Anyone who was upset to hear that Belle and Sebastian didn’t plan to release a follow-up to the 2006 album The Life Pursuit in the near future can stop fretting – well, kind of. Featuring recordings made at the iconic UK radio studio between 1996 and 2001, the latest offering from the Glaswegian group, The BBC Sessions, isn’t exactly a full-length album. However, with its solid collection of rarities and live versions of the band’s finest earlier – and lesser-known – tracks, it is as close as any geek-loving pop fan is going to get in the meantime.

With their hallmark indie-pop sound – back then, a more laid-back concoction of charming choruses, catchy hooks, the poetic and melodic sensibility of singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch and the sweet voice of Isobel Campbell – Belle and Sebastian caught the attention of music fans and critics very early on in their career. During those formative years, which saw the release of four studio albums (from their debut Tigermilk to 1998’s The Boy With the Arab Strap ), the band recorded several live sessions at the famous BBC Radio studios – among those several Maida Vale sessions with the legendary John Peel.

Four of the tracks from the May 2001 Maida Vale session feature on The BBC Sessions: the cheeky spoken word tribute to the Go-Betweens’ Robert Foster, Shoot the Sexual Athlete; the bright and cheerful pop ditty The Magic of a Kind Word; the melancholy, harmonica-driven Nothing in the Silence; and a stunning showcase of the band’s signature sound, (My Girl’s Got) Miraculous Technique. As well as being the first official release of these tracks (bootlegs have floated among die-hard fans for years now), this session also marked the final studio recordings to feature the luscious – and sorely missed – vocals of Campbell.

There are more rare finds this collection too. In addition to inclusion of loosely-similar versions of The State I Am In and the delightful Sleep the Clock Around, there’s also the wistful, bittersweet Slow Graffiti and a lovely alternative version to Lazy Line Painter Jane. The latter is taken from the band’s lesser-known second EP of the same name, recorded for Steve Lamacq’s Evening Session.

While it may not be everything that eager fans have been hoping for, this compilation is still a wonderful addition to the Scottish group’s superb catalogue. As a fine introduction for the uneducated, and a special release for the devoted, The BBC Sessions should at least quench the thirst while we wait for album #8. At least for a little while.

Belle and Sebastian: The BBC Sessions is out now on Jeepster through Inertia.