Air

First issued in 1997, this compilation of Air's early singles is a better debut EP than most other groups' difficult third album. Capturing pure shag-pile downtempo without collapsing into Austin Powers cheese, these richly layered and lushly produced songs are impressively strong, with "Les Professionnels" being arguably better then most of their subsequent work. Sadly, the label chose to add two "bonus" tracks to the original release ("Californie" and "Brakes On"), neither of which are terrible per se, but their upbeat tempo ruins the sophisticated mood set by the original five.