Daft Punk - Discovery (Vinyl 2LP)

Discovery is the sound of two French producers deciding that the music of their childhood was worth more than their credibility. Where Homework was raw and functional, this one is unapologetically melodic, drawing on late-70s disco, AOR radio and soft rock, and treating all of it with total sincerity. It was received in 2001 as a strange move. It has looked more correct every year since.

The construction is the trick. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo built most of it from samples pushed through filters until the source is felt rather than heard, Eddie Johns under "One More Time", George Duke under "Digital Love", Edwin Birdsong under "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", The Imperials under "Crescendolls", and, most improbably, Barry Manilow under "Superheroes". Romanthony sings on the opener and the closer, Todd Edwards on "Face To Face". Between the peaks sit "Nightvision" and "Something About Us", the quiet ones that most people end up loving most.

Released in March 2001, later paired with the Leiji Matsumoto anime Interstella 5555, it became the record that made dance music unembarrassed about melody. This is the Warner and ADA reissue, mastered by Nilesh Patel, cut at MPZ and pressed at Optimal, in a high-gloss gatefold with printed inner sleeves.