Argh this album frustrates me.
I'm all for retro flavors, that's not the problem. Sound quality is good too, of course it is. The problem is that the substance behind that is just not impressive. Obviously they wanted to prove that they can make what they used to sample. Well turns out, they can't. Chord progressions, bass lines, riffs and licks - it's all not particularly catchy. When you sample, you typically sample the brightest moments of some brilliant musician. Inspired moments don't come easy. Take Nile Rodgers! His guitar riffs on RAM are, well, ok. They do the job. It's disco, alright. Are they up there with his best? Not at all.
Also, taste. The one thing where Daft Punk seemed infallible. God, what's with the slide guitars? The brushed drums, the showoffy drumming in general? The overall awfulness of "Fragments of Time"?
Argh I wanted this to be so much better. Btw it puzzles me how people can call this a Disco record. It's a Disco era record, at best.