Moby – The Play Sessions

I must admit that Moby passed me by for most of the 1990s. I seem to remember the single ‘Go’, but that is about it. I therefore did not know anything about the artist when I picked up the ‘Honey’ single after listening to it on the radio. Even though I did not think much of the remixes, I still liked ‘Honey’. The mix of an old song with a techno beat intrigued me so a few months later when I saw there was an album for sale with ‘Honey’ on it , I picked it up. What I din’t realise at the time was this was this was Moby’s last throw of the dice as far as his music career was concerned. His previous effort, ‘Animal Rights’, had been a commercial disaster and he was contemplating quitting music all together. Some positive feedback from fellow musicians gave him the confidence to at least give music another go.

‘Play’ was released in mid 1999 to little fanfare. It initially sold enough to break into the UK Top 40, but after his fanbase had bought their copies, it slipped down the chart. However, in an attempt to get the music heard, Moby and his management team decided to license the tracks for adverts. In the end, every song from the album was licensed and exposure for the record increased dramatically. In the end, the record would sell over 12 million copies worldwide and eight singles were ultimately released from it. The album was so popular that in 2000, a compilation album was released called ‘Play: The B-Sides’. This also sold in good numbers but was not a comprehensive set as it did not contain any remixes. Moby recorded so much material in preparation for ‘Play’ that a bootleg came out not long after this called ‘Play: The Outtakes’. 

One of the features of the album of the numerous styles that were incorporated into it. There are the aforementioned techno and blues. However, there was electronica, downtempo, ambient, breakbeat and roots. As successful as this album was, it was also quite schizophrenic. What I looked to do here is repackage these records with more of a theme.

The first disc is called ‘Natural Blues’ and contains songs that sampled blues and roots music. The second is ‘Bodyrock’ which contains more big beat and techno tracks. The third is a reimagining of the album which took out the more uptempo numbers to be replaced by something more ambient.  

Natural Blues

Side A

1. Honey – Play
2. Find My Baby – Play
3. Flower – B-Side (Find My Baby)
4. Run On – Play

Side B

1. Natural Blues – Play
2. Flying Foxes – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
3. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Play

The cover was used for the ‘Natural Blues’ single. 

Bodyrock

Side A

1. Bodyrock – Play
2. Machette – Play
3. 7 – Play

Side B

1. Flying Over The Dateline – B-Side (Porcelain) 
2. Running – B-Side (Run On)

The cover was used for the ’Bodyrock’ single.

Play

Took out the more upbeat numbers to make something a bit more mellow.

Side A

1. Dispatched – Play: The Outtakes
2. If Things Were Perfect – Play
3. Porcelain – Play
4. South Side – Play
5. The Sun Never Stops Setting – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)

Side B

1. Everlong – Play
2. Inside – Play
3. Graciosa – Play: The Outtakes
4. Rushing – Play

Side C

1. The Whispering Wind – B-Side (Natural Blues)
2. The Sky Is Broken – Play
3. Summer – B-Side
4. Sown Slow – Play

Side D

1. Guitar, Flute & String – Play
2. Deep Seated – Play: The Outtakes
3. Memorial Gospel – B-Side (Run On)
4. My Weakness – Play

The cover is the same as the one used for ‘Play’

This reimagining of ‘Play’ could not be recreated on Spotify as a number of these treks come from the Outtakes bootleg.