Before The Cranberries had 1990s hit singles with “Dreams,” “Linger,” and “Zombie” and before their albums were certified multiplatinum and their videos racked hundreds of millions of views (“Zombie” has racked up 1.7B alone), the Irish alt-rock band released
UNCERTAIN in October 1991.
Today, Island/UMe announced the reissue of the EP via a limited edition, numbered and lightly remastered reissue of Uncertain. Pressed on cranberry-colored vinyl, the 45-RPM 12” arrived prior to debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? in 1993.
Originally released in very limited quantities (estimates project just 5,000 copies were made), the rare four-song EP was recorded by the late Dolores O’Riordan on vocals, drummer Fergal Lawler, bassist Mike Hogan, and guitarist Noel Hogan.
“Whoa! Listening to these songs is like taking a trip through a time machine,” says Fergal. “We were so young when we recorded this EP. You can really hear it in Dolores’s voice. She was just 19 years old then.”
“Listening to Uncertain all these years later, I’m surprised by how well it’s held up,” adds Noel. “You can hear small hints of how the band would eventually sound, but more than anything, it brings back great memories of four young people eager to play music. The EP shows clear signs of strong songwriting, even if it still sounds very much of its time.”
“‘Uncertain’ seemed to me at the time to be more of a pop song, but I must say, listening back to it now, it’s got a bit more of an alternative slant to it,” Fergal reminisces.
"Uncertain": https://thecranberries.lnk.to/UncertainVideo
Of “Nothing Left At All,” Fergal says, “It’s heartbreaking lyrically but has this driving beat behind it giving it hope,” while the musician describes “Pathetic Senses” as “Dolores’ high soprano backing vocal is superb.
“Great big guitar power chords and jangly picking parts. It has a bit of an ‘80s feel to it, reminding me a bit of The Cure who we were all big fans of.”
For Fergal, however, it’s the closing track, “Them”, that resonates most. “I personally always loved this song,” he says. “It’s so powerful. It was one of the songs we played live a lot in our early days that really had a mesmerizing effect on the audience.”
Track listing:
SIDE A
SIDE B
Pathetic Senses
Them
George Paul
