Demos & Studio Outtakes

This page contains samples of every demo or studio pre-mix which is circulating and that has not been commercially released. Tracks are presented in chronological order by the album they are related to, then ordered according to their original source, if known, and otherwise ordered according to the album's track listing. All demo tracks are provided in their entirety (if available), but studio pre-mixes are limited to a length of 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

For a listing of demos and tracks which are known to be fake, please see Fake tracks.

Please note that this page does not include the demos which appear on the third disc of the "Sounds Of The Universe" box set as they are officially released.

There are more demos which are not currently circulating. Such demos that are known to exist are on demo tapes for the albums "Black Celebration" and "Violator" (referred to as its working title "Perversion"). Martin sings lead vocals for all of these demo tracks. More information about each of those demo tapes can be found here and here, respectively.

On Shunt Q&A, Alan Wilder provided his opinion about demos and rough mixes that end up on bootlegs and the Internet:

• From: Alan Woody
• E-mail: [email protected]

I've been seeing demo versions of DM songs turn up on bootleg recordings and on the internet lately. Do you have any idea how these recordings got into the hands of the public? I would imagine that Martin would be reluctant to pass around tapes to just anyone. Were these stolen copies? Did he give them to his girlfriend? Were they copied by someone in the studio looking to make an extra buck?

Copies of demos and rough mixes are made up for all sorts of people (from band members to record company people, video directors, collaborators etc.) and invariably end up in the hands of fans and bootleggers. There's not much you can do about it. I have never given away any of my copies of Martin's demos and yet I don't now possess all of them - where did they go?

1980 / 1981 Speak & Spell Era

Composition Of Sound Demo Tape

• Four tracks appeared on Composition Of Sound's first demo tape. Vince Clarke sings lead vocals, as Dave Gahan had not joined the band yet. The entire demo tape has not yet surfaced; only the four snippets found below are available. These snippets are the original files shared in this thread on depmod (registration required to view), courtesy of Recoil19.

Television Set (Demo)

• Television Set was a very popular song during Depeche Mode's 1981 tour. The track was written by Basildon musician Jason Knott, which explains why the song doesn't appear on any commercial Depeche Mode release. More information regarding the background of this song can be found on the song's page.

Unknown Track (Demo)

• This song is sometimes said to be Sunday Morning, a track reportedly played during very early dates of the 1980 Tour. That has not been confirmed to date.

"Vince + Alison (Demo's)" demo cassette containing Let's Get Together - credit to Basildon: New Town - New Life

Let's Get Together (Demo)

• Unreleased track written by Vince Clarke long before he formed Composition of Sound. Vince is singing vocals here. Depeche Mode rehearsed this track, as can be heard in the ITV television program 20th Century Box filmed in late June 1981 (see here on YouTube), but the song was never performed live and a full recording of the rehearsal performance from that video is not available. The group Girl Authority covered the song as a single in 2007; watch on YouTube. More information regarding the background of the track can be found on this song's wiki page.

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Summer 1980 Demo Tape

Ice Machine (Demo)

• Andrew Fletcher plays bass guitar on this demo.

Radio News (Demo)

• This track was performed live during early dates of the 1980 Tour; currently, the only known performance was at 1980-09-20 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK. Lyrics available on the Radio News page.

Photographic (Demo)

• The demo for this song sounds like a mix between the final album version and versions played live, and by extension the "Some Bizzare" version of the track.

I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (Flexipop Version)

• This version of I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead is found on a flexidisc that was bundled with Flexipop Magazine, issue #11. The track is referred to as "Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" (missing the first "I"). The track has several differences from the album version, most notably the beginning and the middle sections. You can listen to the entire track below.

1983 Construction Time Again Era

Martin Gore 1983 Home Demos

The second generation tape that contains these tracks.

Martin Gore's home demos for the 1983 "Construction Time Again" album. Tracks are ordered as they appear on the second-generation tape these tracks are sourced from instead of the album's track order.

Told You So (Demo)

• The second verse has a different lyric compared to the album version. It sounds like Martin sings "I've gone to shoot the eyelet in the tall church spire" (it is very hard to understand that line, accuracy not guaranteed); the album version says "sights set higher than the tall church spire".

All By Themselves (Demo)

• This demo is a very gloomy, depressing sounding song with subdued vocals which are difficult to comprehend. Lyrics are available on this song's page.

1984 Some Great Reward Era

Lie To Me (Demo)

• Martin's home demo for the song bears a strong resemblance to the album version.

Stories Of Old (Studio Pre-Mix)

• A more basic sounding mix of the album version, lacking reverb and with different samples for percussion and some other sounds, but otherwise quite similar to the final album version. The speed seems a bit fast too, I'll correct that in the future.

Master And Servant (Studio Pre-Mix)

• This pre-mix has some female backing vocals which are not present in the final album version.

Alan Wilder's 1984 "Some Great Reward" Demo Tape

• Alan Wilder provided at least four demo tracks for "Some Great Reward". Find more information and a lossless download here. You can click on any song title below to find lyrics.

Until You've Sown The Seed (Demo)

On another handwritten information sheet, a total of seven Alan demo tracks are mentioned, but my contact does not have a copy of this tape. I am unaware of any other genuine Alan Wilder demo tracks at this time. A photo of this info sheet is provided below.

• 

  The second generation tape that contains these tracks.

• 

  Handritten information sheet detailing contents of the tape that contained these tracks.

• 

  Info sheet mentioning 7 Alan demo tracks.

1985 - 1986 Black Celebration Era

Martin Gore 1985 Home Demos

"Martin Gore 1985 Home Demos" second generation cassette tape.

The first three tracks below are sourced from a second-generation tape labeled "Martin Gore 1985 Home Demos".

Shake The Disease (Demo)

Martin's demo version of Shake The Disease closely resembles the album version in terms of structure and overall sound. The second verse has some differing lyrics compared to the album version. The differences are italicized below:

Some people want to be
Permanently together
Lovers devoted
To each other forever
That's not what I mean
That's not for us
We want a different scene
But when I'm not there
In spirit I'll be there

There are a couple faithfully performed instrumental covers of this demo version. See the entry on the fake and misattributed tracks subpage.

Here Is The House (Demo)

• Martin's demo has a different chorus vocal. Instead of "body and soul come together, as we come closer together" as on the album version, the line in the demo is "colors and shapes merge together, as we come closer together".

I Love You Love Me Love

• This song appeared on the same tape as the above two tracks, so I am lumping this track in this category. It is rumored to have been recorded for Fletch as a birthday gift, but that rumor has yet to be confirmed.

It's Called A Heart (Studio Pre-Mix)

The second generation tape that contains pre-mixes of It's Called A Heart and Fly On The Windscreen.

• Other than the different intro and lack of reverb, this pre-mix is nearly identical to the single version.

Fly On The Windscreen (Studio Pre-Mix)

• This pre-mix lacks the reverb found in the It's Called A Heart single's B-side version, and also has different percussion samples.

World Full Of Nothing (Alternate Version)

• This version was uploaded to Soundcloud (file private/removed) as an "alternate" version with an additional background melody and some different samples. Audio clip is from Svenner's demo page.

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Dressed In Black (Pre-Release Version)

• This pre-release version of Dressed In Black appears on the 7" vinyl Record Mirror RM1 which was bundled with the February 8th, 1986 issue of the UK magazine "Record Mirror". The most easily noticed difference is the castanets in the background during certain parts of the song (the excerpt below depicts this). There are some other slight differences, but they are not too noteworthy.

Christmas Island (Emulator II Sequence)

• A sequence of Christmas Island sourced from one of Alan Wilder's Emulator II floppy disks can be heard below. More information is on the page detailing the Emax samples from Alan's 2011 auction. This isn't strictly a demo or studio pre-mix, but perhaps it could be considered a rough studio mix.

If you listen closely below towards the end of Alan Wilder's Emulator II demonstration from early September 1987 in Brussels, it seems that this sequence was the one he played over.

Handwritten info sheet for the "Black Celebration" demo tape.

"Black Celebration" Demo Tape

The "Black Celebration" demo tape reportedly contains the following tracks:

• Shake The Disease
• Here Is The House
• It Doesn't Matter Two
• Sometimes
• It's Called A Heart
• But Not Tonight
• Black Celebration

See the handwritten info sheet to the right. Only the first two tracks from this demo tape circulate (and are available above) and it is undetermined if those two demo tracks are the same as what's on this demo tape. The songs are written to have been recorded in January 1985 and 4-6-'85 (probably June 4, 1985, or possibly the range of April through June 1985), but I am quite uncertain about those dates.

1987 Music For The Masses Era

Guillaume Tell Studios 1987

All of the following excerpts are sourced from a low-generation tape labelled "Guillaume Tell Studios 1987", transferred by the webmaster in October 2015. Quality is much improved compared to the previously bootleg-sourced copies which had insanely destructive noise reduction applied, though this tape has its own flaws such as strange volume fluctuations and brief distortion at the starts of some of the songs, probably the result of poor automatic gain control on a cassette deck sometime in the generation. Tracks are ordered as they appear on the tape itself.

"Guillaume Tell Studios 1987" low-generation cassette

Sacred (Studio Pre-Mix)

• There is an additional synth line not present in the album version, as well as other small differences.

I Want You Now (Studio Pre-Mix)

• The pre-mix is significantly different from the album version; due to this fact, this version is sometimes thought to be a demo, but it is definitely a pre-mix.

Strangelove (Studio Pre-Mix)

Martin's backing vocal "it's important" before the line "pain, will you return it / I won't say it again" is present on this pre-mix. It is not present on any mix of Strangelove until the Strangelove '88 single releases, where it is present on the "Hijack Mix" (aka "Tim Simenon / Mark Saunders Remix") and possibly others. The excerpt below depicts this.

1989 Martin's Counterfeit e.p. Era

The second generation tape containing "Down In The Boondocks".

Down In The Boondocks

• Martin covered this song for his first Counterfeit e.p. but it did not make the album. As Rico Conning, the co-producer of Counterfeit e.p. recalls on his blog regarding the song:

Martin’s nifty guitar playing was a major revelation. He’d often turn away from the cranky computer, pick up his acoustic and launch into an Everly Brothers song, or even John Denver, and I’d happily join in on harmony. I managed to record one of these jams (without my harmonies), the old Billy Joe Royal classic Down In The Boondocks (written by Joe South). We thought this was great until Fletch came down for a visit and opined “sounds like bleedin’ Dave Edmunds”, so that killed that one. Somehow though it has found its way onto YouTube.

Michael Lyons, Andy Fletcher's brother-in-law, stated on the Home forum:

"This track was fully completed as part of the project but Martin was unable to obtain the relevant permission for releasing it as part of counterfeit." "[This track was] originally recorded and included on the very early Mute studio tapes."

The version below is sourced from a second generation tape (see right photo), and is likely the best you will hear.

Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (Flexidisc Version)

• A flexidisc attributed to Depeche Mode containing a cover of the Ron Mael track "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" was sent to members of the official fan club around Christmas 1987, aptly named "Happy Christmas 87 From Depeche Mode". It differs somewhat from the version later released on Counterfeit e.p., but it sounds very similar to how the track was performed live during the final two legs of the 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour. The backing sequence of this track, used during the MFTM tour, is available to listen to at 1987 - 1988 Music For The Masses Tour Backing Tapes.

Alan Wilder was asked about this version and posted on Shunt Q&A:

• From: Thomas Koeckeis
• E-mail: [email protected]

In 1987 Depeche recorded the Sparks' track, 'Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth' for a special Christmas fan club flexi disc. This track has a rather minimalistic arrangement and anyone who listens to it may get the impression that the recording of this song was a 'one afternoon affair'. Could you please give me some details about it?

I'm very vague about this one - can't recall anything about the recording. I suspect you to be right - we must have recorded it in the afternoon while I was thinking about the match in the evening :-)

1989 - 1990 Violator Era

The second generation tape that contains the Halo pre-mix.

Halo (Studio Pre-Mix)

This studio pre-mix seems to use a different vocal take compared to the album version.

Enjoy The Silence (Demo)

• The "Harmonium" mix of Enjoy The Silence closely resembles this original demo version. That version of the track is basically a re-recorded version of this demo.

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Interlude #3 (Studio Pre-Mix, entire track)

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"Perversion" Demo Tape

Handwritten info sheet for the "Perversion" demo tape.

The "Perversion" demo tape reportedly contains the following tracks:

• Mother Me
• Enjoy The Silence
• Waiting For The Night
• World In My Eyes
• Halo
• Happiest Girl
• Sea Of Sin
• Blue Dress
• Personal Jesus
• Memphisto
• Sibeling

See the handwritten info sheet to the right. Other than Enjoy The Silence available above, no demos from this tape are currently circulating. It is unclear whether Memphisto and Sibeling from this tape are the same as the studio pre-mixes available above. Halo's studio pre-mix is also available above, and it undoubtedly differs from Martin's demo version on this tape.

1995-1997 Ultra Era

Barrel Of A Gun (Demo / Rough Mix)

• This version of Barrel Of A Gun is strikingly similar to the final album version, but has Martin singing lead vocals. This version was probably created as a vocal guide. There is also an instrumental break in the middle of the song not found in the album version.

2001 Exciter Era

Freelove (Studio Pre-Mix)

• No guitar; from Svenner's demo page.

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2009 Sounds Of The Universe Era

Hole To Feed (Early Studio Version)

• This is an early, strongly synth-driven, studio version of the track. The last verse does not have vocals; Dave instead hums the melody of what the vocals would sound like (sorry, the clip below ends before this). Perhaps the track's lyrics were not yet finalized at the time of this production.

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Fragile Tension (Studio Pre-Mix)

• This pre-mix / rough mix is seemingly identical to the album version, although the penultimate verse ("There's a dizzying feeling ...") lacks Martin's backing vocals; the excerpt below illustrates this. The rumor is that the band MGMT, who completed an unreleased remix of this track, was the origin of this leaked studio pre-mix.

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Come Back (Early Studio Version)

• This is an early studio version of the track, quite different than the "demo" found on the third CD of the "Sounds Of The Universe" box set. Like Hole To Feed above, it is primarily synth-driven. This is personally my favorite version of the track.

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Technical info

All tracks are encoded from lossless sources to 96kbps HE-AAC, or in the case of MP3 tracks, cut losslessly using mp3directcut. Only two WMA files from Svenner's demo page were re-encoded in order to be able to stream them on this page.