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.