Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
After 10 years of making hit records, you would think Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan would have figured out how to write a proper rock lyric. But less than two minutes into the Irish group's fifth album, we are treated to a flashing display of her incomparable wit: "Birds in the sky/ they look so high" she coos on the opening track "Never Grow Old," before adding "I feel the breeze/ I feel at ease." And that's when she is being mercifully clever. On the title track, she doesn't even bother summoning the lessons learned in fifth-grade poetry. She simply repeats each line twice, therefore rhyming every sentiment with itself. The lazy writing is really a shame because it gets in the way of one of the last truly clear, pristine voices in rock. While the Cranberries' musical might remains largely intact on its fifth album, showcasing full-bodied rhythms and symphonic flourishes on tracks like "I Really Hope" and "This Is the Day," it's really difficult to sustain any interest when the tiresome lyrics trip you up at every turn. --Jaan Uhelszki

Music Review:

  1. We Care
  2. Why Can't I? [CD-single] [Import]
  3. Adventure [Original recording remastered]
  4. American Don
  5. Apple Venus Volume 1
  6. Arise, Therefore
  7. Ass Cobra [Enhanced]
  8. Back to Mine [Explicit Lyrics]
  9. Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
  10. Boulevard of Broken Dreams [CD-single] [Import]

Music Review

music review

Music Review

Little House of Savages [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

Pro Arte Quartet Play Franck: String Quartet in D (1889) (recorded 1933) / Bartok: String Quartet No. 1 in A minor (1908) (recorded 1934)

Myaskovsky: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. 2

Music: A Night to Remember [Import]

Puttin' On The Ritz

Live in Bulgaria: Mixed By Tall Paul

Oro Musical

Primetime [CD-single]

Made in England

Rock 'n' Roll: The Best of Gary Glitter

Ok Computer

My Spanish Heart [Import]

Same Daize Different Time

Classical Music classical-music-19

The Best of Astor Piazzolla