Well, I've put up with Moby's antics over the past 3 years. Sure, he was made fun of for being the odd little bald man he is, but he made great music. And that will always be an understatement.
I've been a long time Moby fan since Play arrived in 1999. It was odd how it all came about, since I felt experienced in my ways of the electronic sort, then all of the sudden this mellow keyboard and string music arrived with subtle, non-threatening beats found where the purely melodic sort were not. His albums were a mix of underground electronica, but merged with the ambient side so seamlessly, something, which had not been as successfully done prior to him arriving on the scene, and was something I had always found myself drawn to.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I was a huge Moby fan at this point in my life (2001). He could do no wrong in my eyes. I found myself supporting his music in lieu of the controversy he began to start in 2003 when his popularity reached its peak after his release of 18. It only seemed odd to others that I was still listening to his music still, even after the ripples of Play were still inspiring artists years after its release; there was something I didn't know. Besides listening to Play and 18, I went back through all of his albums, found myself purchasing albums I never should have bought in the first place, then realizing all of the music I really enjoyed off of each one were the purely melodic ones, mainly found on Moby Songs 1993-1998.
Albums such as Ambient was always too much 'ambience' for anyone to take in one sitting, without the chance it be remixed to add some razzle-dazzle to it. Animal Rights was too hard, and most songs veered out of control. I always believed this album was all more stress relief than anything for Moby. I Like To Score didn't have too many pulling attributes, but would rank as my 6th favorite Moby album to date (album rankings below). This albums main draw was the "James Bond Theme (from Tomorrow Never Dies)", although "Go" and "Grace" were the real winners here.
I also managed to scrounge up a few B-sides, one for Play - B Sides, which is one of my favorite albums of his and 18 B-Sides, which was also well pieced together. Finally Hotel arrived and my years of listening to Moby had surely passed at this point, especially when I heard the supposed single "Beautiful", which was the go-getter here. But again, I was drawn back to the simple songs, the ones where I didn't actually have to listen to Moby sing. My favorites here were the tranquil "Blue Paper" and one of his best ambient songs to date, "Homeward Angel". I can't say enough how much these two songs redeemed this album. As it was, there were two CDs, and yet I found it odd that as much as I had realized how much I had listened to Moby at this point, the only times I enjoyed him was when I wasn't listening to him.
As news stories poured in over the years, I had realized that indeed, Moby is an anti-everything-that-is-bad activist. He owns a tea shop somewhere in NYC and began focusing his advertising power on the people he had taken under his wing by means of his music. It was then, I began to witness people accept what he was saying and actually go along with it. Sure, its good to save the planet, do your part, and try to leave as little a footprint on this world as possible, but I never had any idea he was an extremist... until now.
I really don't know how I could have deceived myself all of this time, afterall, I did own Animal Rights, if that isn't obvious enough. When I caught news of Moby releasing a new single, "Disco Lies", I was somewhat elated, but couldn't even muster up the time to see what it was all about. The reason for this is most of Moby's music is now dead to me, regardless of if its his best work or not. It's now apparent to me that the songs in which Moby is actually singing, he's forcing words into an ambient-made album, which could have done well without any vocal protruding in the first place. The albums he had done his best in were the ones, which his opinions were kept to himself and the voice was that of either some old school gospel sample or that of Mimi Goese.
The below video of "Disco Lies" is appalling to me, and further assures me that I will most likely never listen to anything new of Moby's again. To me, this is another song like that of "We Are All Made Of Stars", in which Moby is just trying to gain more attention to his 'simpleton' lifestyle, one which he believes should be the same for the rest of us. As for me, I would never push my eating beliefs on anyone and have the utmost respect for those who decide to eat meat or not.
On a side note, Moby will be the first pop star to fly on the world's first tourist flight into space on the Virgin Galactic. That's not too subtle now, is it?
Here are my top 10 Moby songs of all time:
1) My Weakness (buy)
2) Everloving (buy)
3) Flower (buy)
4) Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? (buy)
5) Porcelain (buy)
6) String Electro (buy)
7) Run On (buy)
8) God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters (buy)
9) I'm Not Worried at All (feat. The Shining Light Gospel Choir) (buy)
10) Homeward Angel (from Disc 2 on Hotel) (buy)
I've been a long time Moby fan since Play arrived in 1999. It was odd how it all came about, since I felt experienced in my ways of the electronic sort, then all of the sudden this mellow keyboard and string music arrived with subtle, non-threatening beats found where the purely melodic sort were not. His albums were a mix of underground electronica, but merged with the ambient side so seamlessly, something, which had not been as successfully done prior to him arriving on the scene, and was something I had always found myself drawn to.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I was a huge Moby fan at this point in my life (2001). He could do no wrong in my eyes. I found myself supporting his music in lieu of the controversy he began to start in 2003 when his popularity reached its peak after his release of 18. It only seemed odd to others that I was still listening to his music still, even after the ripples of Play were still inspiring artists years after its release; there was something I didn't know. Besides listening to Play and 18, I went back through all of his albums, found myself purchasing albums I never should have bought in the first place, then realizing all of the music I really enjoyed off of each one were the purely melodic ones, mainly found on Moby Songs 1993-1998.
Albums such as Ambient was always too much 'ambience' for anyone to take in one sitting, without the chance it be remixed to add some razzle-dazzle to it. Animal Rights was too hard, and most songs veered out of control. I always believed this album was all more stress relief than anything for Moby. I Like To Score didn't have too many pulling attributes, but would rank as my 6th favorite Moby album to date (album rankings below). This albums main draw was the "James Bond Theme (from Tomorrow Never Dies)", although "Go" and "Grace" were the real winners here.I also managed to scrounge up a few B-sides, one for Play - B Sides, which is one of my favorite albums of his and 18 B-Sides, which was also well pieced together. Finally Hotel arrived and my years of listening to Moby had surely passed at this point, especially when I heard the supposed single "Beautiful", which was the go-getter here. But again, I was drawn back to the simple songs, the ones where I didn't actually have to listen to Moby sing. My favorites here were the tranquil "Blue Paper" and one of his best ambient songs to date, "Homeward Angel". I can't say enough how much these two songs redeemed this album. As it was, there were two CDs, and yet I found it odd that as much as I had realized how much I had listened to Moby at this point, the only times I enjoyed him was when I wasn't listening to him.
As news stories poured in over the years, I had realized that indeed, Moby is an anti-everything-that-is-bad activist. He owns a tea shop somewhere in NYC and began focusing his advertising power on the people he had taken under his wing by means of his music. It was then, I began to witness people accept what he was saying and actually go along with it. Sure, its good to save the planet, do your part, and try to leave as little a footprint on this world as possible, but I never had any idea he was an extremist... until now.
I really don't know how I could have deceived myself all of this time, afterall, I did own Animal Rights, if that isn't obvious enough. When I caught news of Moby releasing a new single, "Disco Lies", I was somewhat elated, but couldn't even muster up the time to see what it was all about. The reason for this is most of Moby's music is now dead to me, regardless of if its his best work or not. It's now apparent to me that the songs in which Moby is actually singing, he's forcing words into an ambient-made album, which could have done well without any vocal protruding in the first place. The albums he had done his best in were the ones, which his opinions were kept to himself and the voice was that of either some old school gospel sample or that of Mimi Goese.The below video of "Disco Lies" is appalling to me, and further assures me that I will most likely never listen to anything new of Moby's again. To me, this is another song like that of "We Are All Made Of Stars", in which Moby is just trying to gain more attention to his 'simpleton' lifestyle, one which he believes should be the same for the rest of us. As for me, I would never push my eating beliefs on anyone and have the utmost respect for those who decide to eat meat or not.On a side note, Moby will be the first pop star to fly on the world's first tourist flight into space on the Virgin Galactic. That's not too subtle now, is it?
Here are my top 10 Moby songs of all time:
1) My Weakness (buy)
2) Everloving (buy)
3) Flower (buy)
4) Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? (buy)
5) Porcelain (buy)
6) String Electro (buy)
7) Run On (buy)
8) God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters (buy)
9) I'm Not Worried at All (feat. The Shining Light Gospel Choir) (buy)
10) Homeward Angel (from Disc 2 on Hotel) (buy)
Video: Moby - "Disco Lies"
1 Comment:
-
May 26, 2008 at 2:34 AM
"Face It" off Animal Rights is my favorite song he ever did. A 10 minute epic. Everyone should listen to that, not the mainstream trash such as Porcelain I got into him because of (though thats still great...)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
