Great find: Depeche Mode recordings made before they were Depeche Mode
Open Culture is a great site when it comes to digging up lost recordings. It found this 1980 demo of Depeche Mode when they were still known by Composition of Sound.
Two songs were recorded under this name. Vince Clarke was, of course, still with the band, while Andrew Fletcher played bass. Dave Gahan is in the lineup, but still very much the new guy. This is the lineup that would quickly morph into Depeche Mode.
Track one is “Ice Machine,” which would end up as the B-side to the first official Depeche Mode single, “Dreaming of Me,” which was released on Mute. Tracks two “Radio News” and “Photographic” are guitar-ish precursors of the band’s synth sound that would carry through until guitars were reintroduced more than a decade later.
