CIVIL PROTESTS

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

One rarely watches a congressional filibuster on C-SPAN and thinks--hey, add a guitar lick and this would make a really rockin' song. Still, politics, or at least social commentary, can add an invigorating edge to pop music, and it's something too many musicians shy away from. What are they afraid of? Doesn't singing for the umpteenth time some ditty about a troublesome lover or adolescent angst get a little tired after a while?

The Irish rock group the Cranberries braves the move from the personal to the political with a superb new CD, To the Faithful Departed, that is shot through with social commentary. The exuberantly cacophonous opening song, Hollywood, could be interpreted as an attack on Tinseltown's moral vacuum; War Child is a lament for suffering children in battle zones; and the final track, Bosnia, is about...well, take a guess.

The group, whose music was dreamy and pretty on its debut album, has also toughened up its sound. On such standout songs as Forever Yellow Skies and The Rebels, singer Dolores O'Riordan howls and the guitars rage. Yet O'Riordan remains a terrific crafter of melodies, and a prettiness sparkles beneath the surface of her most raucous songs. The one problem is that the lyrics are sometimes a bit daft: I'm Still Remembering pays tribute to Kurt Cobain in one couplet and, in a loopy segue, lauds John F. Kennedy in the next. Perhaps O'Riordan should watch more C-SPAN.

--By C.J.F.