No Need To Argue
UMe, 2025
9/10
It’s been just over 30 years since The Cranberries seemingly became everyone’s favorite band overnight with their 1994 album, No Need To Argue. To celebrate the anniversary, this CD edition comes with 6 bonus tracks to accompany the remastered audio.
“Ode To My Family” opens with O’Riordan’s gentle yodeling/keening that leads into heartfelt singing alongside Noel Hogan’s soft guitar, and “I Can’t Be With You” follows with Fergal Lawler’s scrappy drumming that suits the flowing and crisp alt-rock.
Moving into the middle of the original, O’Riordan’s calm keys start the mesmerizing climate of “Empty” that welcomes strings, while “The Icicle Melts” relies on acoustic guitar and Mike Hogan’s skilled bass amid O’Riordan’s layered vocals.
Getting close to the end, the dreamy spirit of “Yeats’ Grave” builds into a rich and more rugged album highlight that uses spoken word, too, and “No Need To Argue” exits with a breathy and intimate moment of reflection.
Of the bonus material, the demo version of “Zombie” gives us another angle of their smash hit, and “Ridiculous Thoughts”, a live cut from Woodstock ‘94, shows us how great O’Riordan’s voice sounds live, and band delivers with a tight and memorable performance, too.
I was actually gifted a copy of this album in ‘95 and was only familiar with “Zombie” at the time. I was pleasantly surprised at how many other great songs were present, and that sentiment is still true. There’s many variations of this reissue available and with different bonus material. For the diehard fans, this is a must, and there’s more reissues from The Cranberries on the horizon.
Travels well with: The Cranberries- To The Faithfully Departed; The Cranberries- In The End