Déjà Vu
Giorgio Moroder
(RCA)
Four stars
Haven't we met before? It's a question you'll keep asking yourself if you spend any time with Giorgio Moroder's fabulous new album, Déjà Vu, a 40-minute riot of retro electronic dance music. Moroder was once the king of disco, propelling Donna Summer to global domination in the mid-1970s with Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love and a string of other million-selling hits.
If his collaboration with the late Summer was fruitful, his writing and producing credits with Blondie (Call Me), Irene Cara (Flashdance ... What a Feeling), The Human League's Philip Oakey (Together In Electric Dreams), Berlin (Take My Breath Away) and others made Moroder a massive name in the mid-1980s.
And then he lost his golden touch. His 1988 project to manufacture an all-girl band failed and his equally ill-advised foray into the supercar business tanked spectacularly. Indeed, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T was the most striking, least-successful car you’ve never heard of.
After that, not much was seen of the Italian until 2013, when he talked his way through Giorgio by Moroder on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories (more of them later).
Two years later, he’s back in the limelight with his first album in 30 years – but can a 75-year-old still swim successfully in the sea of pop?
Well, that’s not really a fair question. Moroder still loves dance music and knows how to fashion an infectious tune, although his sonic cues sound like they owe more to Studio 54 than they do to, say, Space Ibiza. What you do get, though, is a curiosity shop of collaborations with Britney Spears, Sia, Kelis, Mikky Ekko, Matthew Koma and more.
Charli XCX and Kylie Minogue deserve special mention here. The former's featured track, Diamonds, is a typically punchy vocal performance, while Minogue's Right Here, Right Now is the perfect fusion between pop princess and disco king.
Foxes also features, the English singer-songwriter cropping up on Wildstar, a glitter-filled retro disco tune that'll stay wedged in your mind for days, not least for Moroder's adventures with a vocoder.
There's the odd wrong step, too: 74 is the New 24 is as awful as its title suggests.
Throughout, it's Daft Punk's sound that wanders around as if crashing the party. Their influence turns up in the album's opener, 4 U With Love, there they are again in Déjà Vu and again in La Disco.
All of this is a constant reminder that if Moroder once represented the sound of the future, that was all a long time ago. Even so, if Déjà Vu isn't quite cutting-edge, Moroder shouldn't be consigned to the past just yet.
nmarch@thenational.ae
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed Fixtures: Monday, 1st 50-over match Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
Women:
55kg brown-black belt: Amal Amjahid (BEL) bt Amanda Monteiro (BRA) via choke 62kg brown-black belt: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Ffion Davies (GBR) via referee’s decision (0-0, 2-2 adv) 70kg brown-black belt: Ana Carolina Vieira (BRA) bt Jessica Swanson (USA), 9-0 90kg brown-black belt: Angelica Galvao (USA) bt Marta Szarecka (POL) 8-2
Men:
62kg black belt: Joao Miyao (BRA) bt Wan Ki-chae (KOR), 7-2 69kg black belt: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Gianni Grippo (USA), 2-2 (1-0 adv) 77kg black belt: Espen Mathiesen (NOR) bt Jake Mackenzie (CAN) 85kg black belt: Isaque Braz (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE), 2-0 94kg black belt: Felipe Pena (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL), 4-0 110kg black belt final: Erberth Santos (BRA) bt Lucio Rodrigues (GBR) via rear naked choke
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 4 (Salah 25', 48', 76', Cook 68' OG)
Man of the match: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
UK Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
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Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
Engine: 2x201bhp AC Permanent-magnetic electric
Transmission: n/a
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 659Nm
Price estimate: Dh200,000
On sale: Q3 2022
Sting & Shaggy
44/876
(Interscope)
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Ministry of Interior Ministry of Defence General Intelligence Directorate Air Force Intelligence Agency Political Security Directorate Syrian National Security Bureau Military Intelligence Directorate Army Supply Bureau General Organisation of Radio and TV Al Watan newspaper Cham Press TV Sama TV
Men 1 Marius Kipserem (KEN) 2:04:04 2 Abraham Kiptum (KEN) 2:04:16 3 Dejene Debela Gonfra (ETH) 2:07:06 4 Thomas Rono (KEN) 2:07:12 5 Stanley Biwott (KEN) 2:09:18
Women 1 Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:20:16 2 Eunice Chumba (BRN) 2:20:54 3 Gelete Burka (ETH) 2:24:07 4 Chaltu Tafa (ETH) 2:25:09 5 Caroline Kilel (KEN) 2:29:14
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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