Play

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.

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

Some real bangers but also some snoozers

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.

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

“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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Cool downtempo, runs on a bit too long

This is so likeable, like a big friendly dog.

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

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.

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.

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.

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???

different. samples. less vocals. moby.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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*

Groovy background music throughout the day.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Makes me want to buy an early 00s Hyundai

Pretty good. Just the album cover alone has a lot of recognition. I’ve heard a few of the tracks before. I know it’s super popular and influential and I get why. Another one that I may or may not revisit, but have no complaints about the listen.

Есть заедающие мотивы, но в остальном абсолютно не самостоятельно

This is a lot of Moby. Over two hrs … nah. I’m good

поки нармальнс ну у е зновуж такт американське меке але на 3

i'm sympathetic enough to moby's melodramatic tastes to enjoy this overly long record p much the whole way through, i like a good emotional arpeggio and i often rly like the way he structures his songs...they always do feel like theyre Going Somewhere, or at least not staying in the same place, while maintaining a coherent song-length world. that all being said it was hard for me to not think about one of the nadirs of art and human expression, the fucking caravan palace cover of black betty. this was both a blessing and a curse. on one hand, it rly does make this whole thing sound tasteful by comparison LOL whatever objections u might have to moby as a producer he doesn't do fucking electro swing mixing, and there might even be Something to conceptually putting The Bluesman and The DJ in the same context, even if the DJ in question is a corny white guy. but there's undeniable Lineage that stretches from the style here to the black betty cover, and that's a little hard to get over. the samples here at least are focused on the Emotion of the material, even if its arguably removing it from the context of black survival in an antiblack world. but that layer of removal is imo preferable, or at least a million times more dignified, to early 20th century larping in the form of a hellishly produced Fun Banger. didnt bother to listen to all the b sides but u know i had to throw on memory gospel. pimps dont commit suicide.

Late 90's electronic/prog rock. Not spectacular, but not bad. Pitchfork: 2.2 initially, revised to 5.0 secondarily. Rolling Stone: n/a Best Songs Porcelain South Side

Porcelain is my fav Inside feels very frutiger aero (however you spell it) 3/5

I knew of Moby back in the day, but what I heard didn't incite follow-up. I put the album on, there were mildly appealing bits, but stretched thin, bland. It's not unpleasant, I zoned out for a bit, I wondered why was this music made? I started reading around. If this is 'electronica', why are the drum patterns so conventional? Songs were supposedly ubiquitous, but I recognise the styles more than the songs - some of them (eg Porcelain) do sound like they were written with the objective of being an inoffensive soundtrack for an ad - maybe I didn't see those ads because I avoided commercial TV/movies? I gather there are divided opinions on a few aspects, including the extensive use of long vocal segments from folk recordings - which I'm not a fan of. On a different note, I was interested by a comment that there's an album within the album - after all the 'hit' songs, the last eight or so songs have a different feel - I certainly noticed (and appreciated) that shift while playing through. But overall, it might be skilfully done but is fairly tedious, so I'll call it Mix of Good and Bad, 5/10.

waaaay too long of an album

A lot of fantastic songs on here (shoutout Flower for all the workouts) but just way too long for my preference.

Some good grooves. Too long. Filler really adds up as the album is winding down.

Fine for background music. I was expecting something .. better.

I was working at a marketing company in 2001 and we had two shared CPU work stations and the CD player in one of the CPU towers was our sole source of office-wide music. One of the guys I worked with wore out this album, White Stripe's White Blood Cells, and Steely Dan's Greatest Hits. And some how I didn't get sick of this Moby album.

I always get happy when I hear the first few songs on this album but I never reach the end. It’s just to long.

I don’t dislike it as much as the beep beep boop boop electronic music but I just don’t really care about electronic music. Anyways this reminds me of challengers

I liked a few of the tracks, a lot of the rest of it dissolved into the background. Which is not always a bad thing, as I have loved some background fading albums, but I don't think this is one that I would revisit while working since it wasn't generally something I loved. I like the experimental DJ style electronic music, but the more I get exposed to it, the less unique and exciting it feels, and the more it just comes across as repetitive looping without a ton of payoff. Still, I generally enjoyed it. Lowish 3.

Very disappointed that this version of Southside did not have Gwen on it. (I decided to cheat and add that version to my playlist). Also put on Bodyrock. Never been a huge fan of Moby, but he has some decent stuff.

Oh... I dunno bout Moby. He's allright, I guess. This album ain't bad. A bit mundane, perhaps. It was interesting that this was a sleeper album for Moby, not charting until well after its release as a result of TV and movie licensing.

Even though the track isn’t actually on this album, every Moby song is associated with Jason Bourne in my head

I feel GCSE music flooding back through my veins…. You know what I really thought this was going to be pretty corny? But ended up really enjoying! It’s longer than it needed to be but all in all it’s aged pretty well! Thank you Vegan Man!

I don't want to sound like a broken record but the amount of albums on this list I'd absolutely love it they were about 30% shorter is getting a bit silly

Inoffensive beats and sampling. Haven't watched enough TV to recognize it from any commercials, so I can't attest to the fatigue that some folks on here have talked about. All in all, it all felt a little samey and repetitive and seemed to drag on for a bit longer than I liked. 5/10 Would I listen again? I'm sure I will involuntarily if I watch more TV

3/5 Favorite Song: Run On

This album is, at once, pleasant, mind-blowing, eclectic, passive, electric, ephemeral, and beautiful. At least, that’s how it is for the first 5 tracks. And then it becomes kind of annoying for the rest of them. See, it’s really cool and fun up until it starts going through the same motions it’s been going through, and it’s all kind of whatever after a while. Also, it’s really fucking long. Like REALLY fucking long. Too long for something like this. And the sample choices can sometimes be awesome, but it gets to a point where you kinda get the sense that Moby REALLY thinks he’s the shit for sampling these lo-fi blues joints, and he kinda is for the first few times he does it, but the novelty fades, and he also starts to use worse and worse samples (see “Down Slow” and its use of a wack-ass barbershop quartet sample that ruins the song). That being said, the highs are real nice, and it would probably one of my higher ratings without the lows. Whatever. Sorry Mobes. 6.8/10

It was nice

It's a quite beautiful sounding and relaxing album, though can get reptitive and boring at times since it is so long.

Was surprised by how much of this I know, enjoyed it a lot. So funny to imagine Moby as a poo culture force around the millennium.

There are some really good tracks on here, mostly the blues samples. There are also some really bad tracks. Overall, the good slightly outweighs the bad. 3.5

이런 장르의 노래는 처음 들어보는데 신선하고 좋았다. It was my first time hearing a song of this genre, and it felt fresh and good.

This might be one of the most bloated albums on the list. But honestly it’s fine for the most part.

Ja kommerz halt, aber als ganzes Album und nach all den Jahren ganz okayer Sound

He's such a dweeb and this album is woefully uneven and unfocused, but I have a special place in my heart for the record that opened my mind to electronica and ambient music 20 years ago.

Things trailed off into the ambient, which I enjoyed more than the first three quarters of the album.

After learning that this album became a smash hit after all of its songs were licensed for use in film/TV/commercials, suddenly the acclaim feels superficial. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a brilliant marketing strategy and I have to commend Moby and his team for using that angle to their advantage, but this actually DOES sound like music for commercials most of the time. Am I crazy? I like "Porcelain" a lot though.

Not my thing but plenty of familiar tracks. Pleasant enough album, though all sampling and looping - the originals (some c/o Alan Lomax) no doubt more interesting. Listen to the superior ‘He’ll Roll Your Burdens Away’ by The Banks Brothers for instance - sampled on the hit track ‘Why Does my Heart Feel so Bad?’ Much better than Moby’s music made for adverts.

This feels so 1999 optimistic and groovy

A solid 3. The jumping between music styles was a bit strange but kind of worked

maybe its because i just muscled through all 127 hours of tank battles by dagmar krause but this was a pleasant surprise! kind of gave sinners at times, which is not something I ever thought I'd write

Couldn’t find the “original” album, but the B-sides and complete collection are way too long, half the songs are whatever and the other half range from classic EDM to semi-boring elevator music. The few songs I know really well bump up the 2.5

Okay, this was a pleasant surprise. I only recognized the one song from the collab with Gwen Stefani, and it was lovely to hear this version. I enjoyed my nostalgic journey through Moby calling Eminem out for his racism and homophobia, just to be called a slur in Without You. Thrilled to be the same age Moby was when Eminem called him old.

Nice trip down memory lane, but nothing really amazing that stood ou.

okay enough

The formula hasn't aged too well, perhaps, but the sampled blues vocals over laid-back contemporary indie-dance backing gimmick still lands more often than not.

Dette er egentlig en veldig Kulturelle skolesekkencore plate. Det er litt sånn «no skal vi få høyre gamle melodiar og nye rytmar. Hold dykk fast!» Føler jeg har belegg fordi Ugress kom til bygda i den kulturelle skolesekken en gang. Uansett, toppene er ganske bra. Det funker jo ganske bra med låtene som er bygget rundt gamle samples. Hadde han plukka seg ut ti låter hadde plata vært en firer, men det blir for mye strekking av CD-formatet til å holde det interessant

5,3/10 South side

I didn't expect this album to be as dance or fast as it was. It's due to my misconception of what Moby is from that Porcelain track. Fun listen, but jumps around a bit too much for me.

it was decent but I felt like it wasn't really for me. It had a lot of "piano" songs or songs that are very slow and traunquil. It was decent overall but there wasn't even any songs that were very memorable.

Enjoyed exploring this album from start to finish and the various samples throughout. I was already familiar with/remember listening to South Side, Natural Blues and Honey.

둠칫둠칫

Cool electronica, uses samples really well and the arrangements sound great. Love the mix of piano with strings on some of these songs. I can see him getting some inspiration from Adore by Smashing Pumpkins Standout songs: Find My Baby, Why Does My Hear Feel So Bad, Machete, Everloving, Inside, Guitar & Flute String.

I recognised more of this than I expected. I suppose that's because of the number of tracks that were released as singles. It's okay but I wouldn't seek it out.

Always had a soft spot for this. 3

This was a solid album in the massive Attack/ Avalanches- adjacent space. When I heard the first song, I thought it was outdated in the production sounded amateurish, but the rest of the album quickly want me over. The sampling and live instrumentation blend together very well. I don't love the occasional spoken word vocals he puts on there, but it doesn't bother me that much.

Some very famous songs in this album but not all of the songs caught my attention.

Nice dance beats, otherwise ho-hum.

I can't really knock it. You either like this kind of music or you don't. Porcelain is great, the rest just kind of exists. It does get repetitive after a bit.

Honestly better than I expected. I think this was probably the right album for the time it came out, but I don’t necessarily love it.

A good album, I miss the South side version with Gwen Stefani though.

Nogle af numrene er virkelig fede, men andet er lidt for ambient til mig.

better than i expected

NOBODY LISTENS TO TECHNO It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be

Some of the tracks here are good, some just kinda go by. Same style throughout. Taking old black spirituals and adding the most polished and commercial production and keyboards on it is kinda much.

i liked south side, and body rock and natural blues all were cool machete sounds like a panic attack a little run on is fun fav track: natural blues least fav: find my baby 6.6/10

Do I like it?

umm it’s just kinda. boring. Giving it a 3 but just barely. The occasional vocals is nice

Definitely different from everything else I've listened to. Moby has a unique style of techno and samples. Some is really good ambience, but if you don't like techno, you won't like it. I didn't think it was bad, I just can't see myself going back to many of these songs.

This is what Frutiger Aero sounds like to me.

I like Moby but not sure I like him for more than like 5 songs in a row. I do feel like the tv show montage vibe of his music loses its novelty after a little bit. All things considered this is still a solid album

oh to be a woman pushing 30 in 1999 wearing a bandeau dress in a miami rooftop club…

I've heard a ton of these songs just being around, but pretty enjoyable - nothing really stood out as much better than the rest, but great to 'do stuff' to. favorite track: Porcelain

I like some of the songs here, especially Body Rock (because its rock and i like rock). Many songs sample other much older songs and remixes them with electro elements, some may say slop, but yeah, there is good stuff to be found here.

As someone who doesn’t care for techno music/electronica, I find this rather soothing to listen to. Contrary to my opinion of the genre, this seems more approachable and, even - dare I say it - interesting? It’s not enough for a careful scrutiny, but as a background, it’s great. 3 stars.

Dance and electronica from Moby. Not bad, not great. Mid. Hence the 3 stars. I have a hunch that his other 22 albums sound pretty much the same. Good on him for the rags to riches story, though.

A huge album. Cleverly placed with samples and being available to college and schools. Very clever marketing. Some tracks I like and others not so much.

Not bad. “Nobody listens to techno!”

At the turn of the millennium, Play arrived like a slick cultural Trojan horse: an electronic record that smuggled the ghosts of American roots music into malls, movie trailers, and every third TV commercial. Moby’s central conceit—looping field recordings and weathered blues or gospel vocals over polished downtempo beats—was smart enough to feel novel and accessible enough to become inescapable. What made the album resonate beyond its marketing saturation, though, was its mood. Beneath the licensing frenzy lies a deeply melancholy record, full of empty spaces, soft-focus textures, and the kind of late-night introspection that defined post-rave electronica. When it works, Play feels expansive and strangely human. When it doesn’t, it slips into the genre’s familiar traps: overextended loops, prefab drum programming, and a tracklist that stretches a modest idea past its breaking point. Eighteen songs and just over an hour may not sound excessive, but the album often feels longer, especially in its less inspired stretches. Still, even its flaws are tied to its ambition. "Porcelain" remains the centerpiece, all piano shimmer and hushed vulnerability, while "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" turns a plaintive sample into something hauntingly universal. "Natural Blues" is the clearest realization of Moby’s old-meets-new thesis, and "Run On" injects some much-needed bounce into the proceedings. Elsewhere, "South Side" leans into alt-pop charm, and "The Sky Is Broken" proves that spoken-word sensuality is harder to pull off than it sounds. Overplayed, overlicensed, and occasionally overlong, Play still captures a moment when electronic music briefly convinced everyone it had a soul.

This is a difficult one to access, the style is definitely not my thing, however I found myself enjoying a few of the tracks, maybe it was a subliminal recognition of the advert music? Some of the tracks were dreadful. I've explored Moby before and not been impressed.

It’s way too extensive for what it is, but gotta respect the man and his craft.

Appreciate it but not an album I listen to often or much at all.

Honey - 2/5 Find my baby - 2/5 Porcelain - 3/5 Why does my heart feel so bad - 4/5 Southside - 4/5 Rushing - 3/5 Bodyrock - 4/5 Natural blues - 4/5 Machete - 4/5 Run on - 2/5 If things were perfect - 3/5 Everloving - 4/5 Inside - 2/5 Guitar flute & string - 3/5 The sky is broken - 2/5 My weakness - 3/5

I genuinely have never listened to a single one of mobys songs so this is exciting. Hm it’s very repetitive to say the least. Very 90s I feel like even though I haven’t heard many of OH PORCELAIN IVE HEARD THIS NVM. My parents were big partiers in the 90s so this is one of the essential tracks they would play in the kitchen when I was younger. I think I’ve heard rushing too. Bodyrock is cool I like it. I also know Natural Blues. Overall it’s a VERY long album and it’s alright there are quite a few bangers but I don’t think it’s something I would listen to regularly.

I was surprised how many songs I recognised from this considering I’ve never gone out of my way to listen to Moby before. There’s some really good tracks on here but a good few that I wasn’t really that arsed about. Shave 15-20 minutes from it and I probably would’ve gone to 4 stars. Top Track - Bodyrock, brought back memories of playing FIFA 2001 and Gran Turismo

was excited about this one but it wasn't that cool, really

bit long-winded

The album that launched a thousand adverts. Some wonderful arrangements and creative sampling. However for the 3 or 4 great songs the rest is filler.

A classic

(4/7) some fun stuff and some strange stuff

Do I understand this is good, the vibes are good, and did I feel super cool driving around listening to it? All yes. Did I connect with any song emotionally at all? Not really (Tim Robinson voice)

I thought it was good, but realistically I'm not listening to it ever again.

An incredible album, but maaaan, this guy is so unlikeable!!!

Mid.

5 - some hits but other songs are shit listens

Fatboy slim for vegans?

Honey Bodyrock Natural Blues

Honey Find My Baby Natural Blues Machete My Weakness

Enjoyed it. Good background music, nothing extremely mind blowing but production quality was definitely there.

liked a lot on it, but still not mind blowing

Don't care about Moby the way I once did, but I remember this being a huge deal when it came out. Almost the entire first half of this hour-plus album is songs that were absolutely unavoidable for several years. Adventurous and creative and so evocative of a formative time in my life and of the period when electronica got more song-oriented. But also overlong and gets much less remarkable in its back half.

An album that defines the phrase "I swear I heard this one in an advert somewhere..." And honestly 25 years or so later, the singles have especially held up. Unfortunately, the deep cuts are not as strong.

es muy instrumental lo cual puede ser aburrido pero hay buenos temas

Nothing is bad but after a minutes each song drags on

I get it, but sounded like a lot of background music

Un álbum que me llamó la atención escuchar. Sonidos electrónicos, ambient y pop. Muchos samples. Porcelain es el tema más escuchado del álbum, lo conocía de escucharlo en la radio pero no sabia que era de Moby. Grata sorpresa. Otro tema conocido para mi es Natural Blues. Disfrute bastante de la escucha de estos dos temas. Es un álbum bastante ambient. Para ponerlo de fondo y no prestarle demasiada atención, cumple.

I remember Moby from random songs, so will be curious what an entire album sounds like. This is a vibe in a good way. Electronic dance pop music with soulful elements. Really interesting. Some of it has more of a positive sound and some of it is slower. Definitely like songs like Natural Blues. That’s really good. Some of it is also slower and ambient and doesn’t work as well for me. This is really interesting. A little long I’ll say it’s a 3. At times it feels transcendent and brilliant then it sometimes drags on and something comes on that doesn’t work as well. This deserves a spot on this list. Not sure it’s all for me, but some of it is really good and it’s certainly original.

Interesting

liked the vibe would dig similar albums

it's actually better than I thought it would be, but that's not saying much... It's passable background music, but doubtful I'll relisten. Nothing to really say, just not for me.

I'm usually not a big fan of this genre of music, but I actually found this one okay. There were a few that kind of just slipped to the back of my mind and I lost concentration, but I actually think that is a good thing with some music, it shows you can just sit with it and not have to pay attention to anything. Some of these would be really good background music to listen to. Saying this, I did actually have two or three tracks that I found really enjoyable. I love the versatility of the tracks, and the vocals used in some of the songs were perfect. It's just one of those genres I won't really catch myself wanting to listen to. I also have to admit, 'My Weakness' as the album closer is the perfect choice; it is beautifully written and works well to close everything off. It shows such a high contrast from the way the album begins. Favourites: Honey Natural Blues Find My Baby My Weakness

It's alright I guess

There's a good amount of variety in here. Ultimately I don't think any song is all that impressive but I would say I enjoyed more songs than I got bored by. I recognised some songs here and there but they must have been massively stripped back to the best bits or something when I heard them initially because they feel so unremarkable here. Low 3

I used to like it, but now it feels like an idea that’s dragged past its acceptance.

Een paar innovatieve stukjes, maar voor de rest gewoon 5 seconden die telkens op loop zitten. Vergeetachtig

A little long and repetitive, but good

The tracks are well composed but it’s hard not to cringe at another white dude making a fortune of unheralded Black musicians.

Me dio poco, no me disgustó. Buenos hits

This is about where I became aware of Moby. I had heard the name before but this was about when Moby broke in the US for those not plugged into new dance\EDM circles. Still a fun listen for the first half of the album. If Things Were Perfect set off my alarms, I had issues listening to it all the way through. Inside is overly repetitive and sleep inducing, which might be just what someone else is looking for.

it got me moving i can say that much. a mixture of electronica, dj and indie. not very thoughtful lyricism but it was well composed, didnt feel awkward at all. can round it to 3

Com a descrição do álbum fiquei muito interessada mas ouvindo me decepcionei um pouco, não é ruim mas tbm não é extraordinário.

some incredible highpoints and no real low points but outside of the standout tracks I wouldn't be coming back to it. Would give 3.5 if I could

I didn't know Moby was that much EDM. Good album.

I mean it’s good but I can’t do two and a half hours of this shit, this gets one to two songs on a playlist

Mobis

Eclectic and and easy listen, lots of good hooks

Just kinda alright I wanted to love this album but it kinda went in one ear and out the other Some cool songs though

Lidt udmattende at komme igennem de fleste af sangene, da det er meget gentagende. "Porcelain" - kæmpe bangerz! Det klæder albummet at få en faktisk vokal på (der ikke bare er den samme sætning/ord, der gentages). God energi på "Machete"! "Everloving" - nærmest serenadisk instrumental!

Very Mid

this is so okay. this is the most neutral music of all time

Some excellent tunes others average. Mixed

Overall enjoyable listen, super unique sonically, reminds me a lot of The Avalanches on some songs. Definitely want to revisit and dive deeper into this album.

Vet ikke helt, forventet kanskje litt mer. Ikke noe som skilte seg veldig ut. Porcelain er en fin låt da. Svak 3.

姫神を聞いてるみたいだった

Less good than I remembered it being. A few highlight tracks but probably not an all-timer for me at this point.

The only songs I’d want to listen to again were the songs I already knew.

Moby Dick isch scho en wegwiisende künstler. Einigi Lieder grandios, im durchschnitt aber denn doch einigi tracks woni nöd wird vermisse ih mim lebe

Scho es krasses album. Aber bin leider oft nöd in stimmig für das, darum nur 3 puntitos

3.0 - Ok

At its best, very moody and textured. At its worst, completely inoffensive. Blues-inspired electronica that refuses to be ambient, though wouldn't be out of place in the background. Of anywhere. Especially car ads.

Probably would've ate this stuff up closer to when it came out but feels a bit dated to me now

edm scares me but this was surprisingly pleasant

love Everloving!! interesting variety of songs

It's fine. Memory Gospel, a B-side, clears everything that did make it on the album by a country mile, except for maybe My Weakness.

muy buena electronica

Favourite Songs: South Side Bodyrock

Not every song was great but there’s nothing wrong with a little bald boy techno. There is something wrong with the only version available being the 2 hour version with b-sides. Streaming has really killed albums.

I wanted to slag this off but then I realised I might need to give the Pet Shop Boys a decent review at some point so I relented.

A lot of this was kinda boring, but moby is weird and I dig weird. Also, porcelain is a banger.

*68 Velproduceret og vellydende dog til tider repetitivt, kedeligt, Zzzzz og lidt for letfordøjeligt. Højdepunkter: Bodyrock, Machete.

My biggest criticism of this album is that the a lot of the tracks are extremely repetitive as he uses a lot of loops in his music. Some of them are better than others, but it gets boring and repetitive. I have always liked the track South Side, though, and it still holds up for me today.

A fun ride surfing the tidal energy's ebb and flow from track to track

Одно из мест силы ранних миллениалов. Убрать несколько основных хитов и получится действенное снотворное.

Так и вижу, как треки из этого альбома записывают на диск под названием «Relax mix” в тачку. Возможно, сформировали вкус целого поколения, так как появлялись не только и не столько в музыкальных чартах, а на условных Зайцев.нет как «музыка из рекламы такой-то». Ну и даже Шамиль Малкандуев не прошел мимо и спер музыкальную линию

Ok, not good or bad. Fast moving music

Interesting discovery. It works well as background music or for sampling in other songs. On its own, though, I find it lacks a certain “something” to make it truly memorable.

Está bueno? Sí. Fue hit e importante para la época? Sí. Es muy largo y al final te termina embolando? También. 6/10

Pas mal de beat répétitifs simplistes, j’me suis senti dans un club des années 90. Ça s’écoute quand même bien en faisant la route, ça amène un beau vibe. J’ai pas écouté toutes les chansons au complet par contre, je me suis tannée. Mes prefs: natural blues, my weakness, porcelain

Mostly inoffensive. South Side save from being a 2

A lot of it just kinda sounds like impressions or almost soundscapes. Obviously the 10s tracks do, but even the longer ones. I don't feel like they really take me anywhere or change at all the way a normal song would. Generally boring and dated, but I do see the influence of it, and I guess it isn't bad. Obviously South Side is a banger.

Trip-hop/electronica for people who don't really listen to it. I enjoyed a lot of the songs, particularly in thefirst half of the album, but as it drags on you start to notice a lack of complexity with a lot of the songs - Moby will find one interesting riff of sample and then just play it out for the rest of the song, resulting in the album losing a lot of its dynamicism that songs like Honey and Porcelain gave. I'll still listen, but probably to individual tracks rather than a full project.

Not bad, really brought me in at the end

It's not bad, but it's just soulless and bland

Very nostalgic, chock full of hits. An enjoyable listen.

Album Review 081 Play by Moby (1999) Rating 2.5/5 Coffee table music. It is formulaic but the formula does work in it’s own sterile way: take a sample of an old vocal to give the feeling that the track will have some soul, lay it over some ProTools loops and repeat - eighteen times! - then licence the lot for use in adverts. Everyone had a copy of play when it came out but it’s an album that feels so artificial and doesn’t have any warmth or give anything that I feel the need to re-listen to.

Electronica isn't really my thing, but this was better than some other electronica stuff I've listened to.

it was good, i don't have anything else to say

Really enjoyed this Bowie album I’ve never heard! Time is great… an overall excellent vibe.

Some true classics of house on this album, mixed in with some really boring songs. Bit of a rollercoaster but it was mostly enjoyable.

i think i listened to half and while it was enjoyable i think i got the gist. it was fun.

Not bad just not my thing.

The album has a couple of well known bangers, but all in all it felt a bit subdued? Monotonous maybe. It didn’t live up to its reputation

Could have been a four but the first half was cool then it kind of went on for too long. 6/10

Really repetitive and kinda forgettable. Has a few good songs tho.

One of the better electronic/dance albums I've heard as of late but on the whole, still just a three for me.

kind of a classic for the era. Not my favorite but it's definitely something I don't mind having on in the background.

groovy

It was good. Not my taste but I did enjoy listening to it.

Very well produced but just not my jam

Blues meets electronic

I enjoyed it and know it is one of the best-selling electronic albums.

Loved this album before listening to it because of the hits. Went in with a mentality of 4/5 but felt the last half of the album really slowed down a bit. High 3!

This was better than I thought it would be. Perhaps just more tolerable? So while I still agree with Eminem, I see the draw of this album if you like the genre.

I guess ok. Some good ones then it somehow turned to one song. Like a DJ set. 3.3

Positives: What a unique album this was! Play contains an ambitious variety of real/electronic instruments that help to keep the genre-spanning list of songs interesting, despite the length of the album. There are a lot of enjoyable moments throughout, and overall this record was an impressive listening experience, with songs ranging from ambient electronic to dance to hip-hop beats. The percussion tracks are mixed very nicely, and lend themselves to nodding/dancing along. When listening with good headphones to appreciate the top-notch production quality and layered intricacies, it becomes clear that Moby wanted the audience to FEEL this album as more of an auditory experience, instead of simply being played through a cheap speaker. Negatives: I did feel that some samples were occasionally overused to the point of becoming either stale or annoying, and some tracks such as "The Sky is Broken" and "Whispering Wind" were cringeworthy for me to listen to. There were also a fair share of songs that were simply "mid" to me. Weird fact: This guy is clearly a talented musical mind, but apparently he also lied about dating Natalie Portman, even though there was a big age gap between them? He also lied about her age when they were supposedly dating. They had only ever hung out platonically, and she was 18, not 20 like he claimed, so that's weird. Overall: I definitely appreciate what this album had to offer, and it's inclusion in this list is certainly justified. However, I don't see myself ever listening to it again. 3.5/5

Definitely has some classics on here, but not an album I would revisit again in its entirety. Solid background music for sure. No disrespect. 3.5/5

I never really got in to Moby. I was more a Chemical Brothers / Leftfield fan, and while it's true they were all contemporaries of each other, Moby just didn't register on my radar at the time. So this album was something new for me. If I'm being entirely honest, it's not catching me all that much. It's very listenable, but more something I'd have on in the background while doing other stuff than something I'd stop and listen to. If you're out clubbing then it's definitely got the right feel for the late 90's club scene, but for me it's not all that special. Three and half stars is the best I can scrape up for this one.

Wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Pretty good, fairly listenable all the way through, just not my cup of tea tbh.

Reminds me of TV when my kids were babies. I am not crazy about it but if someone in the 23rd century wants to feel what it was like right before we started down the Trumphole after 9/11, this is a good place. The end of the 90's. Now I'm sad. And old.

There are tracks that aren’t super repetitive, and those are pretty good. The album itself is nicely varied, but a lot of it fades into the background.

I didn’t need this album in my life and I sure as hell didn’t need more than two hours of it

This was pleasant to listen to as I worked.

good, the original electro swing

Pretty groovy. Maybe a bit too much

3.5

I enjoyed it.

it’s okay

The Apple Music link took me to a version that was over two hours long (!) but I was relieved to see that it included B-sides. I'll decide when the album is over if I need to listen to those. I am very casually familiar with Moby and his music and it was never something I felt the need to investigate further. The late '90s/early 2000s were a time I felt pretty disconnected from popular music, and the ubiquitous electronic/DJ stuff was a big reason why. I have since come to appreciate some of it but it's still not something I would say I like. I was surprised it took five songs in before I recognized anything ("South Side.") I see on Wikipedia that Moby thanked Lomax and the other archivists in the liner notes, but hearing all these field recordings sampled makes me wonder if any compensation was paid to the families of the actual musicians. Holy shit, "My Weakness" was in one of my favorite episodes/scenes from The X-Files! I love that song! Bumped up one star because of that. The rest of this didn't do much for me. (I did not listen to the B-sides.)

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. Apple Music only has the "complete recordings", but I stopped at the end of the original release since that's what I was bopping to in 1999.

Some cool ambiance music intertwined with songs with lyrics. Liked the vibes. Saved a few to listen in my liked song rotation

No. 355/1001 Honey 3/5 Find My Baby 3/5 Porcelain 4/5 Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? 4/5 South Side 3/5 Rushing 3/5 Bodyrock 3/5 Natural Blues 3/5 Machete 2/5 7 NR Run On 3/5 Down Slow 3/5 If Things Were Perfect 3/5 Everloving 3/5 Inside 3/5 Guitar Flute & String 3/5 The Sky Is Broken 3/5 My Weakness 3/5 Average: 3,06 Some really influential tracks. Overall for me a bit too long.

I like it but I listened to the originals and liked that better

As many others have noted, for a 2-3 year period it seemed this album was everywhere. Because every single song was licensed for something. The songs are good, but it’s hard to hear it now as a cohesive album. Always liked that song from the beach though.

another 90s favorite of mine. while _animal rights_ is the moby album that i prefer, there is some marvelous music on here. the re-release including the b-sides is also a good listen

Im not into it. I know people like it, but nah.

To bo super poleti ko bom dobre volje tiste dni ko ne bo ogabno vroce in bom sama nekam hodila. Sam mal je prevec tko plasticen.

pretty good record, find myself nodding along with some of the tracks while having it on in the background. i like. everloving is really nice

honey: if you made GORILLAZ into a background song for a movie, very repetitive with nothing to say, not a fan Find my baby: another background music, repetitive but feels more like rock which I like more. Okay Porcelain: Took inspiration from the main theme of Matrix (piano), I interpret the lyrics to sing about a man who lost their lover due to their drug abuse (kaleiodoscopic mind, this is goodbye) while also going through the 5 stages of grief, sets a trap by starting with a hiphop beat then proceeds to turn into a sad ballad, beautiful piece love it Why does my heart feel so bad: early 2000s instrumental with a piano lead, nothing interesting about this one, kinda good but wouldn't listen to it on my own. South side: just... meh, nothing to say, nothing special. kinda "enjoying my time with my friends" song but with a sad undertone for some reason. Rushing: in spite of its name it is a very calm and relaxing song. pretty good. Bodyrock: instrumental rock, kind of weird, could work in a transition scene for an action movie, but not a great song. Natural Blues: instrumental song, calm relaxing like rushing. pretty good Machete: Imitates Prodigy, I liked it a lot 7: feels like a scrapped version of one of the songs, just put in there cause why not. Not a fan Run on: sounds like swing, draws inspiration from hit the road jack from what I heard, can't say much about it, it's okay. Down slow: weird instrumental someone made in a day. basic not a fan, If things were perfect: instrumental rock with some hiphop in the background singing about it's winter and how he doesn't like it. Meh Everloving: very simple guitar chords with a piano in the background. No lyrics at all which makes it fit for any scenario, it sounds happy, yearning, lost and sad at the same time. It is as close to a PC song as it can, but still really good. I like it Inside: (me and your mom), instrumental synth, not much else to say. Guitar flute & string: calm, exactly what's the name of the song. good The sky is broken: boring and depressing, exactly what exhaustion feels like. it portrays the emotion well but the song itself is boring and shallow. My weakness: The last song of the album (even though this album has an extended version with twice the number of songs) this song feels like the final surrender of a suicidal person. That last bit of remembering everything good before letting go. The music completely stops at the end and only the fading lyrics can be heard as the person "goes home". Really good Overall the album is not a conventional music album, it's art but some songs miss the mark they tried to hit with them. The songs try to invoke a specific feeling but usually miss except the ones that hit, but those hit hard. Each song was a different genre aswell, which was interesting, it might have had a message that I missed because I don't understand the context of the album.

I like the melodies in this. It's generally the sort of the music that my brain likes and it makes me feel nostaligic/relaxed. It feels quite glossy and superficial though when comparing it to the other albums Ive listened to so far. Almost like Moby is dipping in and out of various musical genres a lil bit and putting an electronic slant on them

Îi ok nu-i așa wow, mi-o plăcut mult doar o piesă, îi dau un 5

Enjoyed - particularly the hits - got a little bored towards the end

Correcto

Look I get it it’s Moby, but there’s some decent music on this album. I’d put this on the south side of a four. See what I did there? Yeah so I’m rounding down to 3

nem a mi zenei izlesunk, nincs semmi dalszoveg, naon repetitiv, inkabb vibe-ok, munkahoz jo lehet, de magamtol nem hallgatnam

- This guys gives sexual predator vibes... I heard a story from a DJ I follow on Twitch that he once invited her to a party, and ends up it was just him, so he basically tried to turn it into a non-consensual date. This tracks with him saying he dated Natalie Portman, and she said "I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school”. So, add yet another entitled, sexist douchebag to this list. Plus this: "In the interview, Moby recalled a conversation with his friends at the party in which they informed him of a game called “knob touch”. “You take your flaccid penis out of your pants, and you brush up against people,” Moby explained to Baldwin. “You win by the amount of people you brush up against.” So, yet another artist on this list I will be boycotting. - Now that that's out of the way, I remember listening to this album a lot back in the day, but I don't remember any of the second half of the album, so I probably skipped that. The songs are well edited, but the album goes on too long. The rest of the songs after Natural Blues feel like filler, so I think the album would be better if they were cut, maybe just keeping Everloving and an edited version of Run On (which, wait for it... runs on too long). - On the first half of the album there is a lot of compelling musicality. The music builds nicely -- the instrumentation is used well/wisely, and there's a nice atmospheric feel while also being really catchy. - So yeah, I haven't listened to this album in ages -- it felt really fresh back in the day, but it didn't really stand the test of time for me. On the songs that I enjoy, you get the main idea of the song in the first 10 seconds, so it doesn't really maintain that level of interest forever. Also, other than the piano solo, Bodyrock didn't really age well.

Good, but I expected it to be better? I had some higher expectations and the album wandered a bit more from the hits that I remember. Might listen again.

I went to a party with my junior year room mate. We got really drunk and wandered back to the apartment. He said, "I need a album that keeps me going for about 25 minutes then will put me to sleep."

Not a personal favourite

I wasn't excited heading into this but it was alot better than I remember honestly a 3 1/2

C’est sympa mais pas mon style, mais honorable mention a south side

Finger man I remember th somg

Had some decent vibes to it, overall I'd say it's okay

Ganz vergessen wie wenig Techno und wieviel Trip Hop dieses Album ist. Kann man gut wieder hin zurückkommen.

Ein paar Banger, ein paar Misses

repetitive but fun

Try as I might, I still have affection for this and especially Everything Is Wrong. Moby really was the try hard vegan (and also Christian?) underdog when this came out; not exactly a failure when he zigged and zagged after Everything, but trending towards being known mostly for soundtracks and remixes. Which is what Play largely is. I was a huge fan of sample-based music, anything that sounded technologically forward-thinking, all kinds of dance music, and also had a blind spot for early, foundational music. In that respect, Play follows my formula for hits: pairing two different styles of music and seeing what happens. Moby’s contributions to this formula were fairly basic - his palette was pretty set by 1995. And yet, there was and is something charming and open-hearted about the conversation between a generic, not remotely cutting edge sound and largely unheard field recordings. He may not have intended it as such - plenty of sample-based artists of all backgrounds and ethnicities had been executing some version of this for two decades by this point, adding their particular spin or contextualization. But even on the instrumentals, mostly throwaway downtempo deep cuts, there’s a throughline that, like it or not, is still essentially Moby. All that said, My Weakness is still an incredibly moving bit of not quite film soundtrack fare (of course it became part of many soundtracks, tv and film). There are also “solo cuts” like South Side and some people really loved that song around Y2K and I just find his singing and sprechgesang voice incredibly dull. A few years before Play came out I remember getting Animal Rights along with a few other CDs in San Antonio and as a testament to how big a Moby fan I was at the time I played it before the likes of Icky Mettle, Vee Vee, and the s/t blur. Hoo boy was that tough.

Some nice grooves but kind of repetitive after a while.

Never actively listened to moby. Surprised how many tracks I knew, particularly the first few, which were good. A fair few duds too and felt more of a vibe than an album I'd go back to. Fine overall.

I like this album fine, I’m not sure why it got the accolades that it did, but it’s a pleasant listen. The combination of blues/roots samples and electronic music is interesting and works pretty well on some of the tracks, but was a little boring after a while.

Honestly really cool music but it was a little too long for the mood I was in

Decent 3,5

3/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/moby/play/ Some bangers, mostly boring. Product of its time I guess.

this album is meh it's definitely not bad or anything just painfully repetitive. Southside is really really good but other than that it's pretty ok. 6/10

It's a decent album. But it lacks passion, soul and emotion. All the reasons I listen to music.

I get the beef with this album, many songs were overplayed in commercials/movies/TV/radio, the whole cultural appropriation thing due to Moby’s samples, and some of the repetitive loops in the songs. Still makes for decent and refreshing listening now and then, especially as background music, and is a good time capsule for its era.

This album was ubiquitous during my teens. It didn’t do much for me, though it’s fine, and this listen didn’t change my mind.

nice, bit repetitive

It's fine. Some good high school memories on this one.

This one's fine, though I'd argue that without the later release of South Side with the Gwen Stefani collab most people would have gone about their lives never hearing of Moby.

If Moby stopped making records after this, he'd have a 3/5 (a step up tbh)

Plenty of excellent tracks but also plenty of nonsense fillers.

I want to say that this is a good album, but I don't really like it. He's done his back and forth with electronic and rock/punk, sounds like this is a bit there nor here. I do recognize the tracks that were overplayed everywhere.

banger of an album with how much i've listened to so far. also stranger things.

good background music

From what I understand this was once a pretty cutting edge contribution to the electronic music genre, today it feels a little bit boring and mundane. I don't think it has aged badly or feels dated like a lot of other electronic music, it just doesn't necessarily sound that special or unique... This might be more of a reflection of Moby being well ahead of the trends, I think a lot of popular music of the last 25 years has borrowed from this sound and Moby probably deserves credit. To me this is a solid album done in a style that doesn't excite me too much.

Had I been asked if I’d ever heard anything by Moby before, I’d probably would have said, “maybe, but I couldn’t be sure”, but it turns out I actually knew several tracks on this album. Also surprising that I might actually like this? As far as electronica goes, this was pretty enjoyable as it was a lot more than just repetitive dance beats.

The currently highest rated review of this album reads: “(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 know that the author is doing the whole sarcastic 90’s thing, but I unironically agree. The blues kind of sucks, but it obviously has some cool parts in it and Moby takes those cool parts and turns them into super cool techno pop songs. Plus he can jump really high. Good job Moby!

Ok, some great samples. But always found their treatment here very uninspiring, plodding, a little didactic.

Ultimately the high watermark of Moby’s career is extremely okay. Catchy, influential on about 20 years of appropriation based ad music, but just…fine.

3 out of 5. It's been years since I last listened to this album and it's aged decently.

First listen and I’m already vibing super hard.

sometimes a four, sometimes a two

oscillates violently between a 4 and 2. too much fluff ultimately and songs like MACHETE sound really out of place on this...but ultimately its filled with creative sampling 3

Didn't mind listening to this at all. Good magazine reading music. Part of me couldn't help wondering if I would rather be listening to the samples used in the album instead. Apparently when I was wee I used to always cry to Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? I don't remember this at all. I also don't feel that now Really trying to rate less albums 3/5, but there's nothing else I can give this Songs added to playlist: - Honey - Porcelain - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?