Dolores O'Riordan
No Baggage

You can view Dolores O'Riordan's solo career two ways. On one hand, it was inevitable that the Limerick woman would at least attempt the unaccompanied route, such was the popularity of The Cranberries. On the other, it was perhaps optimistic to suggest that she could replicate that band's success, considering the many of their best songs were co-written with guitarist Noel Hogan.

Nevertheless, O'Riordan has persevered with the notion of solo success and 'No Baggage', her second album, is pretty much what you'd expect of a singer without the songs to back up her voice. The vast majority of these songs are mid-tempo guitar based affairs with meaningless lyrics ("Show me the sun, show me the sun / I can't see the sun, I can't see the sun") and little development or inventiveness.

It's hard to think of a silver lining in such cases, but that said, O'Riordan surprisingly reigns in her trademark histrionic vocals, often replacing them with a breathy quiver that's inoffensive at worst. That goes for the music, too: 'Skeleton', 'Apple of My Eye' and 'Tranquilizer' all epitomise the phrase 'bog standard', while 'Throw Your Arms Around Me''s attempt at experimentation (bongos, background chanting, etc.) ultimately falls flat. It's the brace of piano-led numbers 'Stupid' and 'Lunatic' that somehow feel like the most honest compositions here. Perhaps that Cranberries reunion has come just at the right time.

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