Melodies From Mars was always such a psych-hippy working title that I'd hoped was made up by fans. At some point I recall it being called Mr. Men. Perfect title that fit with the whole thing. If ever it's made real, I hope that title is resurrected.

Melodies From Mars was a mid-90s demo Richard made to hand out to video game makers in the hopes of getting work scoring videogames. I think GTA San Andreas was the first game to feature his music (an edit of Windowlicker with the heavy part at the end removed) but I don't think he's ever gotten to be the only musician on a game.Mp3's of the demo were released on one of the top 3 Aphex Twin fan websites on Jan 1st 2000 as a "new years present" from the site owner but was taken down after a cease and desist from either rephlex or warp. I assumed at the time that it was the first widespread leak of the album but I could be wrong about that. Certainly it wasn't included in the "everything by Aphex Twin" leak I found in 1996, and that one was so comprehensive it even had Analogue Bubblebath 5 (despite some noobies thinking the 2005 leak was the first leak of AB5).Note that the 1995 date attributed to the earliest test print would explain why early mixes of Fingerbib and Logan Rock Witch are on there. The album the finished versions of those songs are from (Richard D James Album) was a 1996 release.Also note that there are 2 versions of the album, one with 11 tracks, another with 12 tracks and a different track order. The one leaked on Jan 1st 2000 was the 11 track version. In addition Richard has said he still wants to release the album but has been adding to it since then, so if he does release it then it will be a 3rd version. Hopefully he will restore track 11's position as the closing track.

I remember John Peel saying he had a copy of the album and was going to play it on future shows around '99 but he never did and it never got released.

The 9th and 10th tracks always get me like they did the first time. god-DAMN!

My uncle has one of these. It is rare, right?

Did he find it at the local tip/dump? Like everybody else who has something rare and tells you about it on the internet...

Have any proof? Im sure this is just a joke, but if you are serious proof would be nice.

Needs a repress on vinyl or cassette. probably my low key favorite aphex twin release. dood musta been on another planet having taken 10 hits of pane.. or something

was never properly released only given to close freinds plus rephlex is gone now .

Have one with a slightly different artwork.

Good to know. Can you tell us about the sound quality, please?

Okay, all you folks don't have a legit copy of this. there aren't that many around hahahaha

Putting out a repress, reissue or something like that in proper quality would be fantastic..

Yeah, this is definitely NOT from the SC dump...

This tape contains Melodies from Mars demo mixes. It has a runtime of approx 46 minutes. It is not soundcloud dump stuff.

If I recall correctly in a recent interview Richard said he was okay with the test press being sold as long as it wasn't ripped and uploaded online because he still had plans to release it officially. Probably on Warp.

Good point Chemistricide, I'd like to know where these titles came from as well, I assumed the cassettes given to friends were untitled??????

Where were the track names found? I thought they were all untitled.

The two tracks with names both appear on the Richard D James album

http://pitchfork.com/news/56459-aphex-twin-speaks-on-his-new-album-being-sampled-by-kanye-more/It's been confirmed that Aphex is responsible for this. So.. yea.

And there is a white label. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291171368296

15 grand?!?!?! JESUS

Best Aphex Twin album in my opinion.

I like it

Oh yeah, the strings are in the exact same key as girl/boy, although different chords.

Hi, does anybody know who did the cover art for this? Or where this image comes from?http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=221892Thanks!

Wow. I don't get it. I thought this album was bland and sucky for RDJ, but it grows on you. Especially getting into the later tracks. I think RDJ might not have released this in the fear that people were going to hate it. Logan Rock Witch was the best track and untitled (track 11) came fairly close. I give it 3.9 outta 5.

Just read the messages below Voodeedoo

Terrible sound-quality but I guess that's to be expected. My main gripe with this bootleg is that it seems to be missing a track from the original Melodies from Mars cassette, The cassette (allegedly ditributed among some of Richard's friends and label-mates) contained 12 tracks wheras this only has 11. This is the version most circulated on the internet.In regards to the actual music, some great atmospheric pieces and also some not so great, silly little melodic numbers that don't really go anywhere. I can't really criticize an unreleased album though, and it's still better than 99% of other people's music, it is Aphex Twin afterall.

track 12 is just a simple track that seems to be a shortened version of girl/boy song without drums