Music

The Cranberries: In the End review – moving swan songs of Dolores O'Riordan


The Cranberries: In the End album artwork



The Cranberries: In the End album artwork

Dolores O’Riordan’s 2018 death casts a long shadow over her band’s final album, completed posthumously. Many of the titles – Lost, All Over Now and such – seem to unwittingly allude to it. Then there is the chilling poignancy of her opening line: “Remember the night in a hotel in London …”, which conjures up a tragic reminder of the location of her passing. However, such unfortunate coincidences shouldn’t detract from what – pieced together with loving care by her surviving bandmates – is a wonderful epitaph.

Dolores O’Riordan performing in Berlin in 2017.



Dolores O’Riordan performing in Berlin in 2017. Photograph: Frank Hoensch/Redferns

Musically, the band’s trademark Smiths’ chimes and New Order basslines are augmented by strings and pianos. Wake Me When It’s Over recalls the hit Zombie with its mix of prosaic and sincere (“fighting’s not the answer … It’s eating you like cancer”), but the songs, like her crystal voice, are pure and heartfelt. The Pressure and Catch Me If You Can candidly address stresses at the top. Illusion (a “story of failure and glory”) and Crazy Heart offer lovely, classy pop.

The superbly jangly Summer Song (“rolling in the grass, some things never last”) conjures up the innocent purity of early hits Linger, Dreams et al. “Sorry I left you … I went insane there,” she whispers to a child on A Place I Know. Many tears will surely well for the closer, In the End, in which O’Riordan admits “When everything you wanted was nothing like you wanted” in a song as beautiful as anything they’ve done.




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