A month after The Cranberries have started recording their new album for which Dolores had already recorded vocals, it seems the band is currently putting the finishing touches and it should now be a matter of days before they’re done with this new record.

The recordings started on April 16th at Kore Studios, in London, where the band worked until May 4th.
Studio pics during this session interestingly show the use of a bass clarinet.

After a week break, the band came back one last time at Kore Studios on May 14th to add strings, and then moved on the following day to Stephen Street’s Bunker studio in the 13 studios complex in West London.

There, they were joined for a couple of days by Johanna Wiseley (Cranitch) who fans are familiar with as she’s been working with the band as backing singer/keyboard player on tour since 2012.

Johanna posted a picture on her Instagram account yesterday, stating that she had finished putting the backing vocals down, and confirmed on the occasion that this album should unsurprisingly be the Cranberries “final” album:

Although listening to this record will be very difficult for most of us, fans, we’re feeling very thankful to the band and their crew who are devoting themselves to giving life to Dolores’ last tracks, as they feel this is “what [She] would have wanted“.

All pictures below were posted on The Cranberries Instagram account and were taken at Kore Studios in London between April 18th and May 4th:

(click for larger view)

Strings on May 14th at Kore Studios:

All photos below were posted on The Cranberries Instagram account as well and were taken at The Bunker in London on May 15th & 16th:

It’s now Sunday, May 20th in UK and Ireland, The Cranberries just posted on Instagram:
“One year ago today. Last song (Dreams) last show.”

London, Palladium, 20 May 2017

“Dreams” front row video by Leigh Smith:

Early years rarities, episode #2 from Alan’s collection!
Following the upload of his audio recording from 1991 concert at Limerick’s Parkway last February, here’s a second gem surfacing almost 25 years after it was recorded. Again, Alan recorded this one himself on his walkman back in 1993 at Two Mile Inn, Limerick.

Alan purposely chose not to stand at the front for this recording, as opposed to The Parkway, in order to try and get a better sound; he thus stood close to the FOH mixing desk. It remains an audience recording so the quality is pretty similar to the 1991 recording. The recording features the complete show, only a few seconds before the encore are missing as Alan had to flip the cassette, but there’s no song missing.

Tracklist:
01. Like You Used To
02. Pretty
03. Sunday
04. The Icicle Melts
05. Away
06. Linger
07. Reason
08. How
09. I Don’t Need
10. Put Me Down
11. I Will Always
12. Not Sorry
13. Waltzing Back
14. Dreams
15. Wanted
16. Zombie
17. Still Cant…
________________
18. Liar
19. False

Alan’s mastertape

What’s particularly striking on this recording is the never heard before early version of “Zombie”. Obviously this was one of the first time (maybe the very first time?) the song was played live in concert.
Dolores introduces the track simply mentioning it is “another new song, it’s called Zombie”.
The song does sound very similar to that we know, still it features some interesting differences:
“Zombie” is actually played quite fast, kinda like a 33rpm at the 45rpm speed.
Dolores sings alternative lyrics in the 2nd verse of the song “another mothers broken heart has hardly spoken”. Also, the line “with their tanks, and their guns, and their bombs” happens to be “with your tanks, and your guns, and your bombs” at that time.
One may note that Dolores doesn’t exactly sing as she does on the album version and the words “in your head” and the ultimate “Zombie” are for instance sung very softly compared to what we’re used to.

It’s funny to note that what will turn out to become The Cranberries biggest hit was barely applauded that night. Yet, the crowd, which as you can hear was very talkative on that night, does pause to pay attention during 3 to 4 particular songs, and “Zombie” is of them; definitely a good sign 😉

Thank you Alan, everyone can now listen to the earliest live version known to this day of the masterpiece “Zombie”. (The previous earliest version of the song was the Paris radio show “The Black Sessions” recorded on 3 May 1993).

The rest of the set also includes songs which were rarely played live after 1993 like “Away”, “I don’t Need”, “Reason” or “I will always”.
Most of the other classic songs played on that night sound very close to the album versions we’re all familiar with (as opposed to The Parkway show where songs rather sound very fresh and almost like demos than the final versions), which is not too surprising as The Cranberries first album was just a few weeks old at the time.
All in all, a great boot to listen to, enjoy it!!!

As the May Bank Holiday weekend is getting closer, Todayfm published an audio interview of Noel Hogan last Monday, ahead of the talk he his to give with Stephen Street at VINYL festival in Dublin this Saturday.
Quite a moving interview, as this is the first time we hear one of the boys since Dolores’ passing.

Noel indeed chats to Muireann O’Connell, pleasantly coming back on the early days memories.

Asked about the 25th anniversary edition of “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”, Noel says the album should now be released around mid September!

As for The Cranberries new album due for release in 2019, Noel says there are still 3 weeks of recording coming in London, where the band has been for 2 weeks already.
He explains the album will be a combination of some tracks he had started writing with Dolores last summer, with some others she had already written herself before.
The lads are thus turning these demos on laptop into proper Cranberries song as they feel these tracks can make a “strong enough album” and that this is “what Dolores would have wanted“.

Again, our team is sending them all our support as this must obviously not be easy.

It’s great to know they are surrounded by the “original team” from the early days to do this all together.

We love you guys!

The Cranberries are in studio this week to record the next (and possibly final?) Cranberries album. These last 24 hours, they published a few photos on their Instagram account:

“So we start the album”

Mike

“Back in the studio” – (Noel with a new tattoo)

“Day 2 of recording”

Let’s note the band was in studio last week as well (or maybe just Noel?), at the famous Abbey Road studios in London, to remaster the “Everybody Else…” album for the 25th Anniversary edition that should be released later this year.

This week, the three of them gathered at Kore Studios, in London too, to record a brand new Cranberries album. For those who are wondering how they’ll be dealing with vocals without Dolores, please keep in mind the last interview Noel Hogan gave to RollingStone: “I spoke to Dolores last Friday and she was great. We spoke about getting back to work – recording and new tracks we were working on. She sent some of those tracks to me by email on Sunday morning”, as well as the band’s recent statement: “we will also be completing the recording of a new studio album as previously announced, which we also started last year and for which Dolores had already recorded the vocals.“

Everyone can easily imagine how painful going through these tracks must be for the lads. Like many fans who are supporting them through social media, we’re sending love and courage to Noel, Mike and Fergal.

We love you guys, In It Together!

*****VERY RARE*****
Do you recognize those teenagers, how old were they?
Do the math, this photo of the foursome The Cranberry Saw Us was published on 27 January 1990 in a local newspaper called “Limerick Tribune” along with a review of their very first demo cassette, “Anything”.
The singer at the time was Niall Quinn, he is on the very left and you probably know the names of the others. One of the earliest photos of the band ever… if not the earliest(?)

Niall Quinn (16), Mike Hogan (16), Fergal Lawler (18), Noel Hogan (just turned 18)

The complete Limerick Tribune article is available on the magazine section or directly by clicking here. This is the earliest article about The Cranberry Saw Us known to this day.

Thanks to Sue for this gem!

UPDATE – APRIL 15

Niall Quinn posted on Twitter a few more details about this photoshoot, the only one The Cranberry Saw Us (with him as singer) did:

As you may have already seen on socials, earlier today The Cranberries posted a video and a photo on Instagram from the famous Abbey Road Studios in London where they are currently remastering “Everybody Else…” for the album’s 25th anniversary.

As a reminder the classic album counts 12 tracks:

1.  I Still Do
2.  Dreams
3.  Sunday
4.  Pretty
5.  Waltzing Back
6.  Not Sorry
7.  Linger
8.  Wanted
9.  Still Can’t…
10. I Will Always
11. How
12. Put Me Down

and the “Complete Sessions” album released in 2002 added 6 more tracks:

13.   Reason
14.   Them
15.   What You Were
16.   Liar
17.   Pretty (Prêt-à-Porter Movie Remix)
18.   How (Radical Mix)

Let’s note the band earlier mentioned they would be including some unreleased tracks and other bonus material from the era on this anniversary edition of the album. The fans already know of 5 unreleased songs from this period, thanks to bootleg recordings, as some of these were played a few times live in concert in the early years:

ATOSA
FALSE
LIKE YOU USED TO
SAME OLD STORY
SERIOUS

The question is… have all these songs been recorded in studio back then?
And what about some more unknown songs we would never have heard about, is there at least one or two somewhere?
Could the 25th Anniversary Album be an ultimate double CD/LP including all those 23 or more songs?
Time will tell… but today, the remastering has just started and it’s a bit of a nice news at this difficult time!

The director’s cut of one of Ireland’s most memorable and best-loved tourism ads has been shared to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Cranberries seminal debut album, Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We, which was released in 1993.

The series will never stop!!!
The album “No Need To Argue” will be reissued on colored vinyl again and again. Two more colors are coming: “White” and “Pink & Orange”. One color really makes sense and one really doesn’t…

Still made by the label Plain, both versions will be released on 4 May 2018 and do not seem to be limited. A possible oversight (?) as all previous NNTA colored vinyl reissues were limited.

Click here to preorder the White version.
Click here to preorder the Pink & Orange version.

As usual on runtshop.com, price is $29.98 (each) including shipping for USA. Worldwide shipping is available for a few extra dollars.

runtshop.com (White)

runtshop.com (Pink & Orange)

The Gold vinyl reissue of the album “No Need To Argue” was released yesterday. Below the first image published on Instagram today:

Limited to 1,500

And here comes another colored vinyl reissue of the album “No Need To Argue”. This time GOLD. It’s a “Urban Outfitters” exclusive and available on their U.S. and Canadian stores only.
The vinyl will be released on March 30, 2018 and you can already preorder it for $29.90 + shipping.

No official details about the label for now however, according to an eBay seller, the item would be limited to 1,500 and made by Plain Recordings, the label who already released 7 other colored vinyls of this very album.

NNTA gold vinyl

Still about Urban Outfitters, the shop, which is more like a fashion & clothing store than a record store, is also selling another (and exclusive?) version of The Cranberries debut album on vinyl. Still their U.S. and Canadian stores only.
Weirdly enough, their title and description are announcing the regular 12-track album when their photo shows the “Complete Sessions” version, which would be a first on vinyl. So where’s the mistake… time will tell! Release date is April 3, 2018 and you can already preorder it for $29.98 + shipping.

[EDIT APRIL 4th: this is not the complete sessions, just the regular Analog Spark vinyl.]

EEIDISWCW – The Complete Sessions on vinyl (?)

And last, earlier than expected the vinyl reissues “Clear Blue” and “Clear Pink” by Plain Recordings are now in stock (possibly for a week now) and first customers are receiving their copies these days. Below the first images found on eBay  for the Clear & Pink LP

and eBay and Instagram for the Clear & Blue LP:

Here is the third video of Alan we previously told you about: a never seen before interview of Dolores and Fergal by Ian Dempsey given on RTÉ Two in a show called “The Beatbox” on December 19, 1993.

The interview takes place on the band’s return from their first and successful American tour, and follows their Limerick and Dublin performances (Dec 17th and 18th) before the Christmas break.

“The Beatbox” – RTÉ Two – December 19, 1993

As always, a huge thanks to Alan!

You may remember the behind the scenes photo posted on Instagram on July 21, 2017 by Polish journalist Piotr Pasztaleniec. He also wrote “I finally met Dolores, soon in tv…” but we have had no news since!

It seems, though, that the interview was indeed broadcast on Polish TV, on TVP2. We have no details about the exact date of broadcast nor the name of the TV show, the only thing we know is the interview was given in June 2017.

Fortunately, we found out today that the interview was published 2 days following Dolores’ passing on the website pytanienasniadanie.tvp.pl, and in HD 1080!

Incredible, but real!!!
Alan Martin just shared on YouTube the full “Uncertain” video with the world for the first time ever.
Thank you for digging these treasures out, Alan.

The Cranberries just published on their website cranberries.com as well as their socials a new moving statement announcing that they were initially planning on releasing a special 25th anniversary of their first album “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” this month through Universal Music.

The project has been understandably put on hold since Dolores’ passing, but the band has decided to finish what they had started with Dolores, and get this special edition out “later this year”.

This will feature remastered versions of the tracks we know, along with unreleased material and bonus material from this early 90s era of their debut album.

The band also uses the occasion to remind fans they’re planning on completing the recording of the new album which they had been working on during the past months, and for which Dolores had already recorded the vocals.

The CW Team would like to send Noel, Mike and Ferg all their love and support as we presume this won’t be easy for them.

We love you guys!
xx

cranberries.com

Our thoughts go out to our favorite drummer on this special day!
We hope you’re surrounded by your loved ones today, Ferg.

Love,
The CW team

Photo off “Uncertain” video

The limited “No Need To Argue” purple vinyl reissue has been released and shipped last week. Some customers just received their copy and first images appeared on the internet, for example on eBay or Instagram. Let’s note that all those colored vinyl reissues are making debat regarding the sound quality. Here is what Instagram user neemus says about this purple LP:

[…] And even though I should’ve known better, even though PLAIN’s reputation is real, I went and ordered it. *Sigh* This thing sounds awful. Terrible. So compressed and lifeless, mp3 sounds better. Zombie has that fantastic bass line and unfortunately you can’t even enjoy it. They went straight from CD without even bothering to tweak the mix, yet again. FAIL

The Cranberries debut album “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” turns 25 today! The band first album was released on March 1, 1993. This could have been such a great anniversary…

We’re sending love, at this very difficult time, to the lads: Fergal, Noel and Mike as well as to you, Dolores, wherever you are… 25 years ago you guys released an absolute masterpiece!

xx

I don’t want to leave you
Even though I have to