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Demos & Studio Outtakes/Fake tracks

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This section contains demos which are commonly attributed to Depeche Mode or one of their solo members, but are really other artists' demos or tracks. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of fake demos and tracks.

Disco Hell

  • This track is by Dafne and the Tenderspots[1], a band that Alan Wilder was a part of in 1979. He is co-credited with the rest of the band for writing this track and the B-side. I guess this track isn't really "fake", just often not correctly credited to Dafne and the Tenderspots - on a couple bootlegs I've seen it claimed as one of Alan's demos from 1981 (along with some other tracks below), in much worse quality also. The excerpt below is from a rip of an original pressing vinyl done by the webmaster. A 45 second excerpt is provided below for your listening pleasure. You can hear the entire B-side, "I'm A Natural", on YouTube in good quality.

Most hardcore Mode fans may have been exposed to this track via a lousy recording of what sounds like an American radio DJ poking fun at "Disco Hell". It sounds like he played the vinyl at the wrong speed. The same exact segment played on this radio spot is what I decided to supply above as an excerpt from the original-pressing vinyl. You can listen to the best quality copy of that radio spot below:

Will The New Baby Grow

  • This track is attributed to French Look (a band Martin was part of during 1980), but the actual song is Will The New Baby by Gammer & His Familiars. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg[2] in dreadful quality. I somehow ended up with this song on a cassette tape entitled "DM Strange Cuts", which ironically has no Depeche Mode on it at all!

Nodisco (Instrumental)

  • A very good instrumental cover apparently done by "Depeche's Cover", appearing on a release titled Nodisco 12" (info and audio file from the now-defunct dmremix.be website, not even accessible on archive.org). It sounds vinyl-sourced since there are occasional light pops & clicks. I have seen this claimed to be a demo on one bootleg and it was in much worse quality than this MP3 below. If somebody happens to have a lossless version of this track or knows who the artist is, please feel free to contact us.

Another instrumental cover of the track superbly and very faithfully done by Stripped Productions using recreated samples is available to listen to on YouTube.

Return To Oberkorn (Instrumental)

  • An instrumental bearing some musical resemblance to Oberkorn (It's A Small Town), but it's not Depeche Mode. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg.[2] The actual performer is unknown.

The Sun & The Rainfall (Instrumental)

  • A fan-made instrumental cover. The actual performer is unknown.

Transcanadian Track (Instrumental)

  • Another instrumental attributed to Depeche Mode. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg.[2] The actual performer is unknown.

Get The Balance Right (Instrumental)

  • This is a fan-made instrumental cover version, not a real demo. There are many instrumental cover / "demo" versions, but this one was occasionally thought as genuine given its closeness in melody and overall sound to the real track. The actual performer is unknown.

Treadmill Of Time

  • This track is claimed to be Alan Wilder's circa 1981. I've seen it titled "Treadmill Of Fire", which doesn't make any sense but I'll include it here for anybody doing some Googling with that title. The actual performer is unknown. I actually rather like this track, believe it or not - if somebody has a higher quality version or even a tape with this song on it, please contact us.

Here To Have Fun

  • This track is claimed to be Alan Wilder's circa 1981. The actual performer is unknown. I actually rather like this track, believe it or not - if somebody has a higher quality version or even a tape with this song on it, please contact us.

Chart Rundown

  • This track is claimed to be Alan Wilder's circa 1981. The actual performer is unknown. I actually rather like this track, believe it or not - if somebody has a higher quality version or even a tape with this song on it, please contact us.

Postulate (Recoil)

Shake The Disease (Martin's Demo Version Instrumental)

  • This is a very well made instrumental cover of Martin's original demo. It appears on the CD-R bootleg Shake The Disease (20 Years Edition).[3] The actual performer is unknown. If somebody happens to have a lossless version of this track or knows who the artist is, please feel free to contact us.

Black Celebration (Khoa Ho Version)

  • This is Khoa Ho's piano cover of Black Celebration, appearing on "MODEified 1 - The Strangest Devotion". It's not the worst cover I've heard. I've seen it claimed to be Alan Wilder's demo on some bootleg, obviously false given that it doesn't sound like him and also for the fact that Martin was the one who wrote the song, so why would have Alan created a demo of it?

Mother Me / Monghi

  • This song circulates as a mislabeled instrumental track, but it is truly Monghi by Vienna. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg[2] in dreadful quality. The real "Mother Me" demo has vocals and Martin's demo exists on the "Perversion" demo tape, but it does not circulate and its lyrics are not known. Alan reveals a bit of info on Shunt Q&A about this track:[4]

The song you mentioned for 'Violator' called 'Mother Me', will you please give a description of what it sounded like, any possible lyrics, whether this song was ever actually recorded and who sang it, Dave or Martin?

It sort of got started with some drums, bass + a couple of other parts but was shelved quite quickly. It was medium tempo and if I remember correctly it slipped into 7/8 time signature for the chorus - oops. I think Dave would have sung it.

Dirty Alright Now

  • A terrible track claimed to be a demo of Dave's from 1992. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg.[2] The actual performer is unknown.

Take A Look At Me Now

  • Another obviously fake track, again said to be Dave's from 1992. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg.[2] The actual performer is unknown.

For Joanne

  • A track claimed to be one of Dave's demos from 1992 is actually Joanne by Wall Of Voodoo. Appears on the "Rarities Of Mode" CD bootleg[2] in dreadful quality.

Personal Jesus (Studio Rough)

From Svenner's demo page.[5] This snippet just doesn't agree with the process of recording Personal Jesus as described by Flood in this video.

Sister Of Night (Demo)

  • Martin singing over an acoustic guitar. This is a falsification that uses the isolated vocal track from the "One Night In Paris" DVD's center channel overlaid over someone playing guitar. Furthermore, I am told that this is not what appears on the "Ultra" demo tape. Only this short 30-second snippet is available as an MP3; the track was speed-corrected and normalized, then encoded as WAV to prevent further quality loss.

References

  1. ↑ Discogs page for Dafne and the Tenderspots.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Discogs info page for the CD bootleg "Rarities Of Mode".
  3. ↑ Discogs page for Shake The Disease (20 Years Edition).
  4. ↑ Source: Shunt Q&A: Violator, toward the bottom of the page
  5. ↑ Svenner's demo page, now defunct, contained further information about demos as well as some info about unreleased mixes, fake demos claimed to be Depeche Mode's, some backing track samples, etc. The site is still accessible on archive.org, but some audio files are not available.
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