Play

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Editorial reviews

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

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Customer reviews

review by: Al-Uk :-) date: 2008-05-12 rating:
Still holds up after all these years.
Some of Mobys' earlier work dates quite badly. This is not the case with Play it sounds just as fresh as it did all those years ago. This recording is like nothing you've heard before with chilling vocals and superb synths. When this came out it was like someone lit a fuse it seemed new people were "getting it" every week and it was THE album of the summer. You can listen to it now and it's just as moving as it always was. This will not date...

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review by: jason date: 2007-02-20 rating:
Refreshing new sound got "PLAY"'ed to death.
When this first came out I loved it. I always thought of moby as more ambient stuff. This was new though. Mixed with old Black American samples for 100 years ago. The sound was amazing, like nothing i'd heard before.
After the success I thought there might be something to follow-up. I can remember wanting more but nothing. Not a whisper from Moby.
The problem was every track got "Play"'ed to death!
People where getting into it 6 months after I was bored of it. Which just made me sick of every track in the end. Thats just personal experience though. When i hear the tracks now i know why i got into it. Its groundbreaking stuff. Very cool and different.

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review by: bigdave2020 date: 2006-10-18 rating:
I am still moved and inspired by this album...
Every artist or band has a moment in time where they reach the pinnacle of their talent and produce their finest never to be bettered album. `Play' was that moment for Moby.

Re-assessing the album several years on away from the hype and backlash that surrounded it's commercial use and appeal, in my view this album sounds even better and perhaps more relevant than it did in 1999. Whilst one must never confuse quality with popularity in this case the popularity (10 million copies sold to date) is justified.

If you choose to buy this be prepared to be inspired and moved by inviting sound scapes, innovative blues sampling, and a feeling of being let into the private world of Moby when he reportedly recorded `Play' in his apartment.

Highlights for me would be Honey, Find my baby, Porcelain, Why does my heart..., Bodyrock, Natural Blues and Everloving but the others are also too good to be dismissed.

Released against a backdrop of late 20th century cheesy techno trance chart `dance' music, this mature body of work stood head and shoulders above most of its genre at the time, and it still does. The album manages to strike a successful balance between being intimate and delicate towards the end of the album, and soaring and celebrationary towards the beginning. The production has not dated and the sampling and song writing is inspiring and emotional.

Now the hype has died down and the backlash has been all but forgotten, `Play' by Moby has stood the test of time to sound even better several years on from it's initial release, and is probably one of the most significant and recommended albums of the last 10 years.

Enjoy.

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review by: date: 2005-11-10 rating:
A very impressive LP
Moby is talent personified.
The idea is incredible, taking blues recordings and surrounding them in electronic scenery.
It's incredible how they get into your head. They cant get out of there.
I can't stop thinking about them.
I'm not a big fan of electronic music, but this does it for me. (Except the rap)


review by: date: 2005-06-07 rating:
Absolutely amazing....
This album is truly one of the finest albums ever created. It has everything from upbeat rhythmic tunes like 'Southside' and 'Honey', to blissful, mellow and above all completely astonishingly fine chillout songs such as the awesome 'Porcelain', 'My weakness', 'Ever loving' and 'Rushing'.
So what if Moby is a bit wierd with his vegan food and his New York tea shop, this album is in a class of its own.

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