Moby Play CD

Personnel: Moby (vocals, various instruments, samples); Pilar Basso, Reggie Matthews, The Shining Light Gospel Choir (vocals).
Includes liner notes by Moby.
PLAY was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. "Bodyrock" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
"Natural Blues" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
The Limited Edition packaging of PLAY: THE B-SIDES includes new essays, photos and drawings from Moby.
Personnel: Moby (vocals, keyboards).
If "Play" was one of the best albums of 2001 (which, according to many of my colleagues, it was), Play 2 (as some of them are inappropraitely calling this aural afterthought) was barely an album of 2001. In fact, the only reason that it has been released is because its homonymic predecessor did so well for the folks at V2 that they decided to let the (more appropriately) self-titled "little idiot" Play some more. Unforunately, this game is nowhere near as much fun. Instead of the Lomax-ed complexities of "Honey" and "Natural Blues," the frenetic Pop pops of "Body Rock" and the self-dueted street stories of "South Side" (the Stefani-d version of which is notably absent), more Play fails to climax, instead swirling around in endless loops which lead nowhere (e.g., the lifeless "Spirit" and the dreadfully bleak "Summer"). The only vocalized track, "Whispering Wind," is mumbled and mindless to the point that a lyric sheet adds little. And the "liner notes" (i.e., graphics of a cutesy alien lost in a large landscape and the artist speaking into an orange) also pale dramatically compared to Play's provocative prose. In this age of original soundtracks which (if they also prove popular enough) are followed by albums of "music inspired by--" this album of B-list songs is both uninspired and uninspiring. ~ Matthew Robinson
Following a notorious flirtation with alternative rock, Moby returned to the electronic dance mainstream on the 1997 album I Like to Score. With 1999's Play, he made yet another leap back toward the electronica base that had passed him by during the mid-'90s. The first two tracks, "Honey" and "Find My Baby," weave short blues or gospel vocal samples around rather disinterested breakbeat techno. This version of blues-meets-electronica is undoubtedly intriguing to the all-important NPR crowd, but it is more than just a bit gimmicky to any techno fans who know their Carl Craig from Carl Cox. Fortunately, Moby redeems himself in a big way over the rest of the album with a spate of tracks that return him to the evocative, melancholy techno that's been a specialty since his early days. The tinkly piano line and warped string samples on "Porcelain" frame a meaningful, devastatingly understated vocal from the man himself, while "South Side" is just another pop song by someone who shouldn't be singing -- that is, until the transcendent chorus redeems everything. Surprisingly, many of Moby's vocal tracks are highlights; he has an unerring sense of how to frame his fragile vocals with sympathetic productions. Occasionally, the similarities to contemporary dance superstars like Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers are just a bit too close for comfort, as on the stale big-beat anthem "Bodyrock." Still, Moby shows himself back in the groove after a long hiatus, balancing his sublime early sound with the breakbeat techno evolution of the '90s. ~ John Bush
A two-disc box combining the regular version of Moby's 1999 breakout Play with an extra disc of not-quite-ready-for-regular-release material, Play/The B Sides ends up quite close to what regular listeners would expect from a collection like this. There are a few blues-sampling songs similar to "Play" (though none are as good), some slightly groovy but still atmospheric tracks of trance-techno, a few interesting electronics experiments, and a bit of beatbox funk, all of it distinctly inferior to what was heard on PlaRolling Stone (6/24/99, p.64) - 4 out of 5 - "...embraces both hip-hop syncopations and...early-twentieth-century African American folk music to create time-traveling beatbox rhythms....Moby sing-speaks, plays innumerable instruments and crafts complex soulful harmonies..."
Spin (9/99, p.128) - Ranked #20 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (7/99, pp.125-6) - 9 (out of 10) - "...To hear an electronic dance album looking backward as intently as it dreams forward is a real-time jolt, and Moby rides the groove with a buzz reminiscent of his early, techno anthems....It's as real an image as rave,or alternative, culture has ever imagined."
Entertainment Weekly (6/11/99, p.68) - "...techno imp's best album since 1995's EVERYTHING IS WRONG....setting snippets from old blues and gospel recordings to new rhythmic settings....PLAY is music that truly moves back to the future." - Rating: A-
Q (10/01, p.54) - Ranked #35 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Q (1/00, p.84) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1999."
Q (6/99, p.109) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...Moby's visceral use of early blues samples is at the heart of PLAY, creating achingly emotional pieces...before the choirs, liquid piano runs and swirling analogue synthesizers kick in..."
Alternative Press (8/99, p.67) - 4 (out of 5) - "...pushing the [electronic music] genre in new directions....[PLAY] draws you in with its beautiful combinations of sound...."
Muzik (6/99, p.86) - Stars 4 (out of 5) - "...Moby operates in his own sonic vacuum, where gospel angels ride with outlaw cowboys and b-boy wannabes, just becuase they can. Idiosyncratically brilliant, as ever..."
CMJ (1/10/00, p.3) - Ranked #4 in CMJ's "Top 30 Editorial Picks [for 1999]."
CMJ (5/31/99, p.5) - "...Relying heavily on vocal samples of great Southern spiritual and blues singers, he has crafted an album of uniquely affecting soul....this onetime hardcore kid has found a way to match studio grooves with gospel harmony and deep blues..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.31) - Ranked #23 in Mojo Magazine's "Best of 1999."
NME (Magazine) (5/15/99, p.31) - "...PLAY encompasses hip-hop beats, funky grooves, samples of old blues hollering, big house emotionalism and slow, smoldering soul....ploughing a unique furrow in pop music, he demands your enjoyment as much as your respect."