While doing our usual search for news, we at Zombieguide came across anarticle from 2001 at VH1 which read, “The Cranberries recorded 18 songs at Windmill Lane, 13 of which will end up on the record. The rest, including a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘In the Ghetto,’ will be released as B-sides.” Doing some quick math, that leaves five songs as B-sides. But suddenly it struck us: only four have been released, namely “Capetown” (US version of “Wake Up”), Elvis’s “In the Ghetto” (International version of “Wake Up”), “Many Days” (Official page Internet download and Asian Tour Edition of “Wake Up”), and “Such a Waste” (“This is the Day” single).
Obviously, this leaves one song missing. So we decided to investigate, and lo and behold, we’ve discovered the answer.
“Yes, there is an unreleased track recorded for the ‘Wake Up and Smell the Coffee’ sessions. The track is called ‘7 Years’ and is written by Dolores,” a representative for The Cranberries told Zombieguide today. “It is a country- tinged song featuring a Pedal Steel guitar.”
The unfortunate news is that we will likely not be listening to “7 Years” anytime soon. As the rep told us, “At present, there are no plans to release the song which might be used in a ‘Complete Sessions’ for the album. The track is owned by MCA/Universal Music Group.” That final statement should be the most worrysome for fans — after the band’s January announcement that they have split from Universal, the chances of seeing future Cranberries releases from Universal have been severely dampered.
The Unreleased Japanese Singles Compilation “7 Years,” from 1998
The title immediately jerked our minds back to something that we had seen recently in the December Cranberries Special Edition of the Irish mag “Hot Press.” Mixed into a collage of band photos (page 70) is something peeping up from behind — a CD-case-proportioned card which reads “The Cranberries ~7 Years~” in a Calligraphy-style font indicative of “To the Faithful Departed.” The Japanese katakana text on the lower right simply reads, “Cranberries: Seven Years.”
The image above comes from the unreleased Japan-only singles compilation “Seven Years,” (probably the same release as the fabled unreleased “Odd Bits and Hits”). Is there a connection between the song and the unreleased 1998 compilation? Many artists name their greatest hits compilation after the title of a bonus track — after all, even “Stars: The Best of…” was named after its bonus track.
The song and compilation “7 Years” are not related, see our update here.
As surprising as a 5th unreleased B-side from “Wake Up” may be, it’s certainly nothing new from The Cranberries. Many times in the past, the band has recorded tracks in the studio which, for one reason or another, never end up released to the public. Dolores told MTV News in a 1996 interview that the band usually has a few tracks that they record but never release. For example, last year’s “To the Faithful Departed: The Complete Sessions” release shows a studio chart that clearly shows that there was at least an attempt to record the song “False” during the late 1995 session. “False” is one of the band’s oldest songs, dating back to at least 1992. Furthermore, Fergal Lawler revealed via the Official Page last year that the band had tried to record the “Wake Up” track “Dying Inside” both during the “Faithful” and “Hatchet” sessions, but abandoned both attempts.
The Complete Cranberries Song List will be updated soon with the new addition.
Source: Exclusive!
