I'm a musician. I study at the Royal Academy of Music doing the Media and Applied Music Course. You ...
I'm a musician. I study at the Royal Academy of Music doing the Media and Applied Music Course. You can see some of my music at http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/c gi-bin/user_page.pl?url=garet hcoker
Member since:05.11.2003
Reviews:18
Members who trust:1
I was SO disappointed with Moby's 2002 record - '18'. There was only one song on it that I liked which was 'Extreme Ways' (the closing song for The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy).
I bought this album whilst I was in Japan with a mixture of anticipation and dread. What had Moby done this time? Gotten worse or better? The answer is better. And what's more - his music has taken a slightly different direction.
The stand out track (and current single) on this album is 'Lift Me Up'. The first thing you notice about this track (and this album) is an increased use of guitars from previous albums. This is refershing - as it gives Moby a very wide pallette of sounds to play with, and these guitars combined with his wide, lush synth pads make a very warm sound. The chorus of this song is fantastic, a real drivetime song. This is probably one of my favourite Moby songs ever - way ahead of anything on 'Play' - merely because this is such an upbeat song.
Track 5 - Where You End - is essentially an extension of Lift Me Up. It's in the same key, and it has the same chord sequence, but is essentially a toned down, but more lyrical version of Lift Me Up.
The other stand out track is 'Raining Again' - which will probably be the 2nd single. It's a very upbeat song, and works as a radio song, and is another high quality blend of Moby's vocals, and Moby's playing.
Overall the soundworld that Moby creates in this album is a mixture between his classic uplifting 'Play' sound, and with the addition of guitars, adds a slight grunginess to the record. Moby says himself on his album notes that he just wanted to make a record that sounded messy, and whilst this album isn't messy in a bad sense, it is certainly a mesh of styles that works well.
Lyrically it is way beyond anything he has done before. They lyrics actually mean something, and it's not just sampled words that are repeated over and over again. I'm not a lyrical expert, but this was the first time that I payed attention to the lyrics in a Moby album, which is credit to Moby.
There's not a lot to criticise about this album. It's a worthy addition to anyone's CD collection. I think the only problem with the album is that there is only one or two stand out tracks. The later part of the album becomes a little weak, and that's what makes this album sit lower than Play.
Moby should be congratulated on playing virtually all the instruments himself. As a musician, and a recording artist myself, I know that it's tough and time consuming to get even just one track together, so to get 30 tracks (the limited edition CD has a 2nd Ambient CD) - is very impressive.
A job well done Moby - keep it up!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Apr 7th, 2005
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