Music > Styles > Alternative Rock > General

	buying more than one thing? add to bookbag(uses Multi-Item Price Optimization™) ...or intereact!

Play
Moby
Retail Price (not our price): $13.98
Release Date: 1999-06-01
Manufacturer: V2
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1

Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...

Disc 1

Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Those who have followed Moby's career are familiar by now with his deep convictions and spiritual connection. On his 1999 release, Play, he celebrates his faith in a masterful, unobtrusive way, channeling gospel and other inspirational samples through beats so earthy they could grow grass on a cement dance floor. It's impossible to separate the joy of the message from the joy of the grooves. --Beth Massa

2) Amazon.com essential recording
The great iconoclast of techno returns with a smooth, sacred, and exhilarating record. Play's concoction of breakbeat rhythms, ambient mixology, and inspired blues and gospel samples cry out across musical genres and histories, imparting a time-tested wisdom to beat-driven ears. Moby's devout faith--in both God and his own musical whims--give this approach a sort of legitimacy that another, less sincere artist would never have. That sincerity reverberates through the beats and instrumental eclecticism like a pulse. The soulful refrains and proclamations in "Find My Baby" and "Natural Blues" somehow nestle between straight-up dance-floor rave-ups ("Bodyrock") and melt-in-your-mouth ambience ("Inside") with an effortless grace. Moby reaches across his turntables and finds something pure--almost organic. In fact, the album feels more natural than techno is ever supposed to feel, more spiritual than what DJs are supposed to be able to muster, and more alive than it has any right to be. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

1) White man plays black   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
I'm giving this album 4 stars not because it has "killer" songs-though it does have good ones-but for the fact that it is very easy on the ear. Moby has a very mellow, rhythmic, black sounding album here. I don't really have the vocabulary to describe his musical influences...maybe you could list them as blues, soul and perhaps gospel. Some of his songs sound sort of school-girly...like maybe the kind of stuff you'd hear black girls skipping along to in America. Moby melds these African American musical influences with elements of hip-hop and dance music. He also seems to sample material from the source-black men and women. I really can't say whether Moby is doing the originals justice but I can say that I like what he's done with the source material. This is another way of saying that if you are familiar with the source material you may find Moby's treatment annoying. Personally, sometimes I feel the same way about people messing with the originals. One case which changed my mind was Muddy Waters' own revisiting of his blues songs, but with a harder, rock sound [I've reviewed Waters' "Hard again" here. Found it superior to his more "classic" approach, as in "Anthology"].Anyway, some of my favourite tracks on the album are: "Honey", "Body rock", "Natural blues", "Run on" and "If things were perfect". "Body rock" might be the most well known song from this album and is the least "black" sounding-well, to my ears at least. It's more of a funk/rock song and thus stands out from the mood of the other songs.There are some instrumentals on this album-around three. Also, a highlight of the album are the wonderfully poetic, spoken voice songs of "If things were perfect" and "The sky is broken". These tracks are sparse, sensual and soothing.Overall, the tone of the album is pretty consistent: "black" music but with some modern treatment. You'll hear accoustic guitar, piano and violin, on occasion, along with electronic music-be that synthesiser, or techno beats. Overall, this album does not overstay its welcome. 18 tracks is quite a lot for a non compilation cd, but it never really palls. Some albums I mark down for having too much padding [e.g. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' "Blood, sugar, sex, magik"] despite having quality songs on them. This is the perfect cd to "chill out" too, as well as to bop along to, sometimes, with his catchy songs.P.S. for some reason the rap star Eminem had a go at Moby. In one of his songs he has a lyric along the lines of "Moby you don't know me. Blow me". Not really sure what that is all about! Who started that little tiff?

2) Moby - Massively Talented   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Moby defies categorization, in my view. He cuts across all kinds of music types, and has opened my eyes to other sounds. He is very talented. I think this is his best album.

3) Moby at his peak performance   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This album is Moby at his peak. By far his best and most energetic album. He had not produced anything better before that album and has not produced anything as good since. Actually his albums seem to be deteriorating since he produced this.

4) stunning album!   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
this album is a classic in the chillout / atmospheric genre. fusing blues riffs and electronic meanderings .Moby is definitelly a great talented musician.

5) Interesting diversity for just about any collection!   [Rating: 3 out of 5]
Adds interesting diversity to my very mainstream Rock collection. A curiosity item, I'm not familiar with the genre. What I can tell you is I really enjoyed it!I applaud Moby for taking full advantage of his opportunity by generously including 18 tracks, because I don't know that most of us are up for more than one Moby album in our collections. Very creative, though. I real keeper!