The Aphex Twin Top 200 - 80-61

80. AFX: .0180871R (1993)

Crunching beats, brooding strings, chopped up, unrecognisable voices. Simple formula - but it works. One of the highlights from the AB3 record. Listen.

79. Aphex Twin: Z Twig (1994)

Another deliriously pretty track from SAW 2, this is the sort of piece that could happily last for ten minutes. Again, though, James shows his astounding ability to make an art form of brevity. Listen.

78. Polygon Window: UT1-Dot (1993)

Simple, but devastatingly effective techno from James, replete with distant space age sonics and chattering robot voices. Listen.

77. AFX: CD Only Track #1 (1993)

Aphex's Lux Aeterna. The harrowing basis of Garden of Linmiri, this wouldn't be out of place on the Bladerunner soundtrack. Listen.

76. Polygon Window: Quixote (1993)

Like most of the best early Aphex, the melody here is almost blindingly simple - but carries all before it with aplomb. Listen.

75. Caustic Window: On The Romance Tip (1992)

For the first minute-and-a-half, this is perhaps one of Aphex's very best pieces of music. That it slips away as the melody mutates is a shame, but this is still a thrilling track, and the standout piece from the Caustic period. Listen.

74. The Tuss: GX1 Solo (2007)

If Analord showed there was life in the old Aphex yet, The Tuss material suggested James might still be capable of making great music. The two Tuss EPs are the most concentrated, consistent releases since the Come To Daddy period. Listen.

73. Curve: Falling Free (The Aphex Twin Remix) (1992)

James showed early signs of genius with this remix of a quite dreadful piece of proto Britpop. Almost nothing at all bar a stretched-out snatch of vocal remains from the original - and James elevates it to profound, majestic ambience. Listen.

72. Aphex Twin: Windowsill (1994)

One of the most vivid, original moments on the whole Selected Ambient Works 2 record, this piece was one of many from the record that put James on a completely different plane to his contemporaries. Listen.

71. Aphex Twin: Tha (1992)

A truly lovely record in many respects, Tha is early Aphex at his most placid and persuasive. Mingled voices mutter as a muted melody does the rounds over soaring chords. It is a career highlight - although it probably lingers for longer than it needs to. Listen.

70. The Tuss: Goodbye Rute (2007)

The Tuss requiem. Listen.

69. Aphex Twin: Ventolin (Crowsmengegus Mix)

I think it's very easy to argue that Ventolin is the finest and most original of all the James EPs. The musical language is not only unique and much more involved than anything he had created before - it is steps ahead in places of the I Care Because You Do album from which it apparently stems. And this piece typifies that - opening with a marvel of percussion and sonic wizadry before sliding into dejected, skeletal hip hop. Listen.

68. Aphex Twin: Iz Us (1997)

Another exquisite short track by Aphex. Like many of his best pieces, it's almost an afterthought - a final track on a remix CD. But this, like most of the Come To Daddy material, is superb. Listen.

67. Aphex Twin: Isopropanol (1992)

Did Aphex rename this for legal reasons? Don't know: names are irrelevant when the music is this stridently original. This is the sort of material that almost justifies the sort of mad praise used in the early days to describe James as the new Mozart. Listen.

66. Aphex Twin: Come To Daddy (Little Lord Fauntleroy mix) (1997)

Continues the trend of RDJ using vocals (his own, presumably) to create the monstrous, menacing voices of children. Even with the daft, distorted vocals, however, this is another casually, prodigiously brilliant piece of music. Listen.

65. 808 State: Flow Coma (Remix by AFX) (2001)

James has a rare go at remixing a genuine classic. This is one of 808 State's best tracks, so rather than dismantle it - or, as he often does, annihilate the original - Aphex instead just cranks up the decibels and lets fly. Listen.

64. AFX: Pitcard (2005)

Maddeningly addictive Analord track - almost head and shoulders above everything else from the series. Moments like this make you wonder why the sheer, frenzied early brilliance of Aphex is now heard less often. Listen.

63. Aphex Twin: Tamphex (Hedphuq Mix) (1992)

One of those tracks that truly make you wonder what planet Richard David James is really from. A banal, juvenile concept - mocking a Tampax advert - is transformed into something almost unbelievable - a soundscape intense, unyielding and utterly original. As on most of the early R&S releases, James here made his contemporaries look out of their depth. Listen.

62. Gavin Bryars: Raising The Titanic (Big Drum Mix by Aphex Twin) (1995)

This was made in a period when James almost seemed to be dabbling with classical music. The collaboration with Philip Glass, the strings on Next Heap With and this drum-dominating reworking of a Gavin Bryars piece all somewhat seem of a piece. This is easily the most successful track of the lot - and an infectious piece of music by any standards. Listen.

61. Aphex Twin: Bbydhyonchord (2001)

The most simple and delightful piece from the troubled, messy Drukqs album, this was the sort of music that made you realise that Aphex has the talent to roll out another three or four Selected Ambient Works - but just doesn't want to. Listen.