A collection of early Coldplay recordings has gone up for auction, including an unheard demo that Chris Martin pitched as a James Bond theme.
The archive, which has gone under the hammer via Wax Poetics, contains items from British producer, mixer and engineer Chris Allison – who helmed the band’s 1999 EP, ‘The Blue Room’.
Martin and co. recorded the five-track project shortly after they signed to Parlophone, following on from their debut EP, ‘Safety’ (1998).
Allison’s collection brings together original audio tapes, alternate mixes and demos from the formative sessions at London’s Orinoco Studios.
“Produced, mixed and recorded by Chris Allison in 1999, these recordings document a crucial moment in the band’s development, shortly after the members had left university and begun recording professionally,” a listing reads.
The recordings are described as Coldplay’s “earliest professional studio sessions”, which laid the groundwork for their seminal debut album, ‘Parachutes’ (2000). An early version of ‘Don’t Panic’ from the group’s first LP appears on ‘The Blue Room’.
Allison’s version of the song ‘High Speed’ from the EP ended up making its way onto ‘Parachutes’.
An “extraordinary, unreleased recording” is up for sale, too. ‘The World Is Not Enough’ was recorded by Martin as a potential theme song to the 1999 James Bond film of the same name.
Garbage ended up recording the official theme for the movie. Their take on ‘The World Is Not Enough’ was written by composer David Arnold and lyricist Don Black.
Martin’s “stripped-back acoustic guitar and vocal” demo of his proposed theme is presented on an original Parlophone reference cassette, “capturing the song in a raw demo form before any studio production”.
The track “offers a fascinating glimpse into an alternative direction” for the 007 film, starring Pierce Brosnan as Bond. It is said that the recording has never been commercially released or made public before.
The wider archive includes multiple mix DATs labelled ‘Coldplay Mixes #1’, ‘Mixes #2’ and ‘Mixes #3’, alongside a reference CD-R of final master mixes and a CD-R of the final mastered versions. These boast early versions of tracks such as ‘Spies’, ‘High Speed’, ‘See You Soon’, ‘We Never Change’, ‘Don’t Panic’, ‘Shiver’ and ‘Bigger Stronger’.
It is noted that some of the songs “differ from the final commercially released versions”, giving the buyer “a rare opportunity to examine the band’s creative and production process during one of the most important periods in their history”.
“These working masters capture songs as they evolved in the studio, before final sequencing, mastering and release,” the site adds.
There is also a promotional package of ‘The Blue Room’ up for auction, as well as an early demo archive, a pre-studio demo cassette, and a live recording cassette. Find More information here.
A portion of Allison’s proceeds from this collection will be donated to Restore The Music, a social impact charity that addresses systemic inequality in music education by providing capital grants to state schools in areas of high socio-economic deprivation.
Speaking to NME in 2021, Martin revealed that Coldplay had created “Bond themes for about five movies, but they’re not very good, to be honest”.
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“We kept trying to write one for 20 years, but never submitted them,” he explained. “[…] Also I don’t know if we’re spiritually on the same trip as James. As much as I like the films, I don’t know if us singing would do it for him.
“He’d be like, ‘That’s not what I’m into at all, fellas. I like guns and shit. All this hippie stuff just isn’t going to work’.”
Coldplay embarked on a huge 10-night run at London’s Wembley Stadium last year in support of their 10th and latest studio album, 2024’s ‘Moon Music’. Towards the end of the residency, Martin teased a yet-to-be-announced 2027 leg of their ‘Music Of The Spheres’ tour.
“This tour has 138 more shows to go,” he told the crowd. “We have a break coming up, and we’ll announce the shows for 2027 soon.”
During an interview with NME in 2024, Martin doubled down on the plan for the band’s catalogue to end after 12 albums.
“Yes, it is 12 albums for sure, but we’re going to be a bit later than [2025],” he explained. This lines up with the group’s planned return to the road in 2027, and suggests that their next LP could arrive next year, or later in 2026.
Martin told NME that “album number 11” would be “a musical”. However, he said this record “might have to come out after album 12 because of how long musicals take to animate”.
He went on: “Our last single is on this album [‘Moon Music’], and that’s called ‘All My Love’. That’s the last ‘single’ single. We have the musical thing, then an album just called ‘Coldplay’, which is the final one. I think that will be a year late – I know it will be.”
Martin insisted that the 12-album plan was “very real”, but assured fans that this didn’t mean Coldplay “won’t tour or finish some compilation things or outtakes or whatever”.
In other news, Martin has curated the first-ever World Cup Final Halftime Show, with Madonna, Shakira and BTS set to perform.