Play

(listening to the blues) pretty good. but i wish 5 seconds of this got looped and put over a shitty drum track and stock keyboards for 2 hours

I listened to this multiple times to just to make sure I hadn't lost my sense of smell and still enjoyed it as much as I initially thought I did. It seems that those who have any issues with this album are simply bent out of shape due to the fact that Moby licensed EVERY song from this album for commercials or television shows or any other medium that would turn a profit for him. The story goes Moby did so because this album was met with such a thud upon initial release, and he needed some way to promote the album and you know, make a living. There are at least six songs here that are absolute bangers. But Moby's naysayers nitpick and suggest he was nothing but a curator, collecting samples from his favorite sources. If I'm interested in hearing how the sausage was made, it's usually because it tastes so good and I can't get enough of it. Go ahead and enjoy the shit out of this gem. My most pleasantly surprising 5 so far.

Do.... do I like Moby?

Moby, Moby, Moby. You sexy little cunt. This record soundtracked the greatest period of my life. I wasn't used to having periods, being male, but one day Play by Moby came on thr wireless and my minge just would not stop gushing with blood. Since then, I've had 7 different incidents, each involving the music of Moby and a lot of vaginal bleeding. Buckets of the stuff.

i mean i don't feel as negatively toward Moby as Eminem, but yeah... not a fan

just elevator music - it's the sort of thing people who "don't really do music" would have playing at a party. 2/10

How to Be a Hitmaker in 5 Easy Steps, by Moby: 1: Sample black vocalist. The older, the better. 2: Add rave piano. Guitars if feeling adventurous. 3: Add sweeping synths. 4: Repeat. 5: Patent technique before Fatboy Slim can. Don't get me wrong, the process produces some good music on occasion, but Moby spends practically half the album doing so, to the point that it ends up sounding like a cynical, AI-synthesized version of Endtroducing... that was created by a car company's ad department. And the less said about the album's other half, the better. Key Tracks: Bodyrock, Natural Blues

3.5 + To me Moby comes across less as a musician, and more as a reupholsterer. He chooses old African-American spirituals, as one might find a beautiful old sofa. He hammers the old melodies into shape, puttying over any small imperfections. He then applies some new material, slick beats crisp and bright (like new fabric on an old sofa), to make the original content marketable to a contemporary consumer. It's a professional and precise product but it feels cold and inauthentic.

So many songs, so many car commercials! Moby certainly wasn’t the first (or last) to sample old blues & gospel artists but he did it better than anyone else. Probably due to the fact that in addition to being a "sampler” he was (and still is) a composer and multi-instrumentalist. The non-blues numbers aren’t as strong but still have a nice texture and are easy to listen to. With all the mileage I got out of some of these tracks in my spin classes I have no choice but to give it a 5.

Nobody obsessed over this album the way Moby obsessed over Natalie Portman.

While Moby is not as bad as Fatboy Slim or others like that, this just isn't my kind of music. Just feels repetitious and stale.

Absolute banger. SO many good tracks.

I love everything about the story of this record, from Moby thinking it was going to be his last work before he had to get a real job to the fact that it took months to catch on. It's just bangers front to back. Best track: Porcelain.

Incredibly repetitive, though clearly purposely so. Also it's like 2 hours long, I didn't listen to most of it. It wasn't particularly interesting to me, but wasn't particularly bad either.

“Play” by Moby (1999) Desperately disparate, this commercialized collection of tracks is like spike proteins racing through the cultural bloodstream, looking for a capillary to clot. As it was peddled to movie makers and product marketing teams, the listener hears something oddly familiar and asks, “Didn’t I hear that on a TV ad?” And the answer is probably “Yes”. “Play” is not so much an album, but a project. The only unifying theme here is the serendipitous whim of the artist. His general method is to take sampled snippets of old recordings, repeat them over and over, and then add electronic beats and textures. It suffers from the same malady as most techno productions. Once the innovations have been picked up by others, it is no longer interesting as music. Compositionally, it is too repetitive. The only movement in each track is in the adding of layers of electronic mood sounds. And without lyrical or melodic support, these progressions are merely random. What he does on “Natural Blues” is a sacrilege. He takes a classic sample of blues and renders it in a perfectly unnatural way. The vocal sample (the a capella spiritual “Trouble So Hard” by Vera Hall) is not in perfect pitch, which is fine if it doesn’t clash with other tones. But then Moby adds perfectly tuned chords and fills that only serve to accentuate the flaws of the original sample. This should be illegal. Anyway, fall in love with this ‘music’ at your aesthetic peril. 1/5

This is my first time listening to a Moby album. It's interesting, I usually prefer my electronic music to be a little more ambient. It's difficult to make a record that is as equally interesting to pay attention to or have on as background sound. I think this album walks that line pretty well. I enjoyed the blues music samples. The blues is where it's at.

Here's a test of your pre-millennial tolerance, Mark! I played the whole thing through on a plane ride, B-sides included, and conclude that a) Moby understands his quality control pretty well and b) the Lomax/archive samples are doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Packed with catchy bangers, of course, some of which I love to this day (Natural Blues and Run On, especially). Bit of an unsavory character in this period, by all accounts, and the album itself goes on longer than it should, but gotta give credit where it's due. Now excuse me, I've got the sudden urge to purchase an ugly French van..

This album was like readymade songs for ads.

The songs sound one-paced and samey.

I love this album (at the risk of my husband’s sneering and judging). First intro to electronic music. South Side still makes me wanna jump in Jen’s car for a roadtrip.

Well THIS is an album I'm happy I heard before dying. It is so influential and holds to this day as a good album. It looses a bit in the second half but is able to catch the goodbye-feeling in the last song.

01) Honey - 10,0 02) Find My Baby - 9,5 03) Porcelain - 10,0 04) Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - 10,0 05) South Side - 10,0 06) Rushing - 9,5 07) Bodyrock - 10,0 08) Natural Blues - 10,0 09) Machete - 10,0 10) 7 - 9,0 11) Run On - 10,0 12) Down Slow - 9,0 13) If Things Were Perfect - 9,5 14) Everloving - 10,0 15) Inside - 9,5 16) Guitar Flute & String - 9,5 17) The Sky Is Broken - 9,5 18) My Weakness - 9,5 TOTAL: 9,69 (97/100) Current ranking: 11/364 This album takes me back to my college days, God how much I used to play "Play". Now, 25 years later, with the first bars of "Honey", nostalgia hits me hard. I will listen to it in its entirety again after such a long time, but I can already promise it a perfect five. For the good old days!

my walking companion throughout uni.

Super chill album that anyone can dig with an open mind. Solid 5 in my book.

CLASSIC

Beautiful, interesting, vibrant. Good creative work music, can be ambient or the main event. Techno and soul influences side by side. A new favorite.

Gran Disco

Quintessential Moby

mad how something that was so inescapable and the biggest thing in existence when it came out can end up so forgotten when its no longer the zeitgeist.

Somewhat enjoyed but disjointed and there's so much better elsewhere.

God this has not aged well at all. I remember loving it at the time, but it’s actually just aural wallpaper and not in a good way

Ehh I remember when this guy was huge for a minute. I liked Southside back then and I still do. Gwen's vocals really make that song. Porcelain is okay I guess. The rest is mostly annoying. A lot of lackluster blues samples on repeat. Moby can't sing. The music is generally forgettable. I always kinda wanted to like Moby. Apparently he has some punk roots. I know he covered Mission of Burma and that wasn't terrible. Anyway this is pretty much a dud. Could and will listen to Southside many more times in my life though.

I remember liking this when it came out. I think maybe this album introduced "electronic" music to a lot of people at the time. Just doesn't hold up.

Starts with a bang. Aside from one or two more bangs, this is ass.

Rubbish

5/5. Back to back bangers, all danceable and great use of R&B and Rock mixed with clean and steady electronic beats. Even his vocals are good enough to keep the song enjoyable on some of them. The highlights are very much the ones with excellent sample choice. I feel like this very much inspired a lot of electronic artists today as well as Rap artists, especially Kanye. Hard pressed to find a bad song on here and even a great album to listen to front to back, which also having great singles. Best Song: Find My Baby, Bodyrock, Honey

Love Porcelain, almost made me cry Very moody and atmospheric Felt like being transported to another world in the last couple songs Didn't think this genre would affect me as much as it did

One of the best EDM albums of all the time

This album rocks

Toda una sorpresa. Pedazo de disco. Ritmos elegantes y muy bien construídos

I liked it. I didn't expect to...but it was fun.

Robocop is a zombie hero movie disguised as a cyborg Jesus parable, and so on Play the dead rescue Moby and help him master giant wow crescendoes. Could do with a quarter hour amputated, but still bangs. I don't think anyone has ever done this trick quite as well as Moby.

Go on, Moby lad.

Moby was good. So many of these songs were in our subconscious and we didn't even know it. I guess that's what happens when you're good at writing music with long cultural teeth and licensing it

Didn’t expect to like this but strangely enjoyed it

In 1999, you were never more than 50 metres from someone listening to a track off this album via a film, TV show or advert. I don't think it's aged very well though and it's still definitely 6 tracks and 20 minutes too long. It's almost like he tried to make something to cater to every commercial opportunity that might come up... and forgot it was also supposed to be a coherent album. At it's best, it's really good though.

I recognized more than I thought.

Nearly 600 albums in, this might be the least surprising inclusion on this list, based on the author’s other choices. That said, the last few tracks on this record, where it gets more ambient, are pretty good and completely out of character with the rest of the record.

Moby a connu une ascension assez singulière dans l'industrie musicale. Il a pendant très longtemps fait de l'électro dans sa chambre sans jamais réussir à percer jusqu'au jour où, dégustant une planche mixte charcuterie-fromage en terrasse d'un café, il vit débouler Eminem qui lui passa une soufflante d'une violence inouïe et totalement imméritée puisque les deux hommes ne se connaissaient pas. Très marqué par cet épisode, Moby s'en servit cependant pour lancer sa carrière avec l'album Play. La pochette de ce dernier témoigne d'ailleurs du phénomène pavlovien suivant : lorsque Moby entend le nom d'Eminem (ici diffusé par le talkie-walkie sur la gauche), il sursaute de manière ultra-spectaculaire, ce qui a tendance à amuser ses amis.

One of the first electronic records I ever listened to, so there is some nostalgia here, but it really is just easy listening music for 1999

Transformative sampling essentially started here and in this time. But it's difficult to go back and listen to, even through rose colored glasses.

This really brought back the beginning of the lights for me. But I would like to leave it there, if only for what I know about Moby today. My guess is that it sounded new when it came out, but how seems like tidied up elevator music.

A disappointing start to my 1001 albums daily listening. Nostalgic middle of the road easy listening.

Uninspiring. Sounds like a bad Bourne Movie soundtrack.

The soundtrack to a thousand tedious dinner parties. "More flan Miriam?"

Every song is a loop of the first seconds

Repetive

Gross creepy weirdo whose music sucks.

Not really something I'm going to listen to on purpose ever. There are some snippets of soul/blues with decent beats/samples, but all and all there isn't a lot of substance. I'll never understand people's fascination with Moby.

I came to this album a few years later than most and then played it nonstop in my car for a year or so... Masterful blend of voices, songs, and sounds.

Did not use a private session for Spotify. I have this CD somewhere, probably a lot of people do. Lots of hits on this album. Generally, I am not a fan of dance/EDM but I like this album, so Moby did something awesome. I was happy to hear they didn't change "South Side" to the one with Gwen Stefani pointlessly whining over it with her nasal drone.

Still an absolute banger. It's hard to be critical of an album that was an initial failure, only to make it huge through sheer brute force and licensing. Which just goes to show, there isn't a single dud on it. For that reason it gets a 5.

I've always been a little embarrassed by how much I love this shit. Cold, sterile, 'car commercial music,' offensively decontextualizing and neutering blues & roots music, but like... liiiike. Oh well

Bocanada pero para los gringos. Hermoso y futurista como el OST de un juego de PS1/Dreamcast que nunca existió. So far my only review in spanish (creo). 10/10

AMAZING

This was everywhere for a couple of years and was definitely part of my life soundtrack. It reminds me of driving with friends and definitely digs into the whole nostalgia vibe. I had a really good time listening to this after so many years.

Classic.

Perfect study album

Met de hakken over de sloot 5. Staan een groot aantal geweldige nummers op, maar tweede helft zakt in.

Ye Gods, a 2.5 hour long album is the version I listened to. Gotta say, it is so gentle and groovy and relaxing it just made my day way easier around the house. Even as an extended album every song just flows together so amazingly well. I've been a fan of Moby since I was around 13 and heard "Rain". So, while the beat and effect choices seem a little clunky and dated, the language of the music retains a charming cohesiveness that is pure Moby. Really, I hadn't ever given this (or many) of his albums a full and focused "Dark Side Of The Moon" style listen. I am so glad that I did. I'll come back to this again and again...albeit probably the regular album.

Loved it when it came out. Still good.

Yeah! Heard this album a million times and it still predominantly slaps. There are a few lulls but it's hard to fault.

God I forgot how good Moby is. Delicious

The songs from this I had heard before are still good, but all the rest of the tracks on the album are better than them to me. I'm sad that I slept on this album when it came out.

There are so many reasons why this album should be on this list, but at the end of the day it's just a great album

No stellar technique or virtuosity, quite simple musical collages, but ones that evoke powerful emotion. The extra tracks are better than I expected! This one does it for me 4.75

This is a FANTASTIC album! Second song in I knew I was gonna love this one. It starts off as an electronic party album with some groove, and ends by being a trippy, acoustic guitar, folksy, Pink Floyd-y kinda vibe. Loved it. Haven't finished it yet, still on the 3rd last song, but I'm gonna definitely listen to it again.

There's a reason every song was licenced for some product or other - they are all excellent. What an incredible album.

Love

I knew I knew some stuff by Moby, specifically off this album in particular, but he was never an artist I ever did a deep dive on. I was surprised by how many songs I already knew off this album just by having existed in the world. Definitely used a lot for soundtracks and probably even commercials over the years. Realistically some probably would come up on electronica radio mixes on streaming services back in the day when this came out and I was listening to those. Anyway, in my opinion this album holds up. It's held in high regard for a reason and one of the few electronica albums I feel like has overly broke big into the mainstream. At least to my awareness! This is smooth and relaxing while still having enough of a beat to groove to. I love the fusion of blues into the electronica. Also love the samples he picked and how he utilizes them. Realistically a 4.5 for me for reasons I can't quite define at the moment but I am going to go ahead and round up to a 5.

i like: whispering wind summer i really like a lot of this album great for focus/background music

Przesłuchana , do kupienia

I keep on knowing some of these songs, i love this album!

as always bringin some good vibes

Hypnotic

Moby! An amazing album.

Aside from Porcelain and Honey I'd never listened to this album. It flows so nicely. Lovely, warm beats I'd happily listen to again.

So happy to see this album come up. I have used three of Moby’s songs in my yoga classes: Porcelain, Natural Blues and Everloving. Each time I put Moby in a playlist, I have students come up after class to ask who I played.

Bit of a shocker really, but I ended up loving this. I have to admit some preconceived (and apparently inaccurate) bias against Moby, since I assumed that he was somewhat of a one trick pony artist who rode the wave of success by taking advantage of the latest recording techniques and mixing them with appropriated “field recordings” of African-Americans singing traditional blues & R&B. In fact, after the first song or two I was still in a bit of an eye-rolling critical state… but then by “Natural Blues” I was hooked. You can tell Moby has a DJ background; he definitely takes you on a journey through the course of the album. I was moved at moments; the sequencing of the album and the storytelling elements were tight. I get now why this was considered a masterpiece at the time. Give me more Moby like this!

Masterpiece from start to finish. Just loved every moment of this album. A must own in my opinion.

Great piece of art, it takes you places while hearing it :) Would recomment to anyone who wants to listen something unique.

This was a revolutionary mix of black roots and electronica music that still holds up today.

This album is tied to so many memories of my father and me when I was just little thing. and its just a really good album in general. it mixed DJ with different types of music and I don't even know how to describe it its just amazing.

Fabulous

Maravilhoso

Very nice.

I want to play with Moby.

Ta bueno

So many jams.

Free the Gwen Stefani version of "South Side"!