The Cranberries Live

Fronted by the trilling Irish vocals of lead singer/songwriter Dolores O'Riordan (whom I've elsewhere referred to as the "anti-Enya"), the pop/rock Cranberries serve up a 15-song set in this live performance captured at the London Astoria II on January 14, 1994. Filmed between their first two albums (1993's Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? and 1994's No Need to Argue), the set features 13 songs from those two discs, including the hits "Linger," "Dreams," and "Zombie," as well as standout tracks such as "Ridiculous Thoughts," the rarely-performed "So Cold in Ireland," and the quasi-acoustic "Empty." Unfortunately, although the audio options include both Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo, the sound is muddy at best, with O'Riordan's vocals often too low (especially during the first half) to be heard well. Aside from a "jukebox" song shuffle feature and a photo gallery, the disc contains no extras. But what a difference a half-decade-plus makes: in 2000, the band would play to a packed stadium for The Cranberries: Beneath the Skin--Live in Paris (VL-3/01), exhibiting all of the cool, confidence, and technical mastery that are clearly absent in this smaller, garage-band-disheveled-looking effort. Better to go with the Paris concert or the video compilation Cranberries: Stars--The Best of Videos 1992-2002 (VL-3/03); this early live outing is not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)