Thin Lizzy’s 1971 “Lost” BBC Session Has Been Found

Late DJ John Peel is often remembered for championing punk, but he had a soft spot for Thin Lizzy long before punk took over the airwaves. In the sleeve notes to The Peel Sessions released in 1994, Peel recalled his very first meeting with the band.

He wrote:

“The story of my first meeting with Phil Lynott and the boys aboard a ferry, salt-caked smokestacks and the rest, between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead, has been told too many times already.
“Suffice to say, Thin Lizzy were crossing to England for the first time aboard the same boat as myself, made contact and urged me to listen out for them.”

Peel didn’t just listen—he supported. He went on to say, “Throughout the first half of the seventies, they provided a welcome antidote to much of the pretentious hogwash that bedevilled the age.”

Hidden Gem From 1971 Resurfaces

Between 1971 and 1977, Thin Lizzy recorded 11 sessions for John Peel’s BBC radio show. Most of these have since been released, either through 1995’s The Peel Sessions collection or the extensive 2011 Thin Lizzy At The BBC box set.

But one session—their very first—had remained missing. It was recorded in late 1971 at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios for Peel’s Top Gear show, but the original tapes had vanished. Now, that session has finally surfaced.

Rare Tracks Now Streaming on YouTube

Thanks to a newly discovered off-air reel-to-reel tape, fans can now hear four rare Thin Lizzy tracks from that original 1971 session. The songs include “Clifton Grange Hotel” and “Ray-Gun”, both of which were featured on Thin Lizzy’s self-titled debut album released earlier that same year. Also included is “Dublin,” which was issued as a standalone single, and “The Rise And Dear Demise Of The Funky Nomadic Tribes,” a track that would go on to appear on their second album Shades of a Blue Orphanage in 1972. These early recordings offer a raw, unfiltered look at the band before they exploded into full rock stardom.

You can now stream all four songs in the playlist below: