Description:

French techno heroes Daft Punk have been crafting their own brand of funky, robotic, reverb-heavy house with scant regard for fads or trends for well over a decade now, and so the greatest hits collection was only a matter of when, not if. But ‘Best of’ albums are famously inglorious beasts: either the death-knell for a once-exciting musical juggernaut hitting dry country; or the last-ditch money-spinner for the short-lived, short-on-talent pop idols.

Which means?

There have been rumours to the effect that the men behind those crazy spacemen helmets, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, are only bothering to release their own greatest hits to escape a contract with Virgin Records, but in any case we can still (just) forgive them for taking the ‘Best of’ get-out clause. Unlike many others, their career can actually be described as illustrious.

Is it much cop?

Their 1997 album Homework was, despite its monotonously-repetitive moments, one of the most influential dance records of all time, spawning the irresistable floorfillers ‘Around the World’ and ‘Da Funk’, both of which are, of course, present here. Fans then had to wait 4 years for the ‘difficult second album’. Although the technofiles saw it as a concession to commercialism, Discovery’s Tokyo-meets-Detroit synth-pop madness was a brief antidote to the ‘dance-is-dead’ slogan-bearers (and included the wonderful, underrated ballad ‘Something About Us’, which happily appears in this collection). Another four years went by until their most recent LP, last year’s Human After All – which, despite marrying Homework’s heavyness with Discovery’s poppiness and throwing in some distortion-rich guitars as a bastard lovechild, received lukewarm reviews, due to its shorter length and less-polished production (the whole album took only 6 weeks to record). Fast-forward to the present and we have Musique, a collection which plunders the singles from all three albums chronologically, and tacks on three notable remixes for good measure.

How many good tracks?

Apart from the aforementioned Homework hits, this compilation also includes Discovery’s overplayed hands-in-the-air romp that is ‘One More Time’, as well as the grower ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’. Other highlights include the singles from Human After All – including the 22nd century-sounding ‘Robot Rock’ and the rousing, astrological ascent of the album’s title track.

And the worst?

If you cannot stomach uncompromising techno, the other tracks from Homework will not appeal to you, and ‘Rollin’ & Scratchin’’ might just leave you jumping towards the window with its PC-printer-remixed aural assault.

Biggest disappointment?

The fact that the duo couldn’t even be arsed to record a new single for this album (the usual justification for us mugs to shell out yet more cash on our fav band). It suggests a general workmanlike apathy towards this release.

Verdict:

If you’re new to the insular-electro world of Daft Punk, you’ll love it. If, however, you’ve been following their career with more than the usual interest devoted to French experimentalists and have avidly bought up all three albums, this offers nothing new. The only real plus point is presumably not the music then, but the extra DVD disc of their genuinely original videos, which exhibits the talents of Michel Gondry and Japanese Anime studios amongst others. Unfortunately, Virgin Records weren’t good enough to include the DVD with the promotional CD, so this reviewer cannot possibly comment.

(3/5)

Release Date: 03 April 2006

Musique Vol. 1 1993 – 2005