What’s winter without a little Cranberries? Cranberry sauce, cran-apple mimosas… naturally, a revisitation of The Cranberries’ acoustic MTV Unplugged session from 30 years ago is in season!? For those not old enough to remember, there was a time that MTV actually broadcasted music on television. Not only that, but they had special concerts of said music on said television, with the largest names in rock music toning down radio bangers to be more appropriate for an intimate setting. It was called MTV Unplugged and it brought forth iconic acoustic sets from Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, and so many other bands.
One of these sessions welcomed The Cranberries on February 14th, 1995.
Performing nine stripped-back songs as part of the show’s sixth season at Brooklyn’s Howard Gilman Opera House, The Cranberries episode aired on April 18th, 1995. The setlist leaned heavily into tracks off their commercially successful sophomore album No Need to Argue, but had little gems thrown in, like “Linger” from the band’s debut album Everybody Else Is Dong It, So Why Can’t We? and two unreleased songs, “Free to Decide” and “I’m Still Remembering”, that eventually made their way onto the band’s 1996 LP, To The Faithfully Departed.
Backed by Electra Strings, late frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan‘s voice becomes angelic against the acoustics, enthralling both fans and critics alike. In fact, many argue that — out of the 125 episodes aired — The Cranberries’ Unplugged performance sits firmly within the top 10 of all time. Even global -reaching music publications SPIN and Mixdown continue to revere it, with the latter stating “some bands are just tailor-made to shine in an acoustic setting and there’s no better example of this than with The Cranberries’ MTV set.”
After three decades, the audio recording from the episode finally became available for fans on the 30th anniversary edition of No Need to Argue — a limited edition three-LP released back in June of this year. Unfortunately (at least to those who didn’t act fast), the LP sold out almost immediately. Due to demand, Island Records / UMe decided to give the performance its own standalone release — both digitally or physically. Fans can even opt for a limited edition color vinyl pressing of the album, featuring an alt cover! For more information or to get your copy of this super special album today, visit the links below.
Purchase The Cranberries ‘MTV Unplugged’ album:
Stream The Cranberries ‘MTV Unplugged’ album:
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Disclaimer: All views presented in this album review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Top Shelf Music.
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