The Cranberries
To The Faithful Departed

THE REVIEW

I heard Dolores O'Riordan disparage this album with these words: “I made it at a terrible time in my life, when I was getting by on cigarettes and wine. Then we took a break and returned with a better album”.

The memory that O'Riordan has of this work is entirely personal and, as such, must be respected, but there’s absolutely no comparison between “To the Faithful Departed” and the relatively mediocre “Bury the Hatchet”.

“To the Faithful Departed” is certainly not at the same level as “No Need to Argue,” but it remains an excellent Pop album. It’s somewhat saddening to see that it joins the list of albums underestimated by critics and, in a sense, also by the public (7 million copies sold, less than half of the previous one, which, however, had a single like “Zombie” to boost it). 

Its major flaw is the length: 14 songs weren't enough, so the Cranberries thought it wise to add an instrumental as well. How nice it would be if albums were 9 songs and 40 minutes.

In terms of composition, they are always the Cranberries: a few repeated chords, but with skillful and sober use of guitars that manage to give the songs a very “ethereal” atmosphere. Then there’s always the melodic talent of Dolores which, combined with her voice, makes the pieces memorable. The Cranberries were not great composers and musicians, but certainly excellent “songwriters.” 

Being an underrated album, I want to do it some justice by analyzing the songs and the lyrics.

We start with “Hollywood,” a great track, but with lyrics that, frankly, I can’t decipher. A wasted masterpiece due to lack of work on the lyrics.

Next is “Salvation,” a song against drugs, cruelly criticized for being “banal and naïve.” Indeed, in some parts, it is naïve. Dolores used drugs, as she stated, but managed to escape the tunnel and in this song, she expresses her joy for having succeeded, saying “salvation is free.” With some improvement in the verses, it could have been an excellent song. Musically, however, it is, in my opinion, the lowest point of the album.

“When You’re Gone,” is a sweet electric ballad. Here you find the “art of minimalism” of the Cranberries: a few notes of electric guitar, and a bit of organ. The lyrics are simple, but not banal and not gushy: since I met you I’m starting to believe in love again; even if everything around me disgusts me, next to you I can be more positive. 

“Free to Decide” is an excellent song with excellent lyrics. In the verses, Dolores sends a journalist who targeted her “to Hell”. “There’s a war in Sarajevo and you’re wasting time with me.” 

“War Child” is instead a delicate acoustic ballad. Great in terms of lyrics. It’s not a song about children victims of war - as I have read several times. It speaks of veterans, poetically called “children of war.” Effective the image of the Vietnam veteran in New York. Even though the song is delicate, the singer does not refrain from her harsh realism when she writes the real reason for 99% of wars: territorial greed (“territorial greed”). (In Iraq it was “under-territorial greed”).

“The Rebels” is a nice slow song, in which Dolores seems to mock those who never stop being “rebels without a cause” and never grow up (“We will never grow”). It's a minor track on the album, but in the next one, it would have been outstanding.

“Electric Blue” is a prayer, probably to Christ (with his electric blue eyes) to whom she asks for help (“Domine Deus adiuva me”) and to her guardian angel with whom the singer feels protected. Dolores could have added something more in the verses, perhaps writing the fears that plagued her. As the Cranberries said, the record company forced them to come out without them being fully convinced of the songs’ completeness.

“I Just Shot John Lennon” is a nice text - even though, again, it would have been appropriate to add another verse. Lennon is O'Riordan’s idol and it is evident that the singer knows his story well, when she writes: “From that moment on, Lennon's life stopped being a debate”. The music doesn’t thrill me. Instead of wasting such lyrics with such an anonymous tune, they could have used the music of “Hollywood” (which doesn’t have real lyrics) and made it a slow song.

“I’m Still Remembering” is a splendid acoustic-electric ballad. My favorite song on the album, for its brilliant guitar and due to its cathartic ending. The lyrics are quite dark, a struggle against the mind's demons. It's a letter that Dolores writes to her husband. She’s alone and needs him because her mind is playing tricks, and she “is going crazy,” recalling mistakes made before becoming his wife. She is waiting for peace to return like the “cream that always rises to the top.”

“Joe” and “Cordell” are two other beautiful ballads that recall Dolores’s grandfather and a missing friend. The mandolin in “Joe” is really used with grace.

“Bosnia” is a gem, and, as far as it goes, the best lyrics on the album. Dolores expresses how guilty she felt being safe in her land, while in Sarajevo people were dying every day. From Sarajevo, she moves to talk about the lack of love in the world. At the end, she screams asking: love, and love for life.

“Will You Remember” is a bitter memory of her ex-boyfriend, to whom she asks if he will remember “the future we planned together.” In the end, she concludes: “I’ll simply love you in vain.” The idea is excellent, but the result is really without depth. It sounds like a nursery rhyme.

“Forever Yellow Skies” is a song where the singer seems to have a grudge against someone. Frankly, they could have done without it.

With a little more work on the verses and a few songs less, this album could be a Pop masterpiece. I hope someone, reading the review, will listen to it. It's pop-rock, but classy.

After interrupting the tour at the end of 1996, Dolores - by then one of the most popular performers in the world - would become a mother, and would write the next album on her own, sending the pieces already made to the other three members.  

So, “To the Faithful Departed” is the swan song of the Cranberries as a group.

Even if the Cranberries continued to write some of their “four-chord and unpretentious jewels” (“Promises,” “Shattered,” “Fee Fi Fo,” “Dying in the Sun,” “Dying Inside,” “Chocolate Brown,” and a few others) they could have stopped here, leaving an excellent memory - unblemished and without degradation into easy pop.

I give it a 4, but it's more than that.