The Cranberries Cement Their Legacy: Ashes and Diamonds Debut

The Cranberries Cement Their Legacy: Ashes and Diamonds Debut – by Tony Mastrianni.

The Cranberries “No Need To Argue” 30th Anniversary (2-LP) Deluxe Edition on Island Records:

Celebrating 30 years of their unforgettable, culture-changing second album, comes The Cranberries’ worldwide multi-platinum beloved masterpiece. This amazing artifact is now transformed and includes newly-mixed remastered audio from the original album’s renowned producer, Stephen Street, two brand new remixes from Chvrches’ Iain Cook, unreleased live music from Woodstock ’94, and the unearthed demo of fan favorite “Zombie,” in addition to the original recording—one of the band’s greatest video hits of the 1990s, simply seminal. They first played this celebrated song live in 1993 on their first European tour with Hothouse Flowers.

By all accounts, and evidenced by this package, the Cranberries, with the late Dolores O’Riordan at the vocal helm, were as good as any band in combining the elements of old classic rock, pre-new wave, seminal pop, and alternative rock, all so effortlessly, and with such great grace and precision. Defying categorization, this is one of the most intriguing collections from this era. Kudos to the band and the masterful playing throughout, especially by guitarist Noel Hogan, and the never-ending vocals by Dolores.

And that’s not all. The official release of their 1995 performance for MTV’s epochal, intimate performance series, “Unplugged,” is out now. The Cranberries’ songwriting was on full display, firmly underscoring the band’s top-of-the-class status in the annals of rock history. Never before available as a standalone release.

The setlist for “The Cranberries MTV Unplugged” includes selections from “No Need To Argue,” including “Dreaming My Dreams,” “Ode To My Family,” Empty,” “Zombie,” and the title track. The other tracks performed include the smash “Linger” (from their debut, ”Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”), and “Free to Decide” and “I’m Still Remembering,” both of which were unreleased at the time but would subsequently appear the following year on their album ”To the Faithful Departed.” Originally recorded on February 14, 1995, the special nine-song performance made its broadcast debut on April 18th that year. Filmed at the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, the episode aired during the sixth season of the acclaimed series that highlighted a stripped-down and acoustic setting by some of the most popular artists and musicians of the era. MTV was doing a series of recordings in this beautiful old theatre with curved seating. It was a perfectly relaxed atmosphere with the audience sitting on the floor! They were accompanied by Electra Strings, the string quartet that had accompanied the band on the UK program ”Later with Jools Holland” in 1994.

If all of this is not enough, Island Records has recently announced that the label will be reissuing more of the band’s out-of-print albums on vinyl in the coming months.

“Ashes and Diamonds Are Forever” (Cleopatra Records)

From the creative minds of Daniel Ash (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets/Tones On Tail), Bruce Smith (Public Image Ltd/The Pop Group), and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade/Sweetback) comes a darkly glittering new musical project that marks a huge evolutionary step in these storied musicians’ incredible careers! The album, recorded over the course of six years, contains sonically compelling, powerfully melodic music with mixing and engineering duties held by Robert Adam Stevenson (Queens of the Stone Age, Jane’s Addiction, The Kills)!

“ON,” the fourth single to be released from this groundbreaking debut, ”Ashes And Diamonds Are Forever” moves the band into a darker, more ambitious direction, demonstrating not only how diverse the band is genre-wise, but also how musically masterful and accomplished they are. With Smith and Denman as the solid rhythm section, the song allows Ash to have his guitar tones ringing loudly as his stirring and hushed vocals whisper superbly.

This new vinyl LP has been introduced in phases thanks to a digital marketing strategy built around several pre-release singles and full pro-shot videos, including the video for “On A Rocka,” directed by Jake Scott, son of legendary director Ridley Scott, who has directed videos for U2, Oasis, Radiohead, the Rolling Stones, and more! Ashes and Diamonds are ascending right from the start. “The reaction to this album has been very strong thanks to the videos and FM airplay of a string of singles. It’s one of the most auspicious debut albums in some time, with members having such accomplished backgrounds. Portions of the album sound Bowie-esque.”

Till next time …

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