Play

A first rate record that like many people was an introduction to techno styles. Credit to Moby for providing access to the genre with his inventive use of gospel samples and rhythms in his musical mash up. I realize purist in the electronic and techno field likely frown upon his approach. Also, reports about his personality drop him into near Morrissey status. Nonetheless, multiple songs on the album generate high levels of swaying and thrusting. An admirable combinations of all sorts of feelings makes for an enjoyable affair.

Beautiful album, I'm a fan.

I really wish this album was easier to pay attention to. I like dance/house stuff, but this just sorta fell flat for me. Learned a lot about Moby tho, cool story.

His best, but it meanders and sounds like a billion adverts

Muy interesante

Blast from the past! Not heard in ages. What a great album. Quite versatile. No wonder it was so popular at the time.

A chill listen

I can understand why this was really popular, but it doesn’t really do it for me. I don’t mind the sort of ambient things, but I don’t like when he takes a sample that’s four seconds long and just plays it with beats under it for five minutes. that’s really boring and lazy.

It's a classic album of its time. I think it got quite irritating at the time as it was played everywhere, especially on TV ads. But listening back years later it sounds fresh and excellent. Bodyrock brought back memories of Fifa 2001.

The hits just keep coming. I would wager there were 5 singles off this album. EIGHT- there were 8 singles off Play. Unbelievable. "Run On" came out on the eve of my 13th birthday. This album was a powerhouse at the exact perfect time for me to start absorbing music. I revisit this album periodically, and will continue to do so. it's beautiful. Listened to this while on my trip to Saugerties/ Woodstock with E- fall '26

Way bigger fan of this than I expected. He's cribbing pretty liberally from soul giants before him and I hope he's giving credit where it's due, but it comes together in an incredibly good package here. The B-side "Spirit" sounds like it could have come off any JRPG soundtrack of the era.

Moby is just perverted Morrissey and Fatboy Slim did it better.

Thought I’d hate this but the first half of the album was fairly pleasant. It’s very of its time, which for some reason I find less interesting for 90s albums than 70s or 80s ones.

this entire album sounds like a 2000s pac sun ad

Felt like being forced to play the sims 3 - Detroit soul edition

Nice vibe,

Was alright

90s edgy whiteboy music

Who knew Jason Statham could make music? Looks like he's having a good time, or he's jumping in anger? Hell idk As far as this album goes, I truly do appreciate the versatility in sounds, it is quite the rollercoaster to listen to this album end to end. I looked out for the big hits and I was entertained. However, I gotta be honest, while the production and versatility is awesome, I dont know if I ever see myself re listening to this album again. By no means a bad album, but not for me. 3/5

Once again, I'm not an electronic music fan, but this is a pretty cool record

Еще один шедевр элетронной мухыки

Один з небагатьох справді гарних електронних альбомів, що мені рекомендував цей сайт. 3,5

Moby always seemed to be the butt of some joke back in the day so I wasn't expecting to like this so much but it was great!

It's crazy to think I first heard this via John Peel, given that it ended up as the soundtrack for every second advert. It's actually aged pretty well but tails off before the end.

When this came out / became popular, I was very much rallying against anything that I thought was populist / selling out and took against this instantly. Obviously with every song being in almost every advert since you couldn’t really get away from it…. Having just listened through for the first time, I will say I did not mind this anywhere near as much as I thought I would with some nice tracks such as ‘inside’ and ‘the sky is broken’. It may even just edge 3 stars much to the utter dismay of my younger self.

Not unlistenable, but if it was produced in 2026 I'd assume it was AI-generated

New to me. Dreadful. “Dance” music for people who don’t like dance music. One star. Tom.

I already know a lot of Moby's music and so I tried to go into this with an open mind. I don't know a lot of these songs but I had heard them due to Moby licensing them out over the years. After hearing Play, I don't know if my mind on Moby has been changed. This is good music to listen to while I do other activities and there is a lot of different things he does here compared to the other 959 artists in his genre from this book. It's good and it's not necessarily for me. I think it has a place in this book because of the popularity of the album and it did have an impact on music. My favorite tracks: Honey Porcelain Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? South Side Natural Blues Run On The Sky is Broken (I normally do not like spoken-word songs)

2.5/5

de esos que te erizan la piel por lo buenos que son. mis papás lo ponían en el auto (gracias papás)

ALBUNAZO VIEJO CIERREN LA PAGINA

Riktigt bra!

Alldeles för långt men ganska nice ändå

Såklart bra men lite för ambitiöst. Känns som att han vill hinna toucha väldigt många olika stilar och jag tycker inte att allt blir bra. Sen är albumet alldeles för långt också. Han hade kunnat slopa låtarna som han sjunger på.

Bra 3.4/5

Love Moby. Love Play. I should listen to this more often.

ich ha irgendwie s gfühl ich han jede vo dene schomol ghört. porcelain sicher, aber irgendwie sind alli chli cool aber au seeehr lounge. why does my heart isch reeeecht geil. aso kenni obviously. samples eigentli? he s isch huere kreativ und afoch irgendwie kinda insane 90er aber au chli guet? so zimli guet? das isch es guets album au wenns mer mengmol chli z loungig isch.

Much of it sounds like Enya, but not as interesting

I was slightly put off seeing Moby’s name today, but quickly realized I was not remembering him clearly. This was very enjoyable even though it had characteristics that I wouldn’t typically enjoy — I think it emerges, directly or indirectly, from the spring of music from my formative listening years. Hard to rate for me but it gets a small boost as I got this one on a good day for this style.. 3.75/5

432/1093 Moby 'Play' 1999 Enjoyed revisiting this. It's been on the shelves since release, but doesn't get too much airplay these days. Probably too long. Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ ★★★☆☆(7/10) Total reviewed : 432 Already owned : 98 Purchased : 21 To buy : 5 Nope : 308

This is fine. Not unpleasant.

I loved moby as a kid.

Surprised by how many of these songs I’ve heard before. Solid record.

New music to my ears and I enjoyed it.

Enjoyable music to do code analysis to. I don't generally seek out electronica, EDM, trance, techno, etc but when it finds its way to me I enjoy it.

Moby – Play (1999) On Day 259, this record genuinely surprised me. I didn't realize electronic music could sound this good. It stands completely apart from typical electronic music because it carries genuine soul and avoids relying on monotonous repetition. It offers so much across its runtime: infectious grooves, raw vocal samples, and top-notch production quality throughout. Several tracks were already familiar, like "Porcelain" from television and films like The Beach, while the rest of the tracklist held together with impressive cohesion for an electronic, bounce-driven LP. An unexpectedly rewarding listen. A strong 4/5.

Never need to hear that again. I'm worried it's even tainted my future enjoyment of the original tracks sampled. I'm not sure what's worse, the formulaic way all of these songs are constructed, or the lyrics (groan). Every song is about a minute too long, including the songs that are only about a minute long.

One of the best albums on the list, so far. And I am near album number 600.

Great techno

Moby's cure for pre-millennium tension wasn't my favorite at the time, but there's no denying how big this thing was.

I would like this album more if Moby wasn't such an interminable dweeb

Oeps niet geluisterd

did not listen, was not the vibe. sorry moby

I'll listen to this all at a later point but a two hour long album is not worth it with this kind of music. So for now, I'll have to put down a good 2.

Bom album, nao esperava que tivesse um foco tão grande instrumental e foi uma otima surpresa. A primeira metade é melhor que a segunda, mas mesmo assim, bom

No doubting Mobys skill as a sampler, I did find the album started slowly but once it got to porcelain it got much better. It was also a bit long so not one I’ll go back too regularly

I didn’t NEED to listen to this album, but I did anyway. When this album came out it offered something different than most EDM/Electronica during the time. I think starting it off with the Southern-style jump-rope chants and updating them gave the album authenticity and grounded it. A few songs later Porcelain showed a softer side to the genre, somewhere between atmospheric and dancehall, which Body Rock returned us to. Natural Blues was another shift in style, back to the South but adding a blues element, which I had never heard in this genre. My key track though was Machete, which had the energy of a heavy metal song, and I think gave rise to other House artists like Oakenfold and Prodigy. Overall, I don’t know if there is a bad song on this album. Back then it was pure revolution. Almost three decades later, it still holds up! I may be overrating this but it does check all the boxes….

Random thoughts: * Is this blues EDM? * I definitely had a copy of this album. I found my CD of this. I even had a second Moby CD. * I haven't listened to this album in years but it was kind of like an old blanket. Super comfortable and made me wonder why I put it in the closet. * Of course the hits are good here: Porcelain, South Side, and Bodyrock. * But I really liked some of the more "bluesy" tracks: Honey, Find My Baby, Natural Blues. * I was trying to decide if this was truly an essential listen and I came across this fact: Play is the biggest-selling electronica album of all time. * I thought maybe my familiarity was making me over rate this album but it turns out, I may be underestimating how essential this album really is.

I liked this! I had heard some of these before very cinematic

I would have liked a little more variation, but I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Almost more ambience the electronica at times. Didn't listen to the B sides, so maybe I'll check it out sometime Favorite Songs: Honey, Natural Blues, Run On

WAT is dit album..? er zitten best goeie liedjes tussen maar het is een beetje all over the place

het is een random collectie van liedjes die niet echt op 1 album passen. MAAR ze zijn wel goed.

It's like Beck, but worse. Okay maybe not THAT bad. But still.

i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry

I know Moby is important. I know he inspired people who came after him. But I cannot, for whatever reason, get into this album.

Coole Tracks mit denen er so richtig bekannt wurde, aber dann auch etwas Müll dabei

sehr gutes, melancholisches Album. Wirklich viele gute Lieder drauf. My weakness war super und kannte ich nicht. Ansonsten kennt man die meisten eh.

Nicht so gut gestartet aber dann noch gut abgegangen.

Not familiar with these previously, do I somehow manage to avoid the commercials that some seem to associate these with? Nor is it the genre I’d typically listen to, some of these were still worth experiencing though. Ohh Lordy though - I don’t think I’d have gone there, nor with some of the others that seem too close to cultural appropriation for comfort. The others - listenable enough not that I think I need to experience again.

This was very boring.

Not exactly my comfort zone but i’m very glad i was exposed to it i like it a lot

electronic ambient sounds - nice

Difficult to review this one. So many of these songs became part of the TV advertisement collective consciousness, and this sound was endlessly copied after this record's huge success. Still, it's not hard to imagine how new this sounded at the time and how this takes 90's electronica and boils it down to its bare essentials: A straightforward sample, synths, and a beat. It's actually surprising how Moby can keep it fresh throughout the entire hour-plus runtime, but he does. There aren't many artistic intricacies to talk about, so don't think too much, just Play. Key tracks: Honey Find My Baby Porcelain Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? South Side Natural Blues Run On

i'm excited about this one because Moby feels like an artist that i know a lot 'around' but haven't actually heard much of. a lot of pop cultural shittalking and i think i liked a few of his songs (or possibly remixes?) but i can only really think of one track off the top of my head. i adore Shot In The Back Of The Head. and also there was a Moby track at a pivotal point in The X-Files that i have VERY mixed feelings about. (the X-Files, not the track. the song was used well and frankly doing some heavy lifting for that scene, lmao) evidently the original release is 18 tracks long so i'm limiting this to those original tracks. the only spotify version is an extended cut that is over twice as long. yes i know spotify is terrible it's on my todo list Honey's very cool. this feels 'structurally' similar to a lot of music i like with the sampling i like Porcelain; it feels SO 90s to me for some reason. the string samples and the piano, i think. i'm enjoying this but i think i prefer music like this to... i want to say 'fuck a little harder' but that's not academically precise. it's very nice in a chill way, though i almost like South Side a lot but something about the vocals is odd. although maybe it's odd in a way i like? hm. can't decide Bodyrock is good but a touch too.... clean? it's missing something. man idk am i just not in the right headspace to do these or something Natural Blues i think i've heard before and liked. i associate this piano tone with a specific kind of... house? happy hardcore? that i don't like or at least feel like i outgrew. but it doesn't ruin the track for me okay now we're fucking talking with Machete i like 7 but wish it went somewhere instead of only being a minute long, i was into it :( Run On is good! it's a fun one. the sampling is doing some work here though i like Everloving a lot and i swear i've heard this melody before but not the song. wtf Inside is really nice; i really like this sort of warbly underwater vocal background The Sky Is Broken is ringing a bell but i don't recall the spoken word (and don't really care for it, honestly, which is too bad because i like the track a lot otherwise). this is going to bother me. did something use this instrumental My Weakness has this weird ass distorted vocal sampling that is like catnip to me. oh my god is this the song that was in X-Files? IT IS. well i do love this song i mean he's got an ear for good vocal samples, i'll give him that. i debated high 3 vs low 4 and the back half of the album talked me into a 4. there's more variety here than i thought at first glance and i really like the progression from the first half of the album to the second. tbh i prefer the second half of the album, find it more interesting, and don't care as much for the singles. the second half is a lot moodier, a little weirder. i'm trying to pin down a criticism and i think all of this feels a little 'safe' to me? having read some about his work, i want to listen to some of his other albums to compare to. oh shit Flower is a song i love but it's not *technically* on this album lmao, it's on the extended cut

Favourite Track(s): Natural Blues Down Slow My Weakness

A big old meh.

This was the soundtrack to my 20s. 5/5

GCSE Music 2015

Found this difficult to review. When listening with other things to do, it came across as quite pleasant aural wallpaper. When I actually concentrated on listening to it, it revealed itself to be boringly repetitive, lacking any particular lyrical structure and not especially entertaining.

Some bangers on the first half but really faded into mediocrity towards the end.

It looks like it took Moby for me to enjoy an electronica album! Repetitive at times but I found this to be a fun and interesting listen.

Noen veldig bra låter, andre litt mer kjedelige og irriterende

very repetitive and very long, but not bad

First tasting notes out of the way: the Lomax tapes are doing a lot of the heavy lifting on this album. Moby is himself a pretty damn talented sample flipper/multi-instrumentalist with a pretty established background in throwing down breakbeats by 1999, but it's this infusion of crackling vintage soul/folk samples with his unmatched ear for a hit that makes it work. But it's an understatement to liken him to some sommelier or a bartender as he's often accused of: he's not merely slinging loops like tequila sunrises. There's so much of him in the sound, both literally (his singing and playing is prominent all over the place here; most tracks don't even use any soul samples) but also in his sheer style. At the very least, he's doing way more with the source material than pretty much any other of-their-time techno/downtempo/electronica DJ with an MPC and a dream was bothering with. (There's some conversation to be had about Moby's use of samples from uncredited black folk but that's a whole complicated kettle of fish). Similarly, any accusations that Moby writes populist elevator muzak for white-collar wine-drinkers and European car commercial needs decanting too. The turn of the century was the apex of this crabs-in-a-bucket anti-sell-out culture in music, borne of a generation that, bafflingly, considered it gauche to wear a band shirt to their OWN show. Listening back half a century later and you can't really hear it. To my ear Play is less commercial and more just... radio-friendly for electronic music. Really rich piano/drum sounds and pad swells give it this classical-esque symphonic atmosphere that plays well with your NYT Crossword-types I guess, and I don't see why that's the irredeemable sin. Maybe it's more pedestrian, more lightweight, under that veil. But you NEVER get the impression he's compromising his vision for the bag, because he's still more than willing to get properly clubby with it (like Machete). Now in the post-Spotify era, where live music is limping along and the local music scene is musicians trading the same ten bucks back and forth, it's nice looking back at the album that let EDM enjoy some financial (and mainstream) success. And besides, the drum beats ARE really good here. So much killer. Lastly, on the album's length: all albums of this ilk will eternally suffer on this list for being treated like a traditional album listen and not as a collection of singles repeating a motif intended to be spun into some club set. Fatboy Slim seems to get the same heat for some reason. Also a big fan of his Binding of Isaac and Super Auto Pets LPs. Fav tracks: Porcelain, Rushing, Bodyrock, Natural Blues, Machete. Inside

lots of interesting ideas, but a frustrating insistence on putting as few of them as possible into any one track.

I thought I hadn't really heard anything from this album until I got to "Porcelain". The leadup and release of this album was interesting to read about, as Moby was originally planning on this being his final album. His team also licensed most of the album for commercial use after its release, which ended up giving it a lot of wanted exposure later on. You can hear it, as some of these tracks could double as support for an ad spot, or a radio hit. Not necessarily all of them, however. Focusing on the album itself, I thought it tailed off a bit around the late middle section after a stellar start. Blues and roots music being used as the backbone for electronica is interesting and not something you'd hear often in the genre then. Just wished the listening experience wasn't as uneven as it was here.

Reminds me of the 90s

Interesting overall, but most of it isn’t my style

I don't always understand Moby, but I dig him.

Moby demuestra que el sampleo le es nato y firma un disco enorme, lleno de melodías infecciosas y momentos de enorme creatividad. Algunas canciones se sienten de relleno.

Some very decent beats. I like this. It gets really good towards the end. Nice to see an album that matures as it progresses.

Late night subway ride music POV Well, this is out of my typical wheelhouse as far as music goes, but the music isn’t bad. It’s a fun and digestible album with quite a variety for electronic music. I deff prefer the more rock based/leaning tracks here. Honestly, I’m surprised I don’t hate this more considering how long it is. This is a lot more tame and simple than some of the other electro/dancy shit we’ve seen on here, and maybe that’s why I enjoy it more as a novice to the genre.

If you’re like me this album shows up in your life randomly and Moby really took the plunderphonics sound and made it his own. Moby makes an album that you just want to hit play on and it’s multi-instrumental nature makes it fun and unique to listen to. Natural Blues is one of my favorites. Edm songs have a way of making simple songs have such power and meaning. The only you think you remember from the song is how it made you feel and troubles with god and it just sticks in your head. It’s all good and fits a mood and doesn’t feel like it steps on each other. Back when Edm music really felt like it had soul not obsessed with the drop but invested in creating a holistic and full atmosphere. This feels like it’s made to be music first and then danceable after which works out for everyone since it’s so unique and been mimicked countless times. I love this album and I put it on whenever I want to explore outside my edm bubble yet still scratches that itch.

At times rockin', at other times etherial, which I didn't mind too much. Goes on for a way bit too long though - some cuts could have been made to get this under 50 minutes or so. Still, it's pleasant enough and some of the more unique or "to-my-taste" songs did get saved.

An absolutely outstanding album, just lifts me up and puts me in a trance. While I agree the album is a bit on the long side, I enjoyed every single song.

Zero skips

Okay, but not really exciting. 3 stars

I think this is a pretty great album overall and I like the mix of old blues and gospel with electronica. "Honey", "Find My Baby", "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?", "Natural Blues", and "Run On" (which shares the same DNA as Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down") are all really cool. The biggest knock on it is at over an hour, there's definitely some filler here. There's some moments of more traditional EDM and new agey soundscapes that I could live without. Overall, the highlights are enough for me to get to a solid 4 stars.

Quite a few impressive humdingers on this, or to put it in another way ‘hmm lawdy, humdingers so hard’. The fact that it samples a bunch of real folk blues recordings from Alan Lomax is cool although the actual tunes themselves are rather hit n miss. Natural Blues is a surefire maudlin poppy standout, Porcelain is emphatically chill - S-tier chillout advert music along with Fleetwood Mac Albatross and Groove Armada At The River. Bodyrock is really funky, big-beaty and rockin and probably the template track for Run Rabbit Junk on the Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack. Overall there are too many bitty dud songs and it did not need to be anywhere near let alone beyond 60 minutes. This wasn’t going on my 4 star wall anyway unless Moby was jumping more to the side so he was off-shot or at least wore a big hat, maybe a sombrero to cover his nosferatu head.

I can imagine myself at a mass outdoor event of some sort, the kind where there are marquees out on a grass lawn and there are large speakers blasting out music. This kind of music. There always comes a point at these events where I'm either looking for something to eat, or something to do, and I just take a step back for a moment and listen to my surroundings. Now, here comes the magic of this kind of music - it only takes about 30 seconds of listening to the same repeated sample droning on and on and on and on, for 16 more bars than it probably should have, before I start feeling bored out of my mind, snap back to reality, and go look for something else to do. 2 songs into this album and I'm loving the vibe, but it quickly became clear to me that this is the kind of music you ONLY put in the background. Tune in your ears to properly listen to this album, and for the grand majority of moments you do so, you'll only be met with endless, endless monotony. That said, there were still some interesting songs scattered throughout the album (like South Side), and it's not to say I didn't enjoy listening to this album as a whole (I still enjoyed many songs despite their repetitive elements, e.g. Bodyrock). However, what stuck out about this album for me was that I couldn't just sit there and - to put it very simply - LISTEN to the music. All in all, I can definitely see how one could love this album for the vibes, but to listen to it without occupying oneself with some other task is completely unfathomable to me. Solid 4.1/5

... do I like Moby?

Hard pass

Can’t tell if I’m being unfair because the first few tracks were so omnipresent in the late 90s and early 2000s or if I’m too familiar with Moby being a douchebag or if I just don’t like these songs that much anymore, but…I don’t know, very few of these do it for me anymore. Used to love it though. Owned it!

Some interesting ideas that just get dragged on and on until it’s disinteresting again. Never really found a song that did anything for me.

I was surprised to find this album has aged much better than I had expected, much better than Moby himself at least. Still, the back half is pretty lifeless.

Not sure this is one of the best albums of all time but it being me back to a specific time and place quite well. And I still like all the songs for reasons I cannnot understand.

I love this album, especially the tracks that combine ghospel/soul vocals with electronic/dance backing. If it was just tracks like that, it would be a 5-star album. Alas, the album also has some tracks that are more straight up electronic or are just slow/mundane, so it nets out as a high-4 for me.

There’s something about the structure and accessibility of this album that makes me feel a bit basic for liking it as much as I do and it was definitely over exposed when it was first released, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is supremely listenable.

As much as I sometimes loathe this list, it has made me more aware of earlier pioneers of sounds and approaches than I would have otherwise been - and it's interesting to listen and maybe start to understand why Nirvana was SO huge but Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr. failed to break through. With Moby, though, I've been exposed to so much really fantastic electronic and DJ music that I kind of scratch my head that Play was so huge given how great Mylo and Chemical Brothers and Tricky and so many others were by comparison. It maybe says something that he never replicated its success. Which isn't to say I don't still enjoy it (I'm pretty sure I had this on CD) or that it doesn't hold up - but time, and more exposure to music in this vein - certainly isn't kind to Moby in retrospect. 21 year old me might give this a 4 but current me thinks it's more of a 3.

Listening to this album reminded just how ubiquitous Moby was for a time around the turn of the century. Though it ended up being overplayed and commercialized to hell, it really is a strong album from front to back.

Farty dad rock, slightly embarrassing, can't quite figure out why

Tem músicas extremamente famosas, mas nunca tinha ouvido falar da banda. Parece música de comercial que tu só ouve e nunca vai atrás pra saber quem é o artista.

Do I...like Moby? I think I do. So 90s. Shout-out to the movie Holes

Honestly liked some of this more than I expected. The last half of the album is a bit boring though

Gonna have to come back and rate this after i listen

This is very good

The first 2/3 or so of the album was fantastic, consisting of high-energy genre-bending bops. But the last third or so totally killed the energy for me. I would probably say 3.5/5 if I had the option, but we'll go with 4.

good background music

Pretty good I think. Been a while since I got one that I've already listened to. End of the album drags a bit. Has some strong moments. Pretty unique all things considered. Don't feel that strongly for the non-single tracks though. 6/10.

cool

Some really big singles but not really for me.

fui con pocas expectativas esperando dos o tres canciones buenas (conociendo solo porcelain) pero a falta de darle más escuchas me encantó, además entiendo que sea fácil que te encante, tanto por el uso de esas vocales directamente sacadas de blues o del gospel como por el flow general que trae todo el disco. Una auténtica sorpresa.

Honestly, very enjoyable listen. Did not expect to like this that much. Was very nice to have on. I also definitely recognized Porcelain. I'd have to say 3.75. For the time period definitely felt ahead of its time.

I didn't know this band. Not a big fan of this genre. A few good tunes but overall, repetitive lyrics and pounding music got to be a drag. An OK album.

Entiendo la onda pero no el gusta. No me parece algo original “copado” creo que es un poco aburrido

Too old for me to relate to it; too recent for it to have a retro cool feel for me. I recognised a number of tunes including "Flower" and "Porcelain", which are iconic sounds in commercials / theme songs / samples, but overall I didn't really enjoy listening to the album.

There are a few good songs here, but listening to the whole album it all starts to sound the same, and a bit boring. Not my bag.

#67 - Moby - Play ⭐️ Moby named this album from 1999 Play, which is one of the most commonly used controls on a CD player. I’d have personally preferred Stop or Eject.

Vähän oli turhan pitkä teos tollaselle musalle! Albumilta löytyy muutama oikeen klassikko mutta pitkästytti kuunnella loppuun

Rating: 4.8/5 Short Review: This is ridiculously easy to sink into. Electronic music, blues and gospel samples, ambient stretches, melancholy piano, dance beats. Somehow it all belongs on the same album. The first half especially is stacked. “Porcelain,” “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” and “Natural Blues” coming from the same record is kind of absurd. It does run long, though. By the final stretch I was definitely feeling the 18-track runtime. Favorite Track: “Porcelain.” Beautiful. Sad without trying desperately to make you sad. That little piano figure and the hazy production make the whole thing feel like remembering something that happened years ago.

Cool

Hits a lot of nostalgic buttons for me

Lots of great songs, some really moody echoes type tracks too. Definitely holds up.

Weird experience. Honestly I DO know this album and Moby. But like Steely Dan, I didn’t realize how WELL I knew them. I mean in my bones kinda knowing. How is that? Well I find out this album has so many tracks licensed for television and commercials it is one of the most licensed albums of ALL TIME. Yeah. Can’t get away from it actually. It’s EVERYWHERE. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that. Brainwashed. That’s the ticket. I feel brainwashed. Well I guess there are worse ways of having your mind scrubbed. 4 Boolean: True

Some songs I really liked and some I didn't like at all: almost no mid-term. It's a pretty complete album, I guess.

Funk and charisma packaged into this record - a wonderful dance/electronic recording

vaca come back

Press play.

There are moments, chord changes, perfectly timed samples, that are sublime, but I'll take DJ Shadow or Little Axe or Dilla over this one.

i had a great time with this, not what i thought it was gonna be. very fun

had heard a lot of this already but not the whole thing, was pleasantly surprised by some of the deep cuts

6 songs were a 0 1 song was a 1 3 songs were a 2 1 song was a 3 3 songs were a 4 Average 1.57

Iconic. Can't time travel through the 00s without hearing these tracks everywhere. A bit mopey for me now, but I've listened to it too many times to not rank it highly. 4-5 rats.

I don’t like the idea of looping a track over and over for 4 minutes. It gets boring. And it’s just one artist laying down a bunch of tracks into a song…. Just meh all around

Maybe a tad bit long and repetitive, but against all expectations I did actually like it.

2 and a half hours hahahahaha

I'd have to listen again, but didn't do much for me

Amazong

Fun pre techno album. Very experimental

I haven't listened to this all the way through for 25 years. It still hasn't changed though, done great tracks mixed in with some good ones, and it's a bit long for me. 45 minutes is enough, remove a few of the lesser tracks and you've got a five star album.

It's just repetitive and has the same vibe, but I still support it because it's vegan.🌱

Love this album and still listen to it a few times a year.

The first five songs are good, but then they are a bit repetitive and the album is SO EFFING LONG, and I didn’t even listen to the extended version.

really all over the place, a couple that were truly boring and self-indulgent, others were fun. Still, I am not listening to 2 1/2 hours of Moby

So, after lots of jump scares when I get what I believe is a dance album. I have now redefined ambient as dance music that doesn’t make me want to grind my teeth in despair. This was an energetic yet thoughtful delight. It didn’t make four stars due to my usual dislike of samples and due to its running length, which meant that it outstayed its welcome somewhat.

There's a few fun songs on there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It aged, and the record is kind of messy and too big. The start is great, and there are many cool things and ideas, and I'd say that it should be heard but in its entirety ? No, not really. I dare anyone to argue that there are no skips here.

Don’t hate this. Probably should. But it works.

Yeah I own this and havent played it in .Quite.Some.Time. Its going to be hard to rate. It was so big I heard it too much maybe. I can imagine there is some interesting commentary on this album. Dont you just h*te it when you listen music you like too much and then it gets boring? Maybe it always was boring, but the times were more so? Ah, novelty. he did that. and Porcelain stands up as iconic, uplifting, outstretched and something special form the time. I think the Caffe del Mar in Ibiza, Spain, released at least 10 compilations of DJ tracks trying to imitate it. Should this be essential listening? Yeah - but one condition - you need a sunset over the ocean for the feelings of Porcelain. I wonder how 20 years would experience this? I feel old now. And Yeah 5 might be high, but Simon is going to rate this one LOW and provide REASONS :-)

Interesting guy Moby. His memoir is a fine rock and roll tale, up there but not quite as good as Mike Campbells. He explains a lot, and peaking behind the curtain only enhances you listening pleasure to his stuff. I mean you've got to rate this just for Porcelain alone, as well as Why does My Heart, Honey et al. There is a McCartneyesque ache sitting behind his work, he tugs at the memento mori of our existence, which I love. A fine record.

The wife and I had escaped the kids for a rare dinner out together around 2010 at a vegetarian restaurant in Sydney. Harvest in Rozelle, if you need receipts, on a Tuesday night so not busy. Part-way through our appetizers, my wife leaned over and whispered "Is that... Moby over there?" I turned around to see a short, slight, bald, middle-aged man presiding over a table where every other guest -- seven or eight of them -- was an attractive woman under the age of 25. "Yes" I replied, "It sure is" He was a very unprepossessing man to command the attention of such a harem. I must say I was completely unsurprised when he later claimed in his autobiography to have dated Natalie Portman, to which she responded that her memory was of "a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school". I find Ms Portman's version of events far more credible, based on my brief observation of Moby in action. I don't feel like Moby has done himself many favours on the reputation front in the past few years. His autobiographies (and subsequent social media use) were reputational disasters, and stories of his shitty behaviour -- towards Ms Portman, in strip clubs, at parties -- seem to be everywhere now, despite the clear attempt by his PR team to flood the zone with positive stories and whitewash his wikipedia entry. Being famous can seriously turn people into arseholes. Moby has been more upfront than most about the negative impacts of sudden fame (and drugs and alcohol), but it just feels like a bit of self-deprecating "did I do that?" mugging without fully comprehending the impact of his behaviour on others. But back to the album at hand; 'Play' was a ubiquitous hit around the turn of the century. Am I over-simplifying by describing most of this album as preset drum loops topped with vocals samples and some guitar, piano and string pads? Stylistically cribbed from other forms of electronic music (techno, breakbeat, hip hop, house, ambient, etc), topped with charismatic samples and harmonically sweet piano and string pads, this is easy to like but nutritionally empty. And very, very repetitive. At least he generally keeps the tracks to a reasonable 3-4 minutes. Spin magazine's Will Hermes reviewed 'Play' as "the high-water mark for populist electronica" (which is a reasonable assessment) and a "millennial roots and blues masterwork" (which is flat-out offensive). The sample-based songs are heavily reliant on those original blues and roots recordings to provide flavour. This use of samples is yet another example in the long and wearying history of appropriation of black artists' work for the commercial benefit of white artists and entertainment of white audiences (see Greg Tate, ed., 'Everything But The Burden; What White People Are Taking From Black Culture'). Moby wasn't the first -- Alan Lomax also profited from these specific recordings, which he admittedly collected and preserved, but I can't see how that then deserves a songwriting credit. Unable to get much play on radio or MTV, Moby's managers cannily licensed out every track on this for films, TV, and advertising, which did allow people to hear (and then buy) the album. For better or worse, this strategy is almost essential for breaking new artists now (spoiler; it's for worse). Bill Wyman (the music journo, not the Rolling Stones bass player) even named the Moby Quotient -- which light-heartedly measures the degree to which your musical heroes have sold out, after old mate. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101200496.html). (Side note to my mate Dave; tell Bill how much I enjoyed this article next time you see him). This is an important album; it changed the business model for breaking artists and provides am accessible primer overview of most of the main sub-genres of electronic dance music in the 90s. It is not massively original -- I often found myself thinking of which artists had done each track a few years prior -- but it is musically pleasant. A lot of that I attribute to Moby's ear for a pleasing harmony. But it was massively overplayed -- it was _everywhere_ for years -- so I don't think anyone is really interested in Moby anymore. It reminds me of 'The Da Vinci Code'; a massive hit that everybody read (even if they are now reluctant to admit it), and now you can find a copy in every secondhand bookstore, charity shop, and free street library you come across because nobody still wants it on their bookshelf. I feel like I see secondhand copies of the 'Play' CD languishing in bargain bins everywhere these days. You literally cannot give them away. That said, maybe we are still in a backlash period, and being out of the public eye for a long while will allow this record eventually to be reassessed (although Moby's shitty behaviour makes this harder to imagine. He really needs to keep his head down). I was talking to my 21-year-old son, and he said he would buy a vinyl copy of 'Play' if he saw one reasonably priced. So maybe that is a lead indicator that this album could return. Let's see how history plays out.

This has fallen out of my electronica rotation, but listening again reminds me of how punchy Moby's mix of blues samples and beats can be, even if it's not quite up to the titans of 90's dance music. Unfortunately while that energy pushes through the first half of the album, the lower-tempo back nine are far less interesting.

This one is like, 2 hours long, so probably won't be doing a song-by-song review like on other albums. Initial thoughts are that this sounds like tons of different background music. Great background music! But background music nonetheless. There's neat, badass 'heist' vibe background music, high flying ambient chill stuff, hipper 'street' beats, kind of everything. I don't know how to rank this against other albums, especially when the only two I've done before this were Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens and Master of Puppets by Metallica, lol. It's weird, the bops are pretty awesome, but they're kind of a single sample with layered instrumentals behind it. The ok songs sound like the menu screens from mid-2000s action movie DVDs. I genuinely dislike hearing Moby do his weird quiet whispery poetry stuff over ambient tracks, these are probably the first tracks in this journey I've been like 'turn this shit off.' Album Highs: Find My Baby, Porcelain, South Side, Run On, Everloving, Flower (B Side), Sunday (B Side) Album Lows: If Things Were Perfect, The Sky is Broken (wow I dislike this one) How do I rank this against like, actual classics? It feels wrong to give it a 2/5 because I do enjoy a lot of the music, and saved many tracks to relisten to! But if a 3/5 is like a (good, has some bangers, has some downsides) like Cat Stevens and Metallica, is it fair to put like, ambient background music in that category? Did I rank this too low? Did I rank the others too low? Shit. I guess I'll give this like a 2, but I don't 'dislike' it. I wish the ratings had decimals because this feels a bit harsh. It's probably like a 5/5 for ambient DJ stuff. This is a conflicting album to get so early while I'm still trying to figure out a reasonable ranking framework. For future reference: 1 - I Actively Dislike This 2 - Good 3 - Good, some bangers 4 - Great 5 - Masterpiece

This album went like quadruple platinum in my house growing up. We would listen to it constantly. I did realize though that I don't think I had ever listened to the whole thing all the way through until now. The tracks that I remember are awesome. His mix of blues samples and electronic music hits as much as it now as it did when I was a kid. However, the last 5 tracks were the most unfamiliar to me. They brought the energy down significantly and made my interest in the album wain. I could see myself as a kid losing interest at this point which is probably why they aren't as familiar as the ones that came before. Still a super fun album and one I hope to play for my son someday (just maybe not as frequently). 4/5

3.10, it’s good i will give another listen

Day 361 Hey, it’s the songs from every advert on uk tv between 1999 and 2001. Some absolute bangers on here but definitely could have knocked 4 or 5 songs off. Highlights Bodyrock Natural blues Run on

Very enjoyable 90s dance/chill? Maybe pop?

War gar kein Techno. Verfluchter Eminem!

I’m with Eminem on this—Moby kinda sucks. Not for me. DNF

I liked this album in high school. That has changed.

A perfect album. When it finished I just wanted it to begin again. It ends in almost the same place it begins. Beautiful and so of the time but it still lands now.

Some real bangers but also some snoozers

I’m not convinced this is a great work of art, and it’s definitely been sullied by the sheer amount of times songs off it have been used in TV and ads but there’s something undeniable about it. Well chosen samples and visceral grooves and beats- and when it hits on songs like honey, run on or natural blues you forget the baggage and just engage with the music

efectiv muzica de lift

Truly, an album. Were there songs? Yes. Were some of them good? Probably. Were they memorable? I liked South Side and uh...I guess that's it.

An album that seemed inescapable when it was released, with relentless airplay plus appearances across adverts and as background music to endless TV montages. It feels weird how much of this I remembered considering I haven’t listened to it for decades. Also weird how, despite the familiarity, it provoked almost no strong feelings or responses. For me, just a straight-down-the-middle okay album.

Bleh.. There are three good songs out of SEVENTEEN and they didn’t age well. That’s way too many songs. Who does this dude think he is? Natalie Portman’s boyfriend? Moby is a nerdy cretin who was relevant for 6 months and now he insults great songs by great bands because he doesn’t understand their intent. Boo Moby. Boo. 2.3

ik raad de videoclip van honey van harte aan. verder goede samples en een paar erg lekkere nummers en een paar gewoon tja ja muziek. favorieten waren why does my heart feel so bad en the sky is broken

I think super cool conceptually, hard to listen to for reasons that escape me. Really neat samples, just doesn't hit?

“Artificial” seems like a weird criticism for an electronic album, but this whole thing just felt too glossy for its own good.

Moby's *Play* is an ambitious yet bloated electronic experiment that feels heavily reminiscent of Fatboy Slim, relying far too much on repetitive hooks and samples while dragging out its runtime longer than it needs to. While a number of tracks fall flat into the "meh" or forgettable territory, the album is ultimately saved by a handful of undeniable bangers and surprising moments of genuine emotional depth. From the rave-ready energy of "Machete" and the medieval-sounding textures of "Guitar, flute and string" to the uplifting, prayer-like resonance of "My weakness," the record’s high points offer enough striking atmosphere and groove to make it a worthwhile listen. It is flawed and overly long, but peppered with inspired highlights.

The soul-blues feeling works surprisingly well with the dance-techno-electronica underlaid behind it. Enjoyed it surprisingly more than expected

Variable quality. I don't like the interpolations of folk or americana-tinged tracks, but I do like the dancier, breakier cuts. The record's also too darn long. The highlights are pretty great, though.

modern classic

2026.08.06.

A very talented individual. A diverse selection of musical genres. Blues gospel electronica pop. Some songs are a bit repetitive but there are some really good ones too

Hol' up... is that white guy on the cover Moby? Well, shoot. I was impressed by a lot of these vocals and instrumental add-ons, but I guess Moby is just another petty music "sampler" (thief). Ah, well. It still sounds good, mostly. Straight into things with Honey. Ain’t no messing around. An old-fashioned blues chant song, almost sounding like a cover of a 50s/60s (or older) chart with some DJ SFX added in. I appreciate the guitar effect – a pedal or something (I’m not good with terminology) – and I wish the guitar had been utilised more. Find My Baby continues along the same lines. Very much a blues composition, or at least it feels like until you realise the same four bars are being repeated ad nauseam with no chord changes. It almost makes you suspect the music has been looped. Almost… And then we get to the last minute or so and you realise it is most certainly a loop. A soundboard, even. Pretty disappointing. Still, the instrumentation builds gradually over time, which balances out the niftiness levels, if I do say so. The guitar solo (this time just a standard electric) is again the song’s highlight. The first standout on the album is the dizzying, experimentally edited Porcelain. Of course, it remains the most memorable for its stop-start synthy strings, capturing a solid chord progression and underlaid by passable vocals and great little piano fills. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad is a continuation of that pure unadulterated excellence – this time with more strings attached (literally) and very strong singing this time. I could listen to this on loop, easily. Ending the first third, we have the weirdly Arctic Monkey-esque South Side. Like if the AMs soundly strictly a little worse and used 90s SFX instead of guitars. It’s no wonder that the guitar solo is once again the clear highlight. Cool use of blues scale, general gusto… the whole shebang. I’m a little torn on Rushing, because it sounds like an interlude, smells like an interlude, even has the name of an interlude… but un interlude n’est pas ici. Instead it’s a 3-minute medium-tempo piano-and-drum noodle. Sounds good, I guess, though I don’t really know why. The intro of Bodyrock isn't promising but the middle section explodes with energy and slightly more interesting chords. Natural Blues is very catchy – earworm material for sure – and (relatedly) sounds like something C2C would record. In that sense, I guess, Moby is pretty ahead of his time. By the time of Machete, the average quality of the tracks takes a noticeable downturn. As to why... I'm stumped. Machete and 7 both fail to impress (the latter being too short to really develop into something memorable). Down Slow does a little better – but still doesn't give you room to breathe. Run On is better but only because it "weirds out" rather than underwhelms. A track centred around low piano and "honky tonk vocals" (is that even possible?) with an admittedly cool hip-hop spin. I would rate If Things Were Perfect quite low amongst the crowd, but at one moment I suddenly realised that the close-to-mic murmuring sounds like Sam O'Nella released an ASMR video. You wouldn't reject Sam, would you? I didn't think so. Everloving, though pretty good, also reeks of "80s B-side instrumental" (think some of Pink Floyd's lesser tracks from the Gilmour era). Inside is similar, with the added drawback of alternating between just two chords – really the major and minor versions of the same chord – but at least the low, layered synths Moby chose also sound cool as heck. Guitar Flute & String: self-explanatory. The Sky Is Broken has Sammy (Moby) giving us episode 2 of his new ASMR series, which unfortunately pales in comparison to the debut. The final track, My Weakness, is indeed Moby's weakness. Fortunately the album is such a juggernaut of "relatively great" tracks that it can afford to let a few slip away. 4/5 Key tracks: Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, Natural Blues

This was a really fun and good album.

FIrst time really listening to Moby. He's a name I've been familiar with obviously but I just never really got involved much in that scene. The wikipedia entry for the album is interesting. Describing Moby as thinking this project would be the last of his music career and the low expectations he had. Wonder if that allowed him to give himself more freedom to explore on this? Three songs in I wonder if I'm just going to think this sounds like a film soundtrack, not because of any issue with the album, but because of how ubiquitous some of these songs have been in film/tv On If Things Were Perfect, I can hear Moby's mouth noise during his speaking parts and that's a star off just for that. Now we're on The Sky is Broken and Moby decided I didn't have enough mouth noises previously. I'm sure people like this but all I can think is "Drink some damn water" I honestly was probably going to put this album at like 4/5 but those mouth noises are so unnecessary I'm going 3/5. I was real tempted to go 2/5.

No me gustó para nada, no es para todos ese álbum, es algo raro pero del raro sabor de boca, no niego que pueda gustarle a alguien más, sin embargo a mi en lo personal me resultó muy revuelto y forzado a una rareza no grata.

I'm rating this about halfway through listening and not for the reason I usually do that on a dance album. I fucking hate this genre, I think it's one of the worst things ever. The repetitive low effort garbage of music, literally "we came up with a 10 second long segment and we're going to make you listen to it for 8 minutes" type of shit. But somehow, this album rises above its genre's conventions and manages to be something listenable. Decent, good even. Absolutely shocked by this development. Well done, Moby!

So many hits on this album - Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, South Side, Bodyrock, Natural Blues. The rest is ok. Some songs were a bit repetitive and annoying; others were ok for background music, but nothing stood out. (4)

Every so often a album comes along in this project that you don’t know much about and blows you away for an hour…you are not only shocked you didn’t have this in your life before …but makes the project worth it. Today is such day. Hate it if you want, call it just sampling and overplayed. But when it comes to making electronic music accessible and going for a vibe- he hit the nail on the head so directly it sold 20 Million copies.

Ah here's a CD I used to have blasting in my car for years after release. I haven't listened to it in awhile, and some of it still holds up, but not all. Good record overall with some bangers, but it kind of peters out towards the end. There's some high highs (the radio hits, mostly), and some low lows.

Действительно классика и монументальнейший альбом изобилующий как радио хитами, так и довольно нишевыми композициями. Думаю именно за эти не настолько заезженные треки из второй половины альбома он мне и нравится, а вот радио-хиты наоборот немного утомляют. Моби смешивает тут и рок и электронику и хип-хоп и эмбиант и получается универсальный продукт для каждого

This one was surprising. Not usually my thing, but enjoyed it.

Jammer dat geen album uit Moby's discografie hier enigszins bij in de buurt komt

Is het crazy dat ik een instant 5 verwachtte en het toch neeet niet dat vind? Iets te veel filler, verder niets behalve insane tbh

Brian Eno 🤝 Moby Kale mannen die vette elektronische muziek maken.

I thought I would rate this higher but it just doesn't grab me

save me, George Lowe

N.15 Some songs are really good and I enjoyed them a lot. Some are nice to listen to but aren't that interesting. And some are INCREDIBLY repetitive and boring. The first half of the album is noticeably better then the second. I rate it 3.5

Surprised that I like it! Didn't think I would like it but I do!

This was kind of a really big album in 1999. And despite that, somehow he played the Newport Music Hall in Columbus which is a small venue on this tour and I got free tickets from the record store I worked at and the concert was on the walk home to my place (good times). Got there for the last 30 minutes which was primarily him standing motionless on a bench while techno music that nobody on stage seemed to be playing got louder and louder and louder and louder. Seems like a good guy but WTF was all that. If this is on the list but there's no Huey Lewis then something went wrong in the timeline.

On vaca this week so keeping this brief. Lots of familiar tracks here. Some overplayed. Never got into Moby. He seems like a dick. But talented.

This album was ubiquitous in 1999, and I remember it being...fine. The hits I know well, and the deeper album cuts are mostly solid, if trifling ("7," "Down Slow") or cringe (the spoken parts in "The Sky is Broken," "If Things Were Perfect"). I added a few songs to my running playlist, but don't need to hear this again. FUN FACT: Moby performed at a party for my daughter's school and scolded the crowd for not paying enough attention to him.

This was good, but i think what spawned from this is much better. Props to the guy for trying one more time, and influencing a part of modern music.

The soundtrack to a half-dozen midnight school trips to Alton Towers, and every car trip with my Mum for three years. Favourite track: Machete

Such a versatile album! It was a really good listen and every song was different and interesting! Saved it!

Cool downtempo, runs on a bit too long

LEGENDARY DJ

An album made to sample off of.

This is so likeable, like a big friendly dog.

The production is immaculate, but it gets too loopy at times.

I was really hoping the Jason Bourne song would be on here

I was under the impression this entire album was built around old blues and gospel samples, but it turns out that's only a handful of a tracks. Those are also the best tracks.

Pretty good record. A lot of hits in there. I enjoyed it

Neblogas, kas patiko tai labai patiko, bet daug filler

This was rad. I saved a bunch of songs. Common list 90s electronic/trance music W

This album is a great example of why I listen this project. I would have never just played this album. It’s good. Couple songs are great, but overall I enjoyed it very much.

Я ожидал худшего, но альбом меня приятно удивил. К тому же оказалось, что многие песни я уже слышал. Не скажу, что мне прям понравилось, но работа достойная.

So many of their hits on one album! I was excited to listen to it as I never really have before. It was great but the last few tracks just sort of faded into the background. A good album though!

Was actually surprised by how much I liked this one. Was expecting more electronic stuff, and while it had some of that, it read more as more typical music to me rather than electronic music. At least, I was surprised how much I liked it until I realized afterwards I didn't really remember much of it? I'm sure if I listened again, I would like it, but yeah.

Call me Brecht, because I be alienating the effect of Moby's weird Natalie Portman comments from the art. Sound of the 00s. EXCELLENT album.

i have a barely tangible knowledge of who moby is (i know him mainly from tv/film references) and have never listened to him. or so i thought, it turns out majority of these songs i have heard and just didn’t know. overall the albums pretty good but i got a bit bored of the sound by about half way through.

One of my favourite albums - I love the spiritual remixes

First album I've been disappointed to enjoy as Moby was a creepo to Natalie Portman. Damn if it isn't the seminal sound of the early 2000s though

Really good vibey stuff. Great for my night walk. Didn't expect it to infuse old jazz. Feels like you get enlightened at some songs and other sounds feeling repetitively annoying.

Had some high points but was way too long

most of the songs are repetitive/boring 2/5

Se nota buena calidad musical, es bien tranqui, quizá no lo escuche en el mood necesario

Wait, THIS is what Moby sounds like? Were we just pretending to like this or something???

Cool exploration of sound, super unique, like Guitar Flute and String. There were others, but that one stuck out on the first listen. *Will need to return to this one.

different. samples. less vocals. moby.

was not enjoying it until "guitar flute and string" started playing. amazing song.

I have to admit there is some bias here, because several songs from Play were a big part of my childhood. I remember hearing them on the radio, loving their sound, and carrying them with me as I grew up. Listening to the full album brought back a lot of that nostalgia, but as an adult, I could also better appreciate what Moby was doing musically. Instead of sticking to pure techno, he blends electronic music with old blues and gospel recordings, giving the album a sound that feels both modern and rooted in the past. Most of the songs I knew were packed into the first half, so I was a little worried the album would fall off afterward. The second half is not quite as strong and leans heavily on instrumental tracks, but it still has plenty of worthwhile moments. Even some of the unfamiliar songs managed to transport me back to the late ’90s and capture that distinct electronic atmosphere of 1999. The final track is especially haunting and beautiful, though I wish it had lasted longer. I would probably cut about five tracks to make the album tighter, but listening to Play still felt like reopening a part of my childhood that had been sitting quietly in the background all these years. I would gladly return to it again.

Not sure why Mobly got such a bad w-rap. This is the first experience I’ve had with listening to one of his album in its entirety, and it’s a good one. Was familiar with South Side, Bodyrock, and If Things Were Perfect, truly enjoyed his instrumentals. Will listen to Play again! (4.44*s) Will also check out more of his albums.

Moby swept the planet with Play and the help of MTv. I was shifting gears from electronica to more hip-hop and indie rock at the time of this album's release so I didn't give it much attention. It's solid but a little too repetitive and ethereal at times. I do like the bluesy mix-ins. It's a shame that "Flower" didn't make the original cut cause it's one of his bests. On some tracks, like "South Side," I don't mind his lyrical input. Not really a singer so it's hit or miss when he jumps on a song. I remember the feud with Eminem and I was more team Slim Shady (still am). All around a strong 3 stars.

Pretty great execution by Moby. I thought the 63 minute Playtime would be a drag but I have to admit that as the songs ticked off I found myself continuing to enjoy them. Something about these tracks made them very consumable in 90-second spurts like you would see in a film/tv/commercial spot so I'm not surprised to see that this album was widely licensed. I didn't outright know any of these songs but a couple had an air of familiarity so maybe I had run into them in the wild at some point. Moby proved pretty effective at building an electro-pop song around a simple samples/hooks. With Play he did just enough to make it stand out and differentiate it from contemporary artists of the time, while while keeping marketable to the masses. Though some of the samples were interesting I think I enjoyed the songs that featured his lead vocals the best like Porcelain and South Side. I also appreciate Moby keeping these tracks to 3-4 minutes. While a couple of them get a little repetitive as they wrap, it didn't fall into the trap a lot of electronic music does of having 7-8 minute tracks that drag by the end even if they start out enjoyable. Back half of the album isn't quite as strong as the front side, but I did enjoy the full listen. All in all Play was a surprisingly solid album. I remember him making a bit of splash in the early 2000's but not sure if Moby saw any sustained success in the wake of Play otherwise but I would check out anything else he released that had some popularity. 3.51 stars

the way people talk about this album i would have thought this was the most revolutionary album to ever exist. not bad just not as good as i thought

I had this CD from the library when I was a kid and I remember loving 'Inside,' and that is still my favorite non-'Porcelain' song here. The blues with trip hop drums thing is just an awful idea. Most of this would have sounded like shit in 1994, much less 1999.

Album #212 When I was younger, my favourite show was How I Met Your Mother, and there is one episode that always stuck with me in which the gang meet a bald guy at a club and mistakes him for Moby. They then recruit him before finding out he was just some bald creep. Looking back now, that show really did have some absolute 2000s gems in the soundtrack, and I’m surprised I found that as funny as I did, considering I am only just listening to Moby now for the first time in my life. I’ve never been fully convinced by the 90s and early 2000s house/ downtempo/ electronic/ big beat/ whatever movement; it’s just not a sound that ever excited me or resonated all that well. I’m fully aware that many see Moby as the mainstream commercialization of that sound, and frankly, I think that’s exactly why I prefer this album to its peers. Every song here is at the very least enjoyable; Moby never ventures too far into sample hell to the point where I don’t even know what I’m hearing; in fact, most songs are built around just one sample, which repeats and slowly adapts as the song progresses. I tend to prefer electronic music that aims for atmosphere rather than energy, since I usually listen to music sat at my desk, not in a club, and this album fulfills that urge nicely. It’s not the kind of music that’s gonna stick in my head and have me singing it in the shower, but I gotta say Play is a pretty damn nice listen. I also really like the album cover for some reason, and Porcelain is a definite classic song. Best Songs: Porcelain, Everloving, Machete Worst Song: The Sky Is Broken Score out of 10: 7.5

Con ritmo pero tranquilo

If, like me, you spent any time at all between say 1999 and 2001 in even the vaguest of sentient states, you will probably be overly familiar with every track on this album, even if you've never owned a copy. It really was ubiquitous - in every bar, every radio station, in every car that drove by, every TV advert... This is no bad thing, either. It's a hugely enjoyable soundtrack of a time - not just background music either, it's a genuinely inventive, absorbing and compelling listen, that's richly produced and that stands up really well today. I haven't heard it in years but even now, every single track felt fresh and familiar, as if I was only listening to it last week. When it popped up on the list, I groaned a little and felt a grumpy review coming on having been over-exposed to it back in the day, but on pressing play, I was just swept along with it all over again. It's actually a rather blissful listen. I'm pleasantly surprised at just how much I enjoyed spending time with this record again.

I can't quite decide if the massive use of those sampled phrases Moby uses on play is genius or not. If I'm honest multiple times in these songs I wanted more, lyrically, yes the sample often sounds great but it is repeated and repeated and frankly I wanted a change... perhaps it caught me at the wrong time. Certainly I will be revisiting because there are some great moments in here and it engaged me.

Moby is at his best on this album when he is sampling old blues artists. The high points on this album are really high but in reality he has tried to cram too much into the album - not all ideas are good ideas. It is still eminently enjoyable though.

not for me, saw a review saying elevator music and i agree

Modern classic. Irreplaceable.

Lots of good tracks on this one.

Highlights: Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?, South Side, Rushing, Bodyrock, Natural Blues, Run On, Everloving Where to begin with this album, honestly its first half was really good which isn't a surprise since that is where most of the singles are placed. Blending all sorts of different genres really taking you to some unexpected places musically (trip hop vibes, blues, strong beats and electronica among others). Unfortunately, the hype kind of dies in the later half as the tracks get slower and less exciting. I don't mind a change of pace and more relaxed tracks, but the later half was just too long and felt like it was there to fill up space for the album or make it longer for some reason. With all that in mind, since I enjoyed the first half so much, I'm leaning more towards a 3.5 (rounded to a 4).

Highlights: Find My Baby, Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, Bodyrock, Natural Blues, Machete, Run On, If Things Were Perfect Not much to say. It's full of interesting samples and sounds dope. The "interlude" tracks, if that's what they are, weren't all that interesting. Some tracks were also a bit too much repetitive or just plain cringe, but there aren't that many so I can say that the record was decent. The closing tracks were a sudden change of pace as they became super spacey and dull. They sound like some deluxe edition scraps, not like something that fits with the rest of the record.

Some good tracks, but pretty meh as an album, needs to be shorter, a lot of it is repetitive.

An album I already own. Not bad, a little hard to categorise, and a little lighter than what I would normally listen to but not bad

I didnt like it. I didn't really just vibe with it and thats okay.

DIDNT LIKE IT🙁

Even though this album perfectly captures the zeitgeist of late 90s and has some solid bangers, I can't in good faith give it more than three stars. Most songs are pretty bland, and they follow exactly the same structure. The hit singles are replayable, but the entire album is not. But I totally get why Play is on this list, it's historical significance as sign of times is undeniable.

It’s great for background music.

Okay, really well made and produced, an excellent job done with good taste, but couldn’t it have been shortened to the few best? I guess these types of artists have a more fanatical audience to listen to so much sample music.

Monday, 6 July, 2026 Great album. Transcendent moments. Not quite throughout, though.

Natural Blues is a banger but I don't think I know any of the other songs. Looking forward - Natural Blues is a good song and the closing songs are very good. Coherent album but don't see myself listening to the whole record very often

Meh

If there were ever an instance of soulful electronica, this would be it. Moby leans on blues/soul samples, but there's more to it than that - he creates a soundscape rich in a searching, digging, living quality, essences of soul as a genre & a state of mind. The music is oceanic & dream-sequenced while also being of the soil & the muck: 'Why does my heart feel so bad? / Why does my soul feel so bad?' It's fun to compare this to Entroducing..., that other masterpiece of electronica, tho I guess it's better to call that hip-hop instrumentalism: so different, yet really two sides of the same coin b/c the two records are the grandest this genre has to offer. I'm partial to Shadow & the straighter hip-hop aesthetic, but simply put, this is the 'natural blues.'

1.3/5 A couple of good songs but also a lot of boring and pointless electronic instrumentals. Especially the last half of the album nearly put me to sleep..first half was decent, second half not so much

super

i think it's a fun album and it makes me wanna dance dance but it's soooo long and the samples get kinda repetitive at a certain point

There's one song in this album that is cringe. The rest of the album is very good. Surprise 5 star here for sure.

Say what you will about him, but this is a fantastic record that forever changed the world of music.

A couple of standout tracks but overall it's OK but not great

I don't think I've ever been so torn on how I feel about an album. I could either give this 5* or 1* and feel justified. I found the production fantastic and actually loved nearly every track.... For about 1 minute. But the continuous vocal loop ruined each track. 4 minutes or the same line or two looped again and again just drove me insane. If there was someone singing, or rapping over these beats this would be a damn near perfect album. I guess 2.5* seems fair. Rounded to 3*

I bought this on release and absolutely loved it back in the day It's still a very, very good album and has some absolute bangers on it The looped samples of old singers can take the shine off at some points, but this is a very solid 4

Excellent

didnt like that much, loop much, didnt find it very pleasing to hear

Tiene un estilo muy marcado, melodías en loop, una linea y un crecimiento exponencial. Para mí eso es lo especial de este disco, tiene temones, sabés lo que te espera y lo que hace lo hace muy bien. De cualquier manera una hora de lo mismo es mucho y más sabiendo que las ultimas 7 canciones meh. Cuando lo empecé a escuchar hasta consideré ponerle un 5, pero estoy evaluando álbumes enteros. Seguro que lo voy a escuchar, pero no sé cuantas veces lo voy a terminar.

Good

Groovy background music throughout the day.

Really interesting to return to this album after more than 20 years. I used to love it and played the cd into near extinction. Initially it was pretty revolutionary and then ultimately deemed a bit appropriative. To me though it mostly feels a little dated. Odd to think that Moby had been such a trailblazer and then became gradually tired and eventually intolerable. Still, I think this album deserves its props. Incidentally, at the time this album hit, I was singing in a church choir that was performing a work called “African Sanctus.” Worth a listen - and worth noting that the composer, David Fanshawe, had effectively already done the same thing in 1972.

too bald

Huge album back in the day but I never listened to it fully until now. Album doesn't really flow for me and I much rather listen to some songs individually. Songs I like: Why Does My Heart Feel Bad?, South Side & Weakness 3/5

My first thought: oh God an hour of Moby? My final thought: Man I knew a lot of those songs. Did I own this in high school?

While I appreciated this album, it wasn't for me.

God this is long. Seriously does it ever stop. 18 tracks and I think track 1 is the best of them.

I really really enjoy it. I think it’s very good but I am going to leave the jury out in this one and come back to review it. Combining blues songs with hip hop is fire.

🥰

Moby – Play still holds up really well. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? and Natural Blues are timeless classics, but unlike some other albums, this one stays consistently strong from start to finish. It has a coherent atmosphere that makes it easy to listen to as a complete album. I could have used a bit more energy today in this heat, but overall it’s still a great record.

Wow what a surprise! I never heard an entire album of Moby before but obviously I should have! It never clicked for me with the single tracks I heard before but this album was a journey. Great energetic start and positive calm vibes at the end. Only the mid part lacked a bit of interesting elements but the reoccurring parts in different tracks showed the talent of moby. Close to 5*

A great album that marks the transition to the extremely eventful 1980s, with wonderful songs

Ik vond deze plaat wel chill, ik denk dat deze plaat ook echt nice is met een leuke drugs.

Dit album is toch wel een klassieker. Aan het einde vlakt het wel af maar het is wel een heel goed album. Ik heb hem niks voor niks gekocht. Ook is het een pionier in de party muziek. Leuk om met samples en synths goede nummers te maken. Er staan nummers op die het goed doen op een feestje, maar het is ook leuk om te luisteren als een album.

Mijn verwachtingen waren iets te hoog. Je kent de meeste nummers natuurlijk wel ook vooral vanwege de reclames waar al zijn muziek voor werd gebruikt. Het is wel een klein beetje verjaard maar dat is logisch in begin van het digitale tijdperk. Het leunt wel zwaar op de samples van de gospel en blues die hij natuurlijk niet zelf heeft gecreëerd. Het is veel herhaling en vrij minimalistisch maar wel met zorg. Waar het album nu over gaat is lastig te benoemen omdat je van samples nummers maakt. Kan niet zo goed duidelijk krijgen wat nu de kern van het album is. Kan niet alleen leuke mix trucjes die goed klinken zijn lijkt mij. Het is in ieder geval een goede curator van vergeten muziek en er vervolgens een sferische mix van te maken. Had een nostalgische 4 verwacht maar heb een lichte verwarde teleurstelling hierbij. Het is toch iets te veel gladde achtergrond muziek geworden.

Leuk album, erg creatief. Wat ik er een beetje in terughoor, is Moby die eind jaren 90 op zijn kamertje soulsamples aan het knippen en plakken is op zijn computer en daar vervolgens iets heel eigens van maakt. Het album heeft wel echt een vroeg digitaal geluid. Dat heeft ergens ook z'n charme, maar het klinkt tegenwoordig natuurlijk wel anders. De plug-ins en samples uit die tijd waren simpelweg nog niet van de kwaliteit die we nu gewend zijn. Daardoor klinken sommige pads en vooral de piano op Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? voor mijn gevoel een beetje onnatuurlijk, bijna MIDI-achtig. Je kunt Moby dat eigenlijk niet kwalijk nemen; dit wás gewoon hoe digitale muziek eind jaren 90 klonk. Sterker nog, juist daardoor is het ook een soort tijdcapsule geworden. Overigens maakt Moby nog steeds video's waarin hij laat zien hoe hij muziek produceert, tegenwoordig vaak in Ableton Live. Als je een beetje geïnteresseerd bent in produceren, zijn die zeker de moeite waard om eens te bekijken.

Some greatness in the samples. Less than the sum of its parts. Original vocal work by Moby feels uninspired. Too palatable to be truly interesting.

bisschen bot aber geil

Didn't expect to like this as much as I did, as I usually can't stand electronica. But this is a cut above the rest for sure.

It's hard not to like this....some songs hit better than others. If you were around when this came out, you have no idea how inescapable it was. It was EVERYWHERE. My favorite was at the end of Any Given Sunday when Pacino is walking out of the press conference...one of these songs is playing. I don't listen to music like this often...techno, electronic, whatever you want to call it, it's just not on my radar. But it's good to work to and it's good to help get into flow mode...when you're just zooming through tasks at work, the music is on the headphones, you're not actively listening to it but just immersed in what you're doing. I'll also say, I see a lot of bitching in here that all he did was sample old black musicians....which, yes, he did. But to listen to all of those songs, pick the 1 or 2 second samples to take and build complete songs around...yeah, it's not sitting down with a guitar and writing lyrics. But it's a completely different form of building and creating a song that's just as valid.

Luulenpa et olisin tehny opparin ennätysajassa jos Moby ois kuiskutellu taustalla. Sellasta kivaa ysäriä, helppoa kuunneltavaa. Ei kuitenkaan tylsää, biiseissä oli pikkuyllätyksiä. Niistä pidän. Kiitos Moby.

Ei mun juttu. Mutta kyllähän se meni. Muutaman kerran kattoin että joko loppuis eli ei paras mahollinen merkki. Vähän liian boyfriend ASMR experience.

Klassikkolevy joka toimittelleepi aina! Alkupuoli on aivan täyttä rautaa, loppupuoli vähän väsähtää.

Beats to study to -tyyppinen levy :D En tienny kaipaavani tällasta, mutta meni todella mainiosti automusana ja lautapelin taustalla! Ja Porcelain oli ihan tuttu biisi, en tienny että olin kuullukki Mobya :D

Siis morjens että tää Porcelain on kova!!! 😍✨ Vähän jännityksellä ootin että miten aika on kohdellut tätä lapsuuden sankaria ennakopöhinää seuraten 😬 Mut olihan tää nyt edelleen kova levy! Vuosituhannen taitteessa kun Porcelainin musavideo pyörähti jossain Jyrki Countdownissa ni olin ihan että ”Oon 11 ja mitä tämä on?!!! 🤯”. Kirjosta ollut tää lainassa vuosituhannen vaihteessa tehosoitolla ja sittemmin Anttilan Top Tenin alelaarista tarttunut omaan CD!!!-kokoelmaankin 🙂‍↕️ Tää muuten varmasti ollut myös yksi isoista esikuvista ekalla ”omatekemälle” musalevylle, joka oli tehty jonkun ”lätki valmiita sampleja aikajanalle” -musaohjelman ilmaisversiolla ja jossa 80% biiseistä päättyi ideoiden loputtua kuin seinään crash-crash-crash-filliin 😌 Edit: Loppuun kuunneltuna ois näistäkin saanut pari päättyä 1min 10s jälkeen samaiseen filliin 😅 Mut muutamaa musta vähän turhaa täytebiisiä lukuunottamatta upee lätty! 💎

Siis vitun hyvä, bängeriä bängerin perään. Ei mulla muuta, moii.