Dolores O'Riordan - Are you listening? (Album)
Dolores O’Riordan was the haunting voice of The Cranberries through the 90’s and she continues to haunt through the 2007 with her new album ‘are you listening?’
I’ve always been doubtful of comeback albums, and with good reason, but Dolores O’Riordan makes a fine effort and is sure to please old fans, while attracting a few new ones.
After leaving The Cranberries, though it may seem Dolores O’Riordan disappeared into oblivion she had actually been collaborating with quite a few artists. Her song ‘Black Widow’ from “are you listening?” was even meant to appear on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack, but was pulled out last minute. Her album shows no sign of having abandoned music over the years as her voice is fresh as ever.
“Are you listening?” is overall a fine album. Completely listenable and soothing, yet it fails to contain any real stand out tracks. Her first single “ordinary day” is a nice pop tune, but nothing that catches the ear and after a while loses its appeal.
I was expecting a more demure record considering it has been a while since The Cranberries and perhaps she would go in a new direction, but Dolores O’Riordan belts em` out like she was never gone. “In the garden” is an interesting song, the music screams at you while she belts out that echoing voice. “Human spirit”, “angel fire”, “ecstasy” and especially “october” are beautiful tracks, defiantly some of the nicer songs in comparison.
Listening to Dolores O’Riordan it’s hard not to compare her new effort to The Cranberries. The album in all has a very similar sound, yet lacks the commercial appeal they once had, though that could be a good thing. Much like her lyrics for The Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan falls into the trap of rhyming lyrics which many deplore and I find hard to listen to. In “accept things” (also not a favourite of mine) she sings “"I think you pretend, that you are my friend" and this continues through most of her songs. She lacks any real emotional depth in her lyrics but her voice and the music behind it almost compensates for it.
While “are you listening” is an admirable effort for a debut solo album, and is very nice to listen to, it lacks the quality of a standout album. For fans it should surely please and for the new listeners I recommend it. But if you don’t like Dolores O’Riordan you can always turn back to The Cranberries for some pleasing stuff.
