Aphex Twin – Melodies From Mars

Nothing groundbreaking, but nevertheless pleasant noodling's by Richard D. James

No wonder this was never pressed. One passable track. The rest absolute drivel

Still praying for this to be officially released one day...

The tracks on the vinyl are not in the same order as the tracks on YouTube. "Porky prime" etched on the outer ...

Probably 10 tests exist, although Grant didn't say. Unlikely the 15 on here have original copies, probably a bad MP3 or a even worse bootleg.

Wait where’d they get the song names from? I thought they were all untitled.

I have a bootleg 2xLP on some weird clear-pinkish records for sale but cannot list...

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.

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