I've never been, what I would consider, a huge Moby fan. I've only recently become associated with him from his work on the "Saint" and "The Beach" soundtracks. Boy oh boy, do I wish I had discovered this talented individual sooner! My friend bought this CD and let me borrow it. Although I don't like the first two tracks, I immediately was hooked in by "Porcelain," which is also featured on the "Beach" soundtrack and in a recent Neiman Marcus commerical. I used to think that Orbital was the best techno artist around, but after this CD, Moby takes the cake! I've never known any techno artist to put so much feeling into a song, without saying anything. This album gets you grooving and relaxing all at the same time. Some tracks to defintely listen to: "Porcelain," "Rushing," "Bodyrock," "Machete," "Inside" and the last track, "My Weakness." "My Weakness," "Porcelain" and "Inside" have a spirituality that is rarely seen in techno music. So haunting and beautiful all at the same time. If you saw the episode of the X-Files where Mulder finally finds out about his sister, you heard "My Weakness" in the final scene with the ghost children. When I heard it there, i immediately wanted to know who did it. This is without a doubt the most moving techno song I've ever heard. It just hits you right in the gut. This CD is a MUST have for all Techno fans. Look out wallet! I'm buying more of his work! Look out Moby, you've got a new fan who looks forward to more years of this awesome music!

Moby has a long history of being one of the more popular DJ acts on the club scene. His ability to mix all manner of sounds to create some of the most diverse electronica music earned him an ardent, albeit small, cult following. The electronica/techno genre doesn't generally lend itself to widespread, mainstream acceptance. In an attempt to attract a much larger audience, Moby executed a unique strategy for promoting his multi-platinum breakout album "Play". As most of the tracks on "Play" aren't necessarily what the typical radio program director would consider to be 'radio-friendly', Moby got a large number of "Play"'s tracks to be attached to television commercials. TV commercials are a medium that does not need to conform to any specific musical format. As a result, these songs were made accessible to the general public, which developed a fervent interest in the songs and the artist. This ingenious marketing campaign led to "Play" selling a ridiculously high number of albums. One of the most notable commercials was for Tiger Woods and Nike Golf where Tiger is playing golf all across downtown Manhattan to tune "Find My Baby", track #2 on "Play".

Inventive marketing aside, "Play" still would not have found such a mass popularity if it weren't for the fact that is was a fabulous album. "Find My Baby" is actually one of the lesser tracks on the album, in my estimation. Moby mixes every kind of beat and mood in his song. He creates the slow and haunting meditative sounds of "Porcelain" while creating a body-moving, beat-thumping, dance club favorite in "Bodyrock" (I might add that this is a very good tune to listen to when working out). He mixes a cross of blues and techno with "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" and plays soaring, heavenly sounds on "Natural Blues", arguably the two best tracks on "Play", respectively. Moby even manages to produce a 'radio-friendly' song that achieved mass appeal with "South Side". Initially just Moby with a non-descript female backup singer, "South Side" morphed into something much more when he remade it with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani as a powerful, opposing female voice on this song. The genius of this album cannot be understated. "Play" provides hours of satisfying repeated listenings. Moby has definitely 'arrived' with this album.

Moby falls into a genre called "techno" that has just been broadened with the release of his latest album "Play." More often than not, people will think of techno as just that repetitive, beat-heavy music playing at dance clubs and raves. In fact, techno is just sampling and synthesizing. Moby selects a unique genre from which to sample on this album.

Play is about soul and feeling, not something his previous albums were known for (although there were certainly exceptions). Much of it comes from old Gospel songs, as heard in "Natural Blues," and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" These two songs, like much of the album, combine a clean, synthetic melody with rusty, bluesy samples. The result is a sound unlike any you'll ever hear, and it's wonderful thing.

Bluesy, sure. But diverse? Definitely. The laid back, smooth "Porcelain" has a little bit (but don't worry -- not too much) of Pop influence. "Bodyrock" has some older rap influence. The haunting, rather sad "My Weakness" is a spine-tingling finish to a masterpiece of techno.

This is a great album to listen to sporadically. Listening to it all the way through in one sitting might result in a wild array of mood swings. However, each mood would be explored entirely in each of these songs.

I bought this CD becasue of a few songs I had heard and liked and then found out they were all by the same guy: Moby. His style fluctuates amazingly between tracks unlike any other artist I've ever listened to. There's only about 3 tracks that I ever skip. And considering there's 18 tracks, that's pretty darn good. I must say though, a lot of the songs are very repetitive so you might like it less depending on how much you value the sound of music compared to lyrical content. But even for those of you who appreciate strong lyrics, there's plenty on here to satisfy. After you buy this and listen to it, you won't classify Moby as techno/dance anymore. If you're like me and like a lot of different stuff, get this album now.

---TRACKS---

1)Honey- Upbeat, energetic, fun nonsense song. Great opener.

2)Find my Baby- This song just sounds cool. The lyrics aren't anything to speak of but I like the little "woo!" with the great instrumental accompaniment.

3)This Is Goodbye- This song has been used in a lot of movies and TV shows. I actually didn't even know it was by Moby until I bought the album. One of the slower, more meaningful, powerful songs.

4)Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?- Another song with lots of piano. Great mixing of sounds. Kind of like a slow version of "Find my Baby"- repetitive lyrics with a great sound.

5)South Side- Truly a hidden gem. I've never heard this one on the radio but it should be. Great audio effects AND lyrical substance. One of the few spots on the album where Moby manages to achieve this. My personal favorite.

6)Rushing- Slow, boring and pointless. With 18 tracks, you gotta have a few duds here and there. This is one of them.

7)Bodyrock- Probably his most well-known song. It's just great. Lots of energy. This song is probably the main reason people classify Moby as techno/dance. It gets me pumped up every time I hear it.

8)Natural Blues- This one got some radio play too. Has a deep, heavy sound to it and some very cool percussion undertones.

9)Machete- The most techno-sounding track. Crisp, smooth, electronic lyrics with an incredible rhythm. Another one of my favorites.

10)7- Another pointless track. At least this one is only a minute long.

11)Run On- Wow! Not what I expected when I bought this album but nonetheless excellent. Fun lyrics that you'll find yourself singing along to with some neat sound effects thrown in.

12)See #10

13)If Things Were Perfect- If you took 5 or 6 audio effects and threw them in a blender, this is what you would get. Dark, cold lyrics in front of a unique mixture of sounds.

14)Everloving- Just some humming in front of an acoustic guitar with some piano thrown in. Nothing special but it's tolerable. Kind of soothing and relaxing, actually.

15)Inside- Heavenly sounds with a techno beat. It works.

16)Guitar, Flute & String- As the title implies, it has some guitar, it has some flute and it has some string. It sounds more like something that should be on a movie soundtrack.

17)The Sky Is Broken- This song actually has more of a rap or hip-hop beat to it. More cold, dark lyrics from Moby along with more piano. Pretty good. If you bought this album for his more popular stuff though, you're not going to like this one at all.

18)My Weakness- Once again, a very heavenly, uplifting sound. I like this track a lot.

Like I usually do, I listened intently to each cut after I bought this album (by an artist I'd never heard of but saw highly recommended by many of you amazon.com reviewers). My reaction was mixed as I wondered whether the sampling of old blues masters was a rip-off...or a gift from the past to younger ears that may have never heard the originals. I remained undecided and really not too enthusiastic since what I was looking for was a smoother techno ride ala Underworld. This album went through too many changes. I decided I respected MOBY for his ambitious eclecticism, but passed the CD onto my 19 year old daughter. A month later, bored by most of my other techno CDs, I took MOBY to work and set the player to repeat the album ALL day long at a relatively low volume. Now I wasn't "listening" as much as just hearing. The repetitiveness of the first two cuts which bothered me at first, turned into satisfying mantra music. To make a long story a little shorter, I kept the CD in my at-work player for days, then weeks. No question about it, although it took me awhile, PLAY is super! It deserves all the kudos so many have given it. My way may not be your way, but sometimes backing off from "hard" listening can make all the difference.