Early Recordings - The Libertines

The Libertines - Early Recordings

Tracklist:
Music When The Lights Go Out 00:00 Legs 11
Hooray For The 21st Century 03:10 Legs 11
Love On The Dole 05:25 Legs 11
Bucket Shop 08:48 Legs 11
Sister Sister 11:43 Legs 11
Anything But Love 14:45 Legs 11
France 18:15 Legs 11
7 Deadly Frenchmen 20:45 Legs 11
Breck Road Lover 21:49 The Odessa Studio Recordings
Lust of The Libertines 26:55 The Odessa Studio Recordings
Pay the Lady 30:09 The Odessa Studio Recordings
You're My Waterloo 33:56 The Odessa Studio Recordings
Smashing (with Lula Camus) 37:44 The 77 Demos #thelibertines #thelibertinesarchive #pauldufour #peterdoherty #carlbarat #johnhassall

Notes from UpTheAlbion on the sessions (slightly updated in parts):

Legs 11 [The Libertines]
In 2001, The Libertines manager Banny Poostchi wanted the band to make a compilation of the best demos that they had recorded to date. Carl Barat compiled the demos and the name Legs XI was chosen by Pootschi, as the cover featured the crossed legs of ballerina Darcey Bussell, the “most famous legs in England.”

Legs XI sounds much different from any of The Libertines’ released material. Bassist John Hassall sings on Sister Sister in this session, a song that he would go on to release many years later with his new band, Yeti. The track Music When the Lights Go Out also features the former Libertines cellist Vicky Chapman.

Although it was never officially released on a label, Legs XI has since been made available for fans to download for free on the Internet, originally via the now closed http://www.thelibertines.co.nr. During the 2020 lockdowns the band released these same tracks on their official YouTube channel.

The 77 Demos [The Libertines]
The 77 demos are a set of 5 demo tracks recorded by The Libertines . The story behind how they got their name was posted by “NLP200” on TheLibertines.org.uk forums. “NLP200” was the one who purchased the demos from eBay and leaked them online;

“Ohh sht i’m really sorry about this, i’ve havn’t been reading up on the demos I put out a few months ago. I didn’t realise the track tag would come up as well. You are all going to really hate me now, here’s the explanation. I named the demos “the 77 demos” it has nothing to do with the libertines at all (feeling really stupid now) I named them the 77 demos because that is how much I payed for them originally- £77 I just named it that when I burned them onto my pc as a quick reference. I’ve just looked at someother posts and AlbionArks!!!!! (Oh Sht) and realised they are calling them the 77 demos. Again I am sooooooooooooooo sorry I was so misleading. The demo I bought was a five track CD from the studio (or so claimed) It had the following track listing 1. Tell The King (b-side demo) 2. Death On The Stairs (new recording unreleased) 3. Smashing (obviouly unreleased) 4. Sally Brown (b-side demo) 5. 7 Deadly Sins (b-side demo). When i bought the cd it claimed that all 5 tracks had never been released so you can imagine my nervous feeling when I sat down to listen and realised that I already owned the first song gulp this left me thinking that I would have heard them all and the smashing demo was just the rough session version and that I had just payed 77 quid for nothing. You can then imagine it got even worse when listening to the DOTS demo (if you listen to the begining it is almost exactly the same as the start up to the b-side demo version, but luckily it wasn’t and then imagine the utter joy when those first blissful riffs from the excellent smashing echoed from my speakers. The B-side demo versions sound exactly the same but just a little less polished. Anyway again I'm so sorry for being an utter twat by not realising that the tag would have transferred over, please except my apologies and i hope you all enjoyed the demos. thanks”

The demo session is still nicknamed the “77 demos” today.

Odessa Studio Recordings [The Libertines]
The Odessa Studio Recordings are two sets of demos (indicated by a “1” or a “2” on the tracklist, below) recorded by The Libertines; the first two that the band ever recorded. These two sets of demos, along with the EMI studio demos, make up most of compilation album, Legs XI.

Out of the 12 recorded tracks, only two have not been heard by fans; Men in White Coats and TAG. A short acoustic version of Men in White Coats is available to download on the internet; however no known versions of TAG exist.

In July 2006, there was an interview in the NME in which Paul Dufour (The drummer with The Libertines at the time of recording the Odessa Studio Recordings) said that he would release some old Libertines demos that may include the tracks from these recordings, however, only a small bit of content has appeared via https://thearcadiandream.com/.