The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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Island Records has shown some confidence in the career of the Cranberries by assembling this collection, which compiles all of the band's studio recordings of the 1990s. Each of the four discs contains one of the Cranberries' albums from the decade, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, No Need to Argue, To the Faithful Departed, and Bury the Hatchet, followed by five or six bonus tracks that were released originally as single B-sides, remixes, or on various-artists albums. Taken together, the recordings trace the band's recording journey through the '90s, from its beginnings as a relatively melodic Celtic-tinged and romantically inclined outfit on its debut, to an increasingly hard rock posture and an overtly political lyrical concern on the second and third albums, and back to a lighter approach on the fourth album. The high points remain the hits: "Linger," "Dreams," "Zombie," "Ode to My Family," "I Can't Be With You," "Ridiculous Thoughts," "Salvation," "When You're Gone," "Free to Decide," "Promises," and "Animal Instincts." But there are songs among the bonus tracks that are more than just throwaways; "Liar," "I Don't Need," and "So Cold in Ireland," to name three, are good enough to have been included on the Cranberries' regular albums. The occasional covers of other artists' hits, the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," are illuminating, though the band embarrasses itself performing Ave Maria with Pavarotti (a track that, despite the stated restriction to studio recordings, was recorded live). At this point, the Cranberries might be better served by a carefully selected hits collection than they are by these collected works. But their fans may welcome the chance to have all their '90s recordings in one place, as long as they don't mind buying the albums again.

Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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Title aside, what the Cranberries were doing wasn't that common at the time, at least in mainstream pop terms; grunge and G-funk had done their respective big splashes via Nirvana and Dr. Dre when Everybody came out first in the U.K. and then in America some months later. Lead guitarist Noel Hogan is in many ways the true center of the band at this point, co-writing all but three songs with O'Riordan and showing an amazing economy in his playing, and having longtime Smiths/Morrissey producer Stephen Street behind the boards meant that the right blend of projection and delicacy still held sway. One can tell he likes Johnny Marr and his ability to do the job just right: check out the quick strums and blasts on "Pretty" or the concluding part of the lovely "Waltzing Back." O'Riordan herself offers up a number of romantic ponderings and considerations lyrically (as well as playing perfectly fine acoustic guitar), and her undisputed vocal ability suits the material perfectly. The two best cuts were the deserved smashes: "Dreams," a brisk, charging number combining low-key tension and full-on rock, and the melancholic, string-swept break-up song "Linger." If Everybody is in the end a derivative pleasure – and O'Riordan's vocal acrobatics would never again be so relatively calm in comparison – a pleasure it remains nonetheless, the work of a young band creating a fine little synthesis.

Review by Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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With their surprise success behind them, the Cranberries went ahead and essentially created a sequel to Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We with only tiny variations, with mixed results. The fact that the album is essentially a redo of previously established stylistic ground isn't apparent in just the production, handled again by Stephen Street, or the overall sound, or even that one particularly fine song is called "Dreaming My Dreams." Everybody wasn't a laugh riot, to be sure, but No Need to Argue starts to see O'Riordan take a more commanding and self-conscious role that ended up not standing the band in good stead later. Lead single "Zombie" is the offender in this regard – the heavy rock trudge isn't immediately suited for the band's strengths (notably, O'Riordan wrote this without Noel Hogan) – while the subject matter (the continuing Northern Ireland tensions) ends up sounding trivialized. Opening cut "Ode to My Family" is actually one of the band's best, with a lovely string arrangement created by O'Riordan, her overdubbed vocals showing her distinct vocal tics. Where No Need succeeds best is when the Cranberries stick at what they know, resulting in a number of charmers like "Twenty One," the uilleann pipes-touched "Daffodil's Lament," which has an epic sweep that doesn't overbear like "Zombie," and the evocative "Disappointment."

Review by Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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To the Faithful Departed turned out to be where the Cranberries' best intentions finally and thoroughly tripped them up. Switching producers to Bruce Fairbairn was a troubling enough move to begin with; Stephen Street's ear for the band's dynamics was note-perfect, but Fairbairn's work with arena-rock monsters like Aerosmith meant that on Departed everything was scaled up accordingly. The results may have been more commercial, but they took the identity of the band with it – the opening song "Hollywood" was a sludgefest that, ironically, didn't give the band the muscular kick that propelled songs like "Zombie." O'Riordan, meanwhile, decided she was a generation's spokesperson, fully taking over the songwriting, except on a couple of cuts with Noel Hogan, penning some appropriate liner notes, and running with it. Songtitles say it all – "War Child," "I Just Shot John Lennon," complete with cheesy gun shots, and perhaps most painfully obvious at the end, "Bosnia." Then there's lead single "Salvation," which preaches against heroin addiction in a manner worthy of afterschool specials and with about as much depth. Not that good songs can't and haven't been written on these subjects, of course, but O'Riordan, lacking a truly individual or unique take on them, is not the person to be writing them. Or singing them – her wails and yelps now run rampant, being less voice-as-instrument as it is signature calling card to be employed throughout. There are bright points – every so often Hogan's guitar comes through at its best, and there's the retro-'50s finger-snapping "When You're Gone" and the nicely arranged "Electric Blue." Still, when compared to No Need and especially Everybody, Departed completely suffers in comparison.

Review by Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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The Cranberries stumbled with their move toward heavier, politically fueled modern rock on To the Faithful Departed, losing fans enamored with their earlier sound. Like many groups that see their stardom fading, the band decided to return after a short hiatus with a mildly updated, immaculately constructed distillation of everything that earned them an audience in the first place. It's immediately apparent that Bury the Hatchet has retreated from the ludicrous posturing that marred To the Faithful. There are no blasts of distorted guitar – as a matter of fact, there are no songs that even qualify as "rockers" – and there is little preaching, even on Dolores O'Riordan's most earnest songs. Every note and gesture is pitched at the adult alternative mainstream, which is a good thing. Though they ran away from the dreamy jangle of their first hits, The Cranberries never sounded more convincing than on mid-tempo, folky pop tunes with polished productions. Sonically, that's precisely what Bury the Hatchet delivers, complete with little flourishes – a Bacharachian horn chart there, cinematic strings there – to illustrate that the band did indeed know what was hip in the late '90s. All this planning – some might call it calculation – shouldn't come as a surprise, since Bury the Hatchet is essentially a make-or-break album, but what is a surprise is that the end result is the most consistent record of their career. It's not necessarily their best – it lacks the immediate singles of their first two records – but all the songs work together to form a whole; not even embarrassments like the skittering "Copycat" interrupt the flow of the record. True, the album never challenges listeners, but it delivers on their expectations – and after To the Faithful Departed, that comes as a relief.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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The Cranberries - The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 aka Treasure Box (2002) 4 CD Box Set

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