Moby - Play
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details
Artist: MobyEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-06-01
Music Label: V2
Soundtracks:
- Honey
- Find My Baby
- Porcelain
- Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
- South Side
- Rushing
- Bodyrock
- Natural Blues
- Machete
- 7
- Run On
- Down Slow
- If Things Were Perfect
- Everloving
- Inside
- Guitar, Flute & String
- The Sky Is Broken
- My Weakness
Music reviews of Play
Music Review: Incredible And Beautiful Life-Affirming Music
Rating: 5 Stars
Five years ago I was obsessed with Britney Spears and not much else. I don't like her as much as I used to, because I'm older, but I also remembering loving Moby at the same time. I find this quite strange because I was listening to, essentially, teeny-bopper music and also the amazing music of Moby. Ever since I heard the singles from "Play" in early 2000 I knew I had to have a copy of this album. I planned on buying it but never got around to doing so. I saw it on sale last week in a record store and bought it straight away. I had sort of forgotten about the songs from this album, but once I took a listen they all came back to me.
I also remember around five years ago I was in school talking to my form tutor and she told me I had to have a copy of this album. She was a really great woman and meant a lot to me through a tough time in my early teens, so I was reminded of how good a soul she was when I listened to this album again. Even thought this album was released in January 1999, it took a full year to make even the slightest dint in the UK album chart. Once it started climbing, though, nothing could stop it. This album was absolutely huge over here and spent 6 weeks at No.1, selling over 2 million copies. The fact that every song on the album has been licensed and used in advertisements or TV shows makes this a familiar sound, so there shouldn't be too many shocks when you hear this for the first time.
I have been very interested in the blues samples that Moby has incorporated into many of these songs. I think the sampling of these soulful vocals is not only haunting but very eerie when juxtaposed with the ambient, modern electronica. There's a sense of old versus new on a lot of these songs, but they are both tied up by an incredible sense of loneliness; the music is sparse and diverse, epic and daunting, while the arrangements remain rather simple and chilled.
The album opens with the strange "Honey." This samples the blues vocals of Bessie Jones and is a very funky opener. You can't really understand what she's singing, but this adds to the mystery. The instruments are quite heavy and make for a foot-stomping intro. "Find My Baby" is a superb song which samples Boy Blue's 'Joe Lee's Rock'. This is quite a repetitive song because the same line of "I'm gonna find my baby! WOO! Before the sun goes down!" is repeated over and over. It's insanely catchy and stands out a mile because the vocal is just so strong. The guitar is very funky too and the addition of more electronica is very surreal. "Porcelain" is probably the most popular song off this album and peaked at No.5 in the UK. The strange intro soon makes way for a beautiful piano solo and some altered vocals by Moby. This song is so pure and natural, it's like a flower opening for the first time in reaction to the sun. Very delicate and fragile yet powerful and moving. "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" is a very sad and sombre song that tells the tale of a man who feels so low because he is alone. Everybody in the world can relate to this song; even when you're surrounded by people you can feel completely alone. The vocals are very emotional and the soundscapes that undulate in the background are so poignant. The sharp female vocal-yelp in the background tops off a classic song.
"Southside" is another incredible song is probably the most commercial song on the whole record. The guitars are quite heavy on this song and work a treat against Moby's voice in the chorus. I love the idea of travelling through a sort of underworld with your friends. The way the vocals rise and fall also makes for quite an anthemic song. "Rushing" is not on a par with the previous five songs but it's still a great track. The female vocals on this song are incredibly relaxing, accentuated more by the piano in the background. "Bodyrock" was used in the credits to Veronica's Closet, and is a great dance track with some funky lyrics. This song has a very urban, underground feel to it that is of course repetitive but very addictive. "Natural Blues" was the first Moby song I think I ever heard. I was in absolute awe at the video starring Christina Ricci, which shows the idea of death and old age. It's incredibly moving and very emotional. The vocals are very strong here, and this song is a classic that everyone has heard. "Machete" is the most upbeat, hardcore song on the album. The beat is heavy and races like blood through the veins. It really gets your adrenaline pumping!
"7" is seen by many as a pointless interlude, but I really like it. It breaks the album up a bit and has a very eerie quality to it. "Run On" is totally not what I expected from this album, because it's just incredibly strange. The song opens with an up-tempo piano solo and strange blues vocals are soon added. It's very traditional of the area it's from in terms of lyrical content and especially the deep harmonising in the background. "Down Slow" is another short interlude and yet again I love it. This is followed by the beautiful "If Things Were Perfect." This song is very sparse and alienated with the odd lyrics "Give me summer!" being echoed across the electronic baseline. The record-scratching is also very chilling and calming. "Everloving" opens with a soft guitar and some deep humming. This song definitely tries to get across a message of peace, tranquility, and most of all, love. The song begins to open after around a minute with this high pitched tone that rises and rises like the sun in the sky. Definitely one of the most beautiful songs on the album. "Inside" is another excellent song that opens with a deep throb that continues on throughout the length of the song. This song is so beautiful and sensual because the beat that rides on the back of this throb is so perfectly aligned. The two dance this unique dance for almost five minutes as a piano joins in at the end to close things.
"Guitar Flute And String" is probably my least favourite song on the album. It's still quite interesting though, and the flute brings out thoughts and feelings of loneliness inside you that you never knew existed. "The Sky Is Broken" is a very dark and quite unnerving song. The beat is sparse and very direct, as it echoes around your ears and back. Moby's voice is very content and relaxed, almost dead. The piano that creeps in during the chorus is very atmospheric, as are the ambient strings that come in later on. The album closes with the amazing "My Weakness." This song almost makes me cry, it is so beautiful. I haven't cried to it yet, but I just know it's going to be one of those songs that I will cry to at some point in the future. This song was also used in Season 7 of The X-Files, and with good reason. This is like the sound of a celestial choir descending from the Heavens, giving us a brief glimpse of the beauty contained within. The reason I feel this is because it's almost too beautiful to describe, like you've been trusted with a secret that you feel honoured to be a part of.
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
There's a total of 18 songs on this album, and at first you might think you'll have trouble getting through every song. This is totally not true. The music on this album seems to all bleed into one, yet many of the songs are different in style. For example, compare Find My Baby to My Weakness, and they are world's apart! I'm glad I took the advice of my form tutor from five years ago because this album will be with me for life. Eminem is SO wrong when he says nobody listens to techno. Arrogant little fool. Moby is a true genius, and so what if he's a bit of a simpleton? He makes awesome music and that's all that matters. Play is essential in any true music lover's collection.
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