Daft Punk – Alive 1997/2007

IN JAMES HALE'S excellent BBC documentary on the history of funk, musician Greg Tate talks of 1967’s Cold Sweat as the moment James Brown “turned the whole band into a drum”. It’s an aesthetic we now take for granted, every element of a song being slaved to the rhythm, and it’s one Daft Punk have mastered, making sure every beat, riff and vocal line functions as both hook and propellant. Live, they thread dozens of those hooks into relentless medleys, their secret ingredient being, ironically, humanity - letting the rhythms breath and shift as they head for euphoria. The ridiculously exciting Alive 2007 makes its vinyl debut in a ridiculously deluxe box: triple heavyweight white discs, a silver vinyl pressing of Alive 1997, a 52-page book of tour pictures, slip mat, backstage pass and download voucher. DP fetishists won’t need asking twice.

For more information head to www.daftpunk.com.