Play (Moby album)

Play is the fifth studio album by American electronic musician Moby. It was released on May 17, 1999, through Mute Records internationally and V2 Records in North America. Recording of the album began in mid-1997, following the release of Moby's fourth album, Animal Rights (1996), which deviated from his electronica style; Moby's goal for Play was to return to electronica, blending downtempo with blues and roots music samples. Originally intended to be his final record, the album was recorded at Moby's home studio in Manhattan.

While some of Moby's earlier work had garnered critical and commercial success within the electronic dance music scene, Play was both a critical success and a commercial phenomenon. Initially issued to lackluster sales, it topped numerous album charts months after its release and was certified platinum in more than 20 countries. The album introduced Moby to a worldwide mainstream audience, not only through a large number of hit singles that helped the album to dominate worldwide charts for two years, but also through unprecedented licensing of its songs in films, television shows, and commercials. Play eventually became one of the biggest-selling electronica albums of all time, with over 12 million copies sold worldwide.

In 2003 and 2012, Play was ranked number 341 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Background

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.<ref name="Weingarten">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Moby started work on Play in August 1997 and put it on hold several times to complete touring obligations.<ref name="Gourley">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Gourley"/> Moby recalled a moment from March 1999, after Play had been mixed and sequenced, where he sat on the grass in Sara Delano Roosevelt Park: "I was sitting by the little tire swings that had been chewed apart by the pit bulls [...] thinking to myself, 'When this record comes out, it will be the end of my career. I should start thinking about what else I can do.'" At that point, he considered returning to school to study architecture.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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.<ref name="Gillett">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Weingarten"/> Moby's manager Eric Härle said that their original goal was to sell 250,000 copies, which was what Everything Is Wrong (1995), Moby's biggest-selling album at the time, had sold.<ref name="Bouwman">Template:Cite web</ref>

Music

According to Spin magazine's Will Hermes, Play was "the high-water mark for populist electronica" and a "millennial roots and blues masterwork",<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> while John Bush from AllMusic said it balanced Moby's early electronica sound with the emergent breakbeat style of techno.<ref name="Bush">Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref name="DeRogatis">Template:Cite news</ref> Complex described Play as "an organic downtempo masterpiece" that fused live studio recordings and "found sounds".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name="Weingarten"/> The Play tracks "Honey", "Find My Baby", and "Natural Blues" were composed by Moby around vocal hooks sampled from songs by the folk singers Bessie Jones, Boy Blue, and Vera Hall, respectively, that were featured on the collection.<ref name="Rosen">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Apart from the Lomax material, Moby also used samples of old gospel recordings on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" and "Run On".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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."<ref name="Notes"/>

Elsewhere, Play is informed by more contemporary music styles. "Bodyrock", which Moby called "essentially a hip-hop song",<ref name="Weingarten"/> features samples of rappers Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three.<ref name="Rosen"/> "Machete" was inspired by EBM acts such as Front 242 and Meat Beat Manifesto.<ref name="Weingarten"/> "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.<ref name="Bush"/> The remaining tracks are primarily instrumental in nature, and Moby cited these as his favorites from Play.<ref name="Weingarten"/> The latter half of the album is mostly composed of these instrumentals, which are more downcast in mood and less driven by samples.<ref name="Weingarten"/><ref name="Gillett"/> Moby noted that he intentionally sequenced the album such that "it starts off energetic and then by the end dissolves into an opiated haze."<ref name="Weingarten"/>

Release and promotion

Play was released on May 17, 1999, by Mute, and on June 1, 1999, by V2.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On its release, it underperformed commercially.<ref name="Haynes">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The record debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, but thereafter descended the chart.<ref name="Haynes"/><ref name="OCC">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Weingarten"/> Further damaging the album's commercial prospects, PlayTemplate:'s songs received little airplay from radio stations or television networks such as MTV.<ref name="Leland">Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name="Leland"/> According to Moby, their goal "was simply to get people to hear the music".<ref name="Sweeney">Template:Cite magazine</ref> "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."<ref name="Sweeney"/> Eric Härle clarified that although many people believed the songs were pitched for advertisements as part of the marketing campaign for an album that did not fit with mainstream radio, the licensing actually came about as a result of agencies asking for permission to use the music as soundbeds; he attributed the music's popularity to its evocative and emotional nature.<ref name="Bouwman"/> Despite the heavy licensing, each request was nevertheless carefully vetted and more requests were turned down than accepted.<ref name="Bouwman"/> Moby's manager Barry Taylor recalled that after the producers of a British television program sent a fax requesting for permission to use "7", the only track from Play that had yet to be licensed, "we celebrated."<ref name="Smith">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The licensing approach proved successful in increasing PlayTemplate:'s visibility, and subsequently radio and MTV airplay for the album's songs began to pick up.<ref name="Leland"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="OCC"/> It remained on the chart for the remainder of 2000,<ref name="OCC"/> and in the UK was the fifth best-selling album, as well as the best-selling independent album, of that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Roberts">Template:Cite book</ref> By October 2000, Play had attained platinum certifications in 17 countries and topped the charts in seven.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Play has been certified platinum in more than 20 countries,<ref name="Roberts"/> and with over 12 million copies sold worldwide, it is the biggest-selling electronica album of all time.<ref name="Zlatopolsky">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Eight singles were released from Play: "Honey" on August 24, 1998,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Run On" on April 26, 1999,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> "Bodyrock" on July 12, 1999,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" on October 11, 1999,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Natural Blues" on March 6, 2000,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Porcelain" on April 25, 2000,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "South Side" on October 10, 2000,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and "Find My Baby" on October 16, 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first six all reached the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.<ref name="OCC"/> "South Side", which for its single release was remixed to include additional vocals from No Doubt's lead singer Gwen Stefani,<ref name="Weingarten"/> became Moby's first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 14.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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").<ref name="DVDNotes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

In October 2000, the compilation album Play: The B Sides was released, containing tracks released as B-sides on the singles from Play.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A DVD titled Play: The DVD was released in July 2001.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It features most of the music videos for PlayTemplate:'s 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.<ref name="DVDNotes"/> Play: The DVD was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video at the 44th Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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".<ref name="MC"/>

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1999, Robert Christgau said the album's sampled recordings would not "shout anywhere near as loud and clear" without Moby's "ministrations—his grooves, his pacing, his textures, his harmonies, sometimes his tunes, and mostly his grooves, which honor not just dance music but the entire rock tradition it's part of."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref name="Bush"/> Barry Walters from Rolling Stone said "the ebb and flow of eighteen concise, contrasting cuts writes a story about Moby's beautifully conflicted interior world while giving the outside planet beats and tunes on which to groove."<ref name="Walters"/> David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, felt that despite some needed editing, Moby's graceful soundscapes filter out the original recordings' antiquated sound and "make the singers' heartache and hope seem fresh again."<ref name="Browne"/> In a more critical appraisal, Pitchfork reviewer Brent DiCrescenzo believed the "raw magnetism" of the sampled recordings was lost to "innate digital recording techniques", resulting in music that was "fun and functional, yet disposable."<ref name="DiCrescenzo"/>

At the end of 1999, Play was voted the year's best album in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published in The Village Voice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Christgau, the poll's supervisor, ranked it second best on his own year-end list.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The following year, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was ranked number 341 on the 2003 and 2012 editions of Rolling StoneTemplate:'s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and in 2005, a panel of recording industry pundits assembled by Channel 4 voted Play the 63rd-best album ever.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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."<ref name="Weingarten"/> Ranking it among the best electropop albums, Classic Pop suggested that "perhaps more than any album ever, Play propelled electronic music into the mainstream consciousness."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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."<ref name="Smith"/> In a retrospective piece for Wondering Sound, Robert Christgau wrote:

English singer-songwriter Adele cited Play as an influence on her 2015 album 25, saying: "There's something that I find really holy about that Play album... The way it makes me feel. Even though there's nothing holy or preachy about it. There's just something about it—maybe the gospel samples. But it makes me feel alive, that album, still. And I remember my mum having that record."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Track listing

Sample credits<ref name="Notes"/>

• "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.<ref name="Notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

• 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

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Weekly chart performance for Play

Chart (1999–2002)	Peak position
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite magazineTemplate:Cbignore</ref>	1
Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	3
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	4
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	34
European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2
Portuguese Albums (AFP)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	5
UK Dance Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2

Year-end charts

1999 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (1999)	Position
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	39
UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	199

2000 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2000)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	14
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	16
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	20
European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	37
Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	11
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	1
Norwegian Spring Period Albums (VG-lista)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	3
Norwegian Summer Period Albums (VG-lista)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	3
Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	71
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	23
UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	5
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	69

2001 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2001)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	65
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	29
Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	13
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	25
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	61
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	51
European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	56
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	53
UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	92
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	111

2002 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2002)	Position
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	15
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	175
Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	55
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	130
UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	190

2004 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2004)	Position
Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	33

2005 year-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2005)	Position
Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	25
Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	25

Decade-end charts

Decade-end chart performance for Play

Chart (2000–2009)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	44
UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	36

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Discogs master
• Template:MusicBrainz release group