Sound Quality : Soundboard

Length : 53.54

Newton Abbot

01. Falling with the Crowd
02. Agitated
03. Coma
04. Balloonatic ** [Removed: Officially released; see notes]
05. Forameus
06. Boredom
07. Crazy Days
08. Sober
09. Jimmy Kane
10. Rain
11. Ashamed

Ruptured Ambtions

01. Agitated
02. Sober
03. Balloonatic ** [Removed: Officially released; see notes]
04. Ashamed

NOTES :

An untitled demo cassette featuring 11 tracks that Muse recorded at Coombeshead Studios in Newton Abbot between November 1996 and January 1997. The only song released from these sessions was "Balloonatic", on the 1997 compilation Helping You Back to Work volume 1.

Samples of the demo tape were shared on Muse fan sites on 8th December 2007 and 24th February 2008. The tape was put up for auction on the 28th of February. A cross-website campaign by members of the Official Muse forum, Muselive.com, MuseWiki and MuseMessenger, spearheaded and bid for by informally elected trustee SpaceDemented, was set up prior to the auction's start.[8] The campaign raised ~£2,500, of which only £740 was needed to win the auction.[9] Digital copies were released on Muselive on the 9th of May, 2008. The bid itself hovered at £410 in the days prior the the bid and £680 on the last day. In the final thirty seconds, it increased by the final £60. The bid ended at 23 minutes to midnight on the 5th of March. A total of 34 bids were made during the auction.

Three sets of digital copies were made, one in a studio and two by FireSka. The first of these latter two was made using Dolby noise reduction built into the tape deck and the second without.

Responding to a question concerning the demo sixth months after the release, Christopher Wolstenholme joked that Stone would not get any more concert tickets. He described the resultant feeling as being akin to parents showing baby photos to a "new friend or girlfriend" and thought £700 had been a "bit of a rip off to be honest".

In 2009 and again in 2010 this cassette [the Ruptured Ambitions] was listed on eBay. It had originally been sent to Chris Willsher of Ruptured Ambitions Records, based in Devon, by Muse. It featured four tracks from the Newton Abbott demo sessions, although the quality of the tracks on the tape ultimately proved to be better than those on the full demo tape.

Samples :
Muse - Crazy Days - Newton Abbot Demos 1997 [SBD]
http://soundcloud.com/live_rec/muse-crazy-days-newton-abbot

Muse - Ashamed - Ruptured Ambitions Demos 1997 [SBD]
http://soundcloud.com/live_rec/muse-ashamed-ruptured