I personally think this was a real waste of time in respect of both the the producer and the listener. This really sounds like some of the crappy stuff you really would imagine piling up at Richard's home. Doesn't really have much listening value, but it works as an somewhat interesting companion to the Richard D. James Album. You'd also probably like this if you were into stuff like Mike & Rich, but those who aren't hardcore Aphex Twin fans must avoid this.

Its really difficult when it comes to commenting on unreleased music. The only way you can get it is in mp3 format, which were probably ripped by the very few owners of the original recordings. So the quality of basically every mp3 you'll find on the internet will be based on how well they encoded that one time.

This may be the case with Melodies from Mars. For me most of the tracks sounded really quiet. I had to increase my volume to the max to clearly hear the tunes. Although I found some of the tracks rather enjoyable, I still wonder how well they sounded in their original format. Perhaps they were better, perhaps not. Maybe they had a clearer sound and more bass. There are many things we can't be sure of.

So what do I think about whether it should be released or not? I'd say "another aphex twin release? ok!" But that's because I'm a fan.

But seriously, I'm sure most of these tracks could be very good if they were remade. It appears that 3 of them were already remade and released on Richard D. James Album, and they sound fine.

I suppose when RDJ made this album, he just wasn't at his peak or inspiration for it. Its sort of like when you start something, get most of it done, and simply lose interest. You kind of just toss it in the shed, or on a shelf and want to forget about it.

This is all just speculation.

Some speculation surrounds Melodies From Mars, friendos Richard James were given cassette tapes. Rumour also has it that Melodies From Mars was intended for videogames usage and demos were apparently sent out to certain computer games companies.

Track 1 is used in internet star David Firth's 'Panathinaikos Bear' cartoon as background music. David Firth has also used various other tracks by Aphex in his other animations and films.

Track 2 sounds like a longer demo version of 'Fingerbib' (track 4 on Richard D. James album).

Track 8 sounds like a demo version of 'Logon Rock Witch' (track 10 on Richard D. James album).

Track 9 is used in the David Firth clay animation 'Hollowhead'.

Track 12 features the same plucked strings as 'Girl/Boy Song' (track 9 on Richard D. James album) although it doesn't closely resemble the same track.

'Bloodhounds Inc. - Mystery of the Melodies from Mars' is also the title of a children's book by author Bill Myers. Inspiration perhaps?

The question is, how do we really know if this is Richard's work anyway? The mystery continues...

I really don't see why this album wasn't released, I found many of the tracks to be pretty good, an awesome synthy masterpiece. You can really see this leading up to Richard D James album. Also, compare this album to some of his other unreleased works (AB5 comes to mind), this is much better and I can see why AB5 was not released.

If you can grab all the mp3s then check it out, another piece of the puzzle that is RDJ falls into place.

Highlight tracks - 2,4,6,8,10,11 (also beware wrongly numbered mp3s)