Chris Martin’s Lost James Bond Theme Goes Up for Auction with Unheard Coldplay Tapes | Coldplay

A lost demo recording of Coldplay’s Chris Martin song, said to have been intended for the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, is going up for auction, along with other recordings from the band’s early years.

For the auction held by Wax Poetics, British producer Chris Allison will provide an archive of recordings made by the band prior to Allison’s second EP The Blue Room, released in October 1999.

“The World Ain’t Enough” is sold as a single recording on cassette, sung by Martin with acoustic guitar backing. It was never released, and it is not known if it was even made for the film starring Pierce Brosnan, whose theme song (also titled The World Is Not Enough) was recorded by Garbage.

Coldplay are on record as James Bond fans. In response to a question from a fan on their website, they said of the song Spies from their 2000 debut album Parachutes: “The band had a lot [Bond composer] “John Barry (writer of the best songs in film and television ever!) was in mind and there was a Bond film in the works,” the latter notes of The World Is Not Enough.

Elsewhere in the auction are original master tapes recorded for The Blue Room, which was the band’s first release for their Parlophone label, and which they signed in April 1999 while studying at University College London (their debut EP Safety appeared in 1998).

The tapes, described in the auction listing as “one of the most important surviving documents straight from Coldplay’s formative years”, feature alternate, unheard versions of three tracks that ended up on Parachutes – Spies, We Never Change, and Shiver – as well as an unheard version of the Blue Room track Bigger Stronger.

Much else extends further: the Coldplay Tracks-labeled cassette contains recordings of nine songs, including rehearsals for Shiver and We Never Change as well as the previously unheard Ode to Deodorant.

A cassette titled Coldplay: 5 Tracks features other developmental recordings from their early catalogue, and another features live recordings from an early gig in Chester. Alison also sells rare promotional releases of The Blue Room on CD and vinyl.

There’s material outside of Coldplay, too. Allison has produced another Parlophone-signed work, Beta Band: tapes and other arrangements will be up for auction documenting the recording of early EPs The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos as well as their self-titled debut album, and frontman Steve Mason’s solo project King Biscuit Time.

There is a wealth of material from the early years of another Alison-produced band, Wedding Gift, including archival recordings of their 1987 debut album George Best, 1988 EP The Ukrainian John Peel Sessions, and 1989 sophomore album Bizarro.

Alison is donating a portion of the auction proceeds to the music education initiative Restore the Music.