RECORD label bosses are probing the leak of an incredible treasure trove of 50 unreleased Rolling Stones songs spanning their near 60 year career.

The high quality studio recordings stem from the 1960s with band founder member Brian Jones, through the 70s with guitarist Mick Taylor right through to recent era with Ronnie Wood.

But their release this week on pirate ‘bootleg’ CDs and availability on various Rolling Stones’ fan sites has baffled music experts as to how they were liberated.

It is thought the songs were being readied for a full label release - given the studio quality - and that hackers grabbed them or someone leaked it.

The Stones are currently signed to Polydor in the UK and Interscope in the US - both part of Universal.

The leak has created massive excitement on Rolling Stones fan sites.

Among the gems on the three disc collection, simply called Fully Finished Studio Outtakes, is what many fans are calling one of the groups’ holy grail recordings – the original demo of It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll featuring David Bowie and Ronnie Wood before he joined the band.

It was made in spring 1974 during a jam session at the recording studio in Ronnie Wood’s famed former Richmond home, The Wick.

A few members of the Stones were present but Mick Jagger loved it so much that he not only used the song as the band’s next single but it also became the name of their forthcoming album.

When the single finally saw the light of day both Ronnie Wood and David Bowie’s parts had been erased.

Stones’ superfan Mike Andrews, a builder, 47, from east London, said: “The It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll demo has a legendary status amongst Stones fans, most of whom thought it had either been lost or would never see the light of day because of contractual problems as it featured David Bowie.

“Now it’s easily available for all to hear and what a cracker it is!

“How these 50 songs were made available is a complete mystery with some fans thinking it might have been a case of cyber crime and someone hacking into the Stones’ archive vault.”

Other songs on the set include outtakes from classic albums such as Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, and Black And Blue

MASSIVE EXCITEMENT
Many of the song are unknown even to Stones’ experts and include the following titles: Hands Off, Curtis Meets Smokey, Troubles A-Coming, 20 Nil and Every Time I Break Her Heart.

One theory being discussed on Stones’ fan sites is that the songs had been worked on and readied for up and coming archive releases.

The leak has created massive excitement on Rolling Stones fan sites. One of the most popular forums It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll - the website of the fan club set up in 1980 - has had fans purring and debating from which eras and albums the songs come from.

A user posted a link to the download this week.

Apparently 500 actual factory-pressed CDs have been pressed costing around £50 each for the 3CD release.

Hockenheim95 wrote: “this stuff is soooooooooooo amazing! in this stunning quality it must have been stolen from the digital archives of the rolling stones.

Mathijs wrote: “It’s fantastic, and it all sounds very much like it is remixed and mastered recently, Perhaps for the current Deluxe reissues.”

U2Stonesfans wrote: “I do not see how the band could not be in on this release somehow. Or they have a thief with access to the vault amongst their inner circle. This stuff is fantastic!. I’m dedicating my day to listening to this gem of a release!”

Deardoctor wrote: “This is really D-day for us collectors. So great. What an amazing sound quality!”

Cristiano Radtke wrote: “Event of the year and THE best Stones bootleg in years. Many many thanks to all the people involved.”

A spokesman for the Rolling Stones declined to comment.