The Demo Tapes  Volumes One & Two Volume One Take It Easy Chicken Flourella Naked Twister Skin Up Pin Up Moronica Drastic Sturgeon Naked Twister You, who do you hate? Egg Shaped Fred Ski Jump Nose Things keep falling off buildings You, who do you hate? Stripper Vicar No one knows us She Makes My Nose Bleed Dark Mavis Mansuns Only Love Song Volume Two Naked Twister She makes my nose bleed The chad who loves me Closed for business Closed for business The impending collapse of it all (acoustic) Railings Anti Everything (extended instrumental) *Egg Shaped Fred (acoustic) *The impending collapse of it all (acoustic) *Ski Jump Nose (acoustic) *Mansun's Only Acoustic Song *Mansun's Only Live Song *Taxloss (live) *Everyone Must Win (live) *Live Television Tracks marked * are taken from official vinyl and cassette releases. Tracks not marked * are taken from real studio demo tapes.

unofficial release     unofficial release     unofficial release     unofficial release     unofficial release

In February 1999 Paul Draper decided to sign and send out some of his old demo tapes to fans who wanted them. Nearly 1000 people sent in a Jiffy bag to the band-fan contact of Dark Mavis, and the first 60 were sent the tapes (a third going abroad). Fans talking on the internet agreed that we all wanted to hear this material, so those fans that were on the internet lent their tapes to Dark Dave, a fan who collated & digitally re-mastered the tracks for a bootleg.

He then compiled the tracks onto two bootleg CDs which he sold as "Mansun. The Demo Tapes. Volumes One & Two." through a web site. To fill up the second CD he included some of the officially released tracks originally on vinyl or cassette. If he receives any more demo tapes, its rumoured Volume Three may be in the pipeline.

The Result

These CDs are well worth the money. On CD1 there are early punkier, rawer versions of rocking tracks like Flourella and Skin Up Pin Up, plus a lot of the tracks show the band trying different vocals, intros and outros. The version of 'No One Knows Us' is quite different from the one that appeared officially on 3EP, including alternative lyrics where 'Buffy' replaces 'Scruffy' - perhaps the song is based on an acquaintance of a band member? Most of the demo versions on CD2 are near final versions, though the exceptions must be quite rare - alternative strings in 'Closed For Business', 'Railings' with Devoto singing the whole song, and an extended instrumental version of 'Anti Everything'. The acoustic and live tracks which end CD2 are very handy to have all on one CD, especially for us fans without record players! They are all fantastic, and are reviewed on this site within the EPs they appear on. My two favourites, 'Taxlo$$ Live' and 'Everyone Must Win Live' are taken from the bands Xmas present to all fans who wrote to them in 1998 - an exclusive 7".