My second try of Moby

I’ve been listening to Moby a lot lately and it has got me thinking.  The four main albums I have been playing are ‘Play’, ‘18’, ‘Hotel’ and ‘Destroyed’ and of these ‘Play’ is the most well known and is classed as his break-though album. 

So many tracks from this album were used in adverts and in films and TV shows that at one point after its release you heard snippets of this album everywhere.  For me this album will be forever linked with some time I spent in New Zealand where I bought the CD and played it as I drove around this stunning and memorable country.

For a long time this was the only album I owned by Moby, for despite liking the music on offer, it didn’t really move me or inspire me to go out and buy any more.  That is until I heard a song in a film and when I looked on IMDB I found out it was a Moby song called ‘Be the One’ from the ‘Destroyed’ album.  I bought the album at a reasonable price and fell in love with it. 

The other songs on the album were as moving as the ‘Be the One’ and I loved the way most songs gradually built and increased in intensity and emotion.  After a few listens I was hooked and I quickly bought ‘18’ and ‘Hotel’ shortly afterwards. 

My general feelings were the same and both of these albums are excellent.  I especially like the track ‘Lift me up’ from ‘Hotel’. 

It is funny how a particular album from an artist is the one that everyone knows and buys and sometimes they can be unfairly (and sometimes fairly) judged on this one commercial success.  Their earlier albums may be just as good, if not better and that applies for subsequent albums, but if we restrict ourselves to just the album that we know best we will never know.

My brother mentioned he had experienced a similar thing when I mentioned this to him. He said he had been disappointed by an album that was an artists break-through album, but loved their other work and conversely he has loved a break-though album and nothing else before or since.

I guess the lesson here is to explore an artists output in more depth before we pass judgement and if you aren’t overly enamoured with one album, give another one a try and see how you get on.  With the advent of YouTube, Spotify and preview functions on online music stores, it is much easier to sample music than when I started off buying music on cassette and vinyl all those years ago.

So whilst I truly like (but don’t love) ‘Play’, I can say I love and heartily recommend ‘Destroyed’.  Give some songs a try online and if you like what you hear, buy it and enjoy some of the beautiful tracks on offer.

Laughing with my Music.

Although I am very serious about my love of music, not all music has to be serious for us to enjoy.  I can think of numerous albums and artists that have created funny or humorous music that I enjoy listening to.

One album my wife and I love is the debut from Electric Six.  Not only does this have some great rock, but the lyrics are hilarious too.  Most people know their hit ‘Gay Bar’, but ‘Danger! High Voltage’ and ‘Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)’ also crack me up too.  The whole album doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a quick blast of upbeat, fun music.

Steve Poltz is a musician I have interviewed on the blog before (Musical Influences: Steve Poltz) and his humour is zany, offbeat and infectious.  If you follow him on Facebook you will often read his hilarious little stories and thoughts and whilst his earlier albums had more serious lyrics, some later songs are hilarious and he often posts them on YouTube for us to enjoy.  He also does small skits on YouTube that I love.  One were he teaches you to say ‘dude’ under various circumstances is a lot funnier than it sounds.



Tenacious D’s first album was great for it’s mix of music and the brief interludes in-between where Jack Black and Kyle Gass joke around and act out various segments.  It adds to the songs, most of which have funny lyrics too.  So not only do you get some cracking rock songs (I’m thinking of ‘Tribute’ here), but you also get some tongue in cheek humour to boot.

Will Smith also uses brief humorous interludes between tracks on his ‘Big Willie Style’ album and it works to keep the whole album upbeat and fun.

Jeffrey Lewis is another artist in the Steve Poltz vein, where his music is credible in its own right, but also manages to be funny.  Their styles aren’t too dissimilar either. On one song Jeff tells us to ‘Never Let the Record Label Take You Out To Lunch’ as they’ll make you pay at the end of the day and he also teaches us how to kill Zombies on ‘If You Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul’.  Both good advice wrapped up in a musical package I’d say.  I adore the title of the album these songs come off of, ‘It’s the Ones Who’ve Cracked that the Light Shines Through’, couldn’t put it better myself.

So, as you can see, music doesn’t have to be brooding or serious to be credible and I can think of other artists who use humour in their music or performances (like Chas and Dave who I’ve written about before) and I’m sure you can think of many more and can suggest your own. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Hating and loving Kings of Leon

Have you ever bought an album that on first playing you absolutely hated and then after subsequent listens you ended up loving?

Many years ago I had exactly this situation.  I was in a supermarket with some friends from work buying lunch.  I walked down the CD aisle and bought the new debut album from Kings of Leon, ‘Youth and Young Manhood’, based on a magazine recommendation.

I returned back to work and after eating lunch put it into my CD player and gave it a try.  My knee jerk reaction was not good.  I didn’t like the singers voice (I felt he was trying to rip off Tom Petty badly) and the music didn’t really impress or grab me.  I admit I felt it was too sloppy.  I immediately started telling everyone what a load of rubbish it was and to not bother buying it. 

I took it home and gave it another couple of listens that evening and over the next few days my feelings towards it softened and I started to appreciate individual songs and how the album sat together as a whole.  I even started to enjoy the singers voice which suited the music perfectly and where before I thought the music was sloppy, I realised it was delightfully loose and free.  By the end of the week I was back at work telling everyone I was wrong and they should give it a try.

I felt a bit sheepish and everyone laughed at my expense, but at least I could admit my mistake and recommend it.  Over the years I have listened to this album many times and I always enjoy it (I‘m playing it now as I write this).

The only other time I can think of that something similar has happened was when Red Hot Chili Peppers brought out ‘By the Way.  Up to this point I had been used to ‘Californication’ and ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ and the sound to my ears was very different.  I could not gel with the album at all and lamented the fact that a great band had lost it’s spark and drive.

Again I gave the album a fair chance and a few more listens and after I warmed to it I could see it had some incredible songs on it.  Now I am slightly embarrassed to say it is probably my favourite album of theirs and I have listened to this album more than any others.

The lesson here is a) not to judge an album on first listen, b) don’t judge it based on past works and c) give any album a fair few listens before you make any judgement at all.  Thankfully I learnt this lesson reasonably quickly and even now when I get an album that doesn’t hit me first time I give it a fair chance before making up my mind. On the odd occasion I’ve even come back to an album many years later and realised how good it is.  I guess sometimes it is as much about the time in your own life that you first hear an album as the album itself.  And sometimes you were right and an album is just bad and you have to trust your own taste!

Judging John Lennon.

I recently read a book that collected together all the known letters that John Lennon wrote throughout his life.  It included letters to family and friends, business letters, as well as letters to fans.

One of the most obvious things to me from the early letters was that he didn’t seem to be the nicest or warmest person.  Sometimes it was just the way he phrased things, rather than what he said.

You also noticed a more spiritual and peaceful way of thought after he married Yoko and during their life together.

It got me thinking that it is strange how we think we know someone from the music they create and then get a completely different view once we learn a bit more about them. 

I also thought that it is harsh for us to read letters he wrote when an adolescent and still forming his own thoughts on the world and then judge his character on them.  I’m sure if some of our own young letters or thoughts were captured for public consumption we would feel embarrassed or even ashamed at some of our early beliefs.  Yet we find these interesting and judge celebrities and musicians by the things they wrote at all stages of their life. 

In today’s cult of celebrity where some people actively court the media I have little sympathy for those celebrities that get caught out by the things they’ve blogged or tweeted.  But for those musicians in the 60’s or in past years before the internet was invented or even those today who wish to maintain some privacy, it must be hard to live under the public glare of scrutiny when you think you are writing a letter that you believe is for private consumption which then becomes available for everyone to read.

It is strange how we form our beliefs of John Lennon from the letters he wrote throughout his life from a young age until his death, when it is obvious he was growing and developing his world view his entire life (as we all do). 

I find books about music and musicians fascinating as it gives me a deeper insight into their lives and what may have shaped the music I love so much.  But just maybe I should be more selective in what I read and remember that these musician are people who struggle with their own demons and ways of relating to the word as much as the next person.  Or maybe I should even let the music speak for itself and not delve any deeper than that.  It is something I will think more about and I wonder what your own views on this are.