong.