Play (Moby album)

The second half of the 1990s saw Moby in career turmoil after years of success in the techno scene. The release in 1996 of Animal Rights, a dark, eclectic, guitar-fueled record built around the punk and metal records that he loved as a teenager, proved a critical and commercial disaster that left him contemplating quitting music altogether. He explained: "I was opening for Soundgarden and getting shit thrown at me every night onstage. I did my own tour and was playing to roughly fifty people a night." However, positive reactions to Animal Rights from fellow artists such as Terence Trent D'Arby, Axl Rose, and Bono inspired Moby to continue producing music. Moby started work on Play in August 1997 and put it on hold several times to complete touring obligations. At the time, he planned on making the album his last before ending his career. Recording sessions took place at Moby's Mott Street home studio in Manhattan, New York. Play was delayed due to Moby's dissatisfaction with the initial mix of the album that he had produced at home. A second mixing was completed at an outside studio before attempts at two other studios displayed similar results. After returning home and producing a mix by himself, Moby felt happy with it. Ultimately, he said that he "wasted a lot of time and money" on the previous unsatisfactory mixing sessions. When Moby finished recording Play, there was no sign that the album would perform any differently than Animal Rights. While he remained signed to the label Mute, which issued his records in the United Kingdom, Elektra had dropped him from its roster of artists following the release of Animal Rights, leaving him without an outlet to release Play in the United States. According to Moby, he shopped the record to every major label, from Warner Bros. to Sony to RCA, and was rejected every time. After V2 finally picked it up, his publicist sent the record to journalists, many of whom declined to listen to it. ==Music==

According to Spin magazine's Will Hermes, Play was "the high-water mark for populist electronica" and a "millennial roots and blues masterwork", while John Bush from AllMusic said it balanced Moby's early electronica sound with the emergent breakbeat style of techno. Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis noted its incorporation of such disparate musical influences as early blues, African-American folk music, gospel, hip hop, disco, and techno, "all within the context of his own distinctly melodic ambient stylings." Complex described Play as "an organic downtempo masterpiece" that fused live studio recordings and "found sounds". Play was particularly notable for its use of samples from field recordings collected by Alan Lomax and compiled on the 1993 box set Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey from the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta. Moby was introduced to the box set through a friend, Gregor Ehrlich, who loaned the CDs to him. Apart from the Lomax material, Moby also used samples of old gospel recordings on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" and "Run On". In the liner notes for Play, Moby gave "special thanks to the Lomaxes and all of the archivists and music historians whose field recordings made this record possible." Elsewhere, Play is informed by more contemporary music styles. "Bodyrock", which Moby called "essentially a hip-hop song", features samples of rappers Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three. "Machete" was inspired by EBM acts such as Front 242 and Meat Beat Manifesto. "Porcelain" and "South Side" are both anchored by Moby's own lead vocals, and are among several songs on the album that spotlight his trademark "evocative, melancholy" techno sound, according to Bush. The remaining tracks are primarily instrumental in nature, and Moby cited these as his favorites from Play. The latter half of the album is mostly composed of these instrumentals, which are more downcast in mood and less driven by samples. Moby noted that he intentionally sequenced the album such that "it starts off energetic and then by the end dissolves into an opiated haze." ==Release and promotion==

Play was released on May 17, 1999, by Mute, and on June 1, 1999, by V2. On its release, it underperformed commercially. The record debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, but thereafter descended the chart. Moby recounted that the first show he played in support of Play, at the basement of the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, was attended by only around 40 people. Moby and his management, however, soon found another approach to increasing public exposure of Play, by way of licensing its songs for use in films, television shows, and commercials. "Most of the licenses weren't particularly lucrative," he noted, "but they enabled people to hear the music because otherwise the record wasn't being heard." The licensing approach proved successful in increasing Plays visibility, and subsequently radio and MTV airplay for the album's songs began to pick up. The album re-entered the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart in January 2000, slowly climbing positions and finally reaching number one three months later, spending five weeks at the top. By October 2000, Play had attained platinum certifications in 17 countries and topped the charts in seven. While it only reached number 38 on the American Billboard 200 chart, the album sold over two million copies in the US, enjoying steady sales for months and constant popularity. Play has been certified platinum in more than 20 countries, Eight singles were released from Play: "Honey" on August 24, 1998, "Run On" on April 26, 1999, "Bodyrock" on July 12, 1999, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" on October 11, 1999, "Natural Blues" on March 6, 2000, "Porcelain" on April 25, 2000, "South Side" on October 10, 2000, and "Find My Baby" on October 16, 2000. The first six all reached the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Numerous music videos were commissioned for the album's singles, directed by filmmakers such as Jonas Åkerlund ("Porcelain"), Roman Coppola ("Honey"), Joseph Kahn ("South Side"), and David LaChapelle ("Natural Blues"). In October 2000, the compilation album Play: The B Sides was released, containing tracks released as B-sides on the singles from Play. A DVD titled Play: The DVD was released in July 2001. It features most of the music videos for Plays singles; an 88-minute megamix of various remixes of the album's songs, accompanied by animated visuals; a performance by Moby on Later... with Jools Holland; a compilation of footage shot by Moby on tour titled Give an Idiot a Camcorder; an interactive component that allows users to remix "Bodyrock" and "Natural Blues"; and a bonus CD containing the aforementioned megamix. ==Critical reception==

Play received widespread critical acclaim upon release. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has a score of 84 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". He deemed the album "no more focused" than Moby's previous "brilliant messes" but still "one of those records whose drive to beauty should move anybody who just likes, well, music itself." In his review for AllMusic, John Bush stated that Play showed Moby "balancing his sublime early sound with the breakbeat techno evolution of the '90s." Christgau, the poll's supervisor, ranked it second best on his own year-end list. The following year, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards. Since then, it has been named one of the greatest albums of all time. NPR named Play one of the 300 most important American records of the 20th century, as determined by the network's news and cultural programming staff, prominent critics, and scholars. It was ranked number 341 on the 2003 and 2012 editions of Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and in 2005, a panel of recording industry pundits assembled by Channel 4 voted Play the 63rd-best album ever. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. ==Legacy==

According to Rolling Stone, "Play wasn't the first album to make a rock star out of an insular techno nerdnik, but it was the first to make one a pop sensation. [...] Play made postmodernism cuddly, slowly but surely striking a chord with critics and record-buyers alike." Wired said that the songs on Play—which became the first album ever to have all of its tracks licensed for use in films, television shows, or commercials—"have been sold hundreds of times [...] a licensing venture so staggeringly lucrative that the album was a financial success months before it reached its multi-platinum sales total." ==Track listing==

Sample credits • "Honey" contains samples of "Sometimes" by Bessie Jones. • "Find My Baby" contains samples of "Joe Lee's Rock" by Boy Blue. • "Bodyrock" contains samples of "Love Rap" by Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three. • "Natural Blues" contains samples of "Trouble So Hard" by Vera Hall. • "Run On" contains samples of "Run On for a Long Time" by Bill Landford and the Landfordairs. ==Personnel==

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. • Moby – engineering, mixing, production, instruments, vocals on "Porcelain", "South Side", "Machete", "If Things Were Perfect", and "The Sky Is Broken" • Pilar Basso – additional vocals on "Porcelain" • Mario Caldato Jr. – mixing on "Honey" • Corinne Day – photography • Graeme Durham – mastering • I Monster – mixing on "Natural Blues" • Ysabel zu Innhausen und Knyphausen – design • Reggie Matthews – additional vocals on "If Things Were Perfect" • Nikki D – additional vocals on "Bodyrock" • The Shining Light Gospel Choir – vocals on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications and sales==