Back in January 1992, The Cranberries recorded a four-track studio session for the John Peel show, more than a year before the release of their first studio album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?. No songs from that session were ever commercially released, but things might change in the next months…

EMI, in partnership with the BBC, released the first volume of a series of Peel Sessions compilations this week. There are no words yet about the release date for the volume covering the early 90’s, nor if a track from The Cranberries will be included.

For their Peel Session, The Cranberries recorded slightly different versions of “Linger”, “Wanted”, “Waltzing Back” and “I Will Always”.

Few years ago, a medium-quality tape recording of this session was featured on an unauthorized bootleg entitled Be with You. Slightly better quality audio files – but nothing compared to the real thing – also circulate in the fan community. Here’s a link (no longer available) for those Cranfans who want it!

For almost 40 years, emerging artists and bands recorded sessions specially intended to be broadcasted on the John Peel show at the BBC. To learn more about the Peel Sessions, visit the Keeping It Peel website.

In Ireland, radio host Dave Fanning from RTÉ (Irish public service broadcaster) gave a similar opportunity to emerging musicians. The Cranberries recorded two sessions for his show in 1991 and 1993. These sessions were (sadly) never commercially released neither. The 1991 session was broadcasted a couple of times in the last few years on the Dan Hegarty show.

Sources: emisessions.com, bbc.co.uk, wikipedia.com