Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

The Cranberries

To the Faithful Departed

2023 · Island Records (UMe/Universal) 5570947 · Stereo · Germany (EU pressing distributed Europe-wide; 'Made in Germany' sticker, Universal International Music B.V. Hilversum rim text) · 2xLP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Island Records (UMe/Universal)
Catalogue number	5570947
Year	2023
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	Germany (EU pressing distributed Europe-wide; 'Made in Germany' sticker, Universal International Music B.V. Hilversum rim text)
Format	2xLP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Rock - Alternative Rock
Producer	Bruce Fairbairn, The Cranberries
Composer	Dolores O'Riordan, Noel Hogan
Musicians	Dolores O'Riordan (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards), Noel Hogan (electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin), Mike Hogan (bass), Fergal Lawler (drums, percussion); guests: Richie Buckley (tenor saxophone), Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone), Bruce Fairbairn (trumpet), Randy Raine-Reusch (additional percussion), Michael Kamen (string direction), Henry Dagg (musical saw on 'Cordell'); Paris demo tracks produced by Tim Palmer

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  55703L7
-62082-II
41 JD
Side B:  5570947
-62082-II
B1
Side C:  5570947
-62083-1
C1
Side D:  5670947
-62083-1
D1

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1996 - EU/UK original Island single LP 524 314-1, period Island labels, no bonus tracks
2023 - Island/UMe 1LP remaster 5570946, original album configuration
2023 - Island/UMe deluxe 2LP black 5570947, three album sides + Paris demos side D  <- this copy
2023 - Island/UMe deluxe 2LP limited yellow vinyl 5570947

This Pressing

2023 European deluxe 2LP reissue (Island/UMe 5570947) - John Dent/Metropolis remaster, dual 1996/2023 copyright labels, sits behind the 1996 Island 524 314-1 original single LP.

The Album

To the Faithful Departed (1996) is the Cranberries' third album, recorded in a burst of activity in November-December 1995 at Windmill Lane in Dublin and Mushroom Studios in Vancouver with producer Bruce Fairbairn, whose stadium-rock pedigree with Aerosmith and AC/DC pushed the band toward a harder sound than the jangle of their first two records. The album is steeped in grief, dedicated to two men who died in 1995: Dolores O'Riordan's grandfather Joe, mourned in 'Joe', and Denny Cordell, the Shelter Records co-founder who had championed the Limerick band from their earliest days, elegized in 'Cordell'. Elsewhere O'Riordan confronts heroin addiction in 'Salvation', press intrusion in 'Free to Decide', the Bosnian war in 'Bosnia', and gun violence in 'I Just Shot John Lennon', while the love song 'When You're Gone' took on a haunting second life after O'Riordan's own death in January 2018. Arriving on the heels of 'Zombie' and the multi-platinum No Need to Argue, the album topped charts in six countries and reached number 2 in the UK, becoming the band's highest US chart placing and selling over six million copies worldwide. Critics were cooler than the public, finding Fairbairn's arena-rock production strident against the band's earlier delicacy, though some outlets called it their best work. It remains the Cranberries' most debated record, its raw mourning and O'Riordan's singular voice aging well under reassessment, closing out the band's imperial commercial run as the biggest Irish alternative act of the 1990s after U2.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Hollywood
2. Salvation
3. When You're Gone
4. Free To Decide
5. War Child

Side 2

1. Forever Yellow Skies
2. The Rebels
3. Intermission
4. I Just Shot John Lennon
5. Electric Blue

Side 3

1. I'm Still Remembering
2. Will You Remember?
3. Joe
4. Bosnia
5. Cordell

Side 4

1. The Picture I View
2. Go Your Own Way
3. When You're Gone (Paris Demo)
4. I Just Shot John Lennon (Paris Demo)
5. Free To Decide (Paris Demo)

The Label

The side labels show a modern grey Island design with a single circular palm-tree logo at the bottom, LC 00407 box, BIEM/SDRM rights numbers, and dual '(c) 1996 / (c) 2023 UMG Recordings, Inc.' copyright lines, with rim text citing Universal International Music B.V., Hilversum, Netherlands - the standard 2020s UMe/Universal catalog-reissue label template, not any period Island design. Island has been a UMG (formerly PolyGram) property since 1989, and its 1990s catalog is now administered by UMe, explaining why a 1996 copyright sits alongside a 2023 one. The 'Universal Music Recordings' signature box and 557####/006024557##### numbering are current Universal EU catalog conventions, placing this copy unambiguously in the 13 October 2023 deluxe reissue campaign - two label-design generations removed from the 1996 Island 524 314-1 original single LP.

Fidelity

All tracks remastered from the original audio by John Dent at Metropolis (the jacket's 'John Davis' credit is a misread, consistent with the 'JD' deadwax etch on side A), pressed in Germany with typically flat, quiet, well-centered EU vinyl. As with most UMe catalog remasters it is cut from a high-resolution digital transfer rather than an all-analog chain, yielding a louder, denser modern master than the 1996 cut. A genuine advantage is that the roughly 55-minute program is spread across three album sides here rather than crammed onto one 1996 LP, easing inner-groove distortion. No audiophile edition (MoFi, Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner) exists for this title, so the fidelity hierarchy is essentially the scarce 1996 Island original single LP (favored for period dynamics) versus this 2023 deluxe (favored for quiet surfaces, generous groove spacing, and the exclusive Paris demos).

Notes

2023 Island/UMe European deluxe 2LP reissue/remaster, released 13 October 2023, not a 1996 original pressing. The grey Island labels carry dual '(c) 1996 / (c) 2023 UMG Recordings' lines with UMG Hilversum rim text; the hype sticker advertises three previously unreleased Paris 1995 demos; and the set is configured across four sides with bonus material on side D. A 'Made in Germany' sticker and deadwax job numbers 62082/62083 mark this as an EU pressing, and the 'JD' etch on side A denotes remastering engineer John Dent of Metropolis. The true original is the 1996 Island single LP 524 314-1 with period labels and no bonus side.

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