In the Adam Sandler movie "Click" when he does a backwards search with his magic universal remote to find out what his wife Kate Beckinsale considers to be "their" song, he discovers it is "Linger" by the Cranberries. That surprised me because while it is a lovely little song and it has a couple of romantic lines in the chorus--too wit, "But I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finer, ah, ha, ha"--most of the song is Delores O'Riordan singing about how she caught him holding the hand of another woman, things going wrong, being lied to, being used, and other things that you would not want a couple thinking let alone singing along to when the song plays on the radio. But then people have been latching onto choruses without regarding for what the stanzas are saying for a long time. I can go way back beyond Ronald Reagan thinking Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." was some sort of new American anthem to all those people who were touched by Olivia Newton John's "I Honesty Love You," without picking up it was a song about infidelity (or just plain ignoring it). But during the wedding sequence in the final act of "Click" O'Riordan shows up to sing the song in person, which was a nice touch even if they did not just stop the movie and let us enjoy her performance.

By now everybody should be well aware that the "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection" is a budget collection where you usually need slightly more than the fingers on both hands to count the number of tracks, and that is exactly the case with "The Best of the Cranberries." This 2005 collection has eleven tracks and front loads big town by having the group's best-remembered songs as the first four tracks. Those songs, and how they did on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, where the group faried best, are "Dreams" (#15), "Linger" (#4), "Zombie" (#1), and "Ode to My Family" (#11). Other relative chart successes on the album would be "Salvation" #1, "Free to Decide" (#8), and a remix of "Promises" (#12). You also have "When You're Gone," which was #44 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1996 but made it to #22 in 1997. "Analyze" was a Adult Top 40 hit (#26). The only songs that are really missing that I would have expected to find here are "Ridiculous Thoughts" (#14) and "Hollywood," even if the latter is an idiosyncratic choice.

Even with only eleven tracks it is a close call on this one, because pretty much everything you have to have by the Cranberries is here. But you can make the argument that a couple of things are missing and having only eleven tracks on a CD still strikes me as a bit more bare boned. I agree that this album is ideally suited for the casual fan of the Cranberries, but I can also argue that you should be a bit more than a casual fan and upgrade to the twenty-track "Stars: The Best of 1992-2002," even if you do not become a total fan and simply get their five albums (although the first two, "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?" and "No Need to Argue" would be the two absolute must haves on that short list). It is hard to stop listening to O'Riordan starts lilting and keening.

Many best of collections try to get the maximum number of songs on a CD to make sure they please the fans but usually end up exhausting the casual fan. Where the 20th Century Masters excels is these collections provide a nice concise collection of the big hits at a reasonable price. I think this works very well for the Cranberries. This contains most all of the U.S. radio singles that the casual fans know and a few additional album tracks. At just over 42 minutes this is the right amount of music for someone like me who likes the music but doesn't want to invest over an of hour listening to this band.

If you are a little more than a casual fan but don't want to buy all the albums check out "Stars". "Stars" pretty much maxes out the CD with some pretty decent quality music but drags toward the end with some of the newer tracks.

I love this CD. I really, really do! I am a sucker for the "mainstream" songs so this fit me like a glove. Very happy with it and it brings back great memories from when times were simpler...you know, the 90's.

i gave this one star because when i received this product i was sent a Emenim dvd inside of the Cranberries cd case. not a happy camper . i cant stand Emenim