When the Godfather of electronic dance music, Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, announced he was to release his first studio album in 30 years, foreseeably, a few eyebrows were raised. The stakes became even higher when he announced a plethora of pop princesses including Kylie, Britney and Sia were to join him on his latest ambitious venture. Thankfully, there was no cause for alarm. From the opening chords of ‘4 U With Love’, Moroder reasserts why he is one of the most famous names in the history of disco and dance music at large, right through to the guitar-infused closer ‘La Disco’. These two pieces, both written and produced purely by Moroder, bookend the big names found in the midst of this 12 track long-player. It is here, away from the inevitable singles-to-come that he shows his skill at manipulating groovy synths and driving drums. That is not to say that the rest of the piece is without merit; amongst the pick of collaborations is ‘Don’t Let Go’, in which Moroder demonstrates his clear credentials to pen the winner for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, ably assisted by Mikky Ekko in doing so. Likewise, the track ‘Tom’s Diner’ is surely one of our only opportunities to hear Moroder, Suzanne Vega and Britney Spears working together on the same track. The main place the album falls down is in its lack of coherency between tracks; there is a contrast in between these three-minute pop gems that doesn’t sit well. This awkwardness is surely what will keep this album from appearing on critics’ end of year lists, despite the quality of the songs themselves. Now in his mid-70s, it is a sad fact that Moroder’s prime may well be behind him. However, if he can continue to produce music of this sort of standard, perhaps both critics and audiences alike will accept Moroder’s rightful place in the world of electronic dance music, as he asserts through the seventh track of his latest album, that ‘74 is the New 24’.

John Gibby