| 
album // Go - The Very Best Of Moby
The challenge with this collection
– which I reckon to be Moby's fourth including
the releases on his earlier label homes and his collection of soundtrack
work for Mute – was apparent when I attempted
to import the tracks into iTunes; it described the genre as 'unclassifiable,
at which I initially guffawed incredulously. However, thinking about
it more closely, what is Moby's overall 'style'?
Is it the smooth house of Twin
Peaks-sampling 'Go' or 'Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)'? Or
is it the melding of guitars with electronic sounds of 'We Are All
Made Of Stars', 'Lift Me Up' or 'Slipping Away'? Or the gospel-samples-over-lilting-piano-and-hip-hop
beats of 'Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?', 'Porcelain, 'In This
World', 'Honey', 'In My Heart' or 'Natural Blues'? Add to this the
funky rock hybrids that are 'Bodyrock' and Moby's take on Monty
Norman's James Bond theme, the hardcore dance of 'Feeling So Real'
and the high-energy 'New York, New York' with Debbie Harry recorded
especially for this album, and what you have is what writers are
quick to describe as 'schizophrenic' or, more kindly, 'eclectic'.
As a result of Moby just making the
music in whichever style he wants, I've always wondered precisely
how stable Moby's fan base actually is. It was all very well for
Moby to see the linkage between fuzzed-up hardcore rock and the
house music played in clubs, but what about fans who got into his
music after listening to the likes of 'Go', a genre-defining track
in almost every sense of the word? The inclusion of a hardcore rock
take on 'All That I Need Is To Be Loved' – originally a sublime
trance B-side – on his debut Mute album Everything Is
Wrong and the even harder punk of 'What Love' on the same LP
seemed almost 'ironic'; a respite from the various electronic styles
elsewhere on the album and hardly to be taken seriously. Imagine
how dance purists must have switched off from Moby with the follow-up,
the brutal guitar onslaught of Animal Rights where anything
remotely 'dance' was bludgeoned into submission by angry rockist
tendencies.
And then who but the most ardent, and
equally eclectically-minded fan would have happily moved from that
rock sound to the pastoral Play? Play was patently
Moby's best-selling album (but not necessarily his 'best'), which
would explain why this collection includes so many of the tracks
from that album. Play was a great, great album but on reflection
seems uncharacteristically devoid of invention – layering
samples was hardly new or innovative, and taking huge vocal segments
masked the fact that many of the tracks sound the same – the
same pianos, the same sort of beats and the same string synths which
have at least been a consistent throughout Moby's career. Play
is definitely responsible for bringing Moby to the attention of
a much wider audience, which was obviously financially good, but
Moby duetting with Elton John? Public spats with Eminem? Come on!
Talk about selling out! 18 tried to be different, but wasn't
really different enough to be anything but Play 2, whereas
Hotel, I think, is an inspired work of mature genius. But
is it really the same Moby that first pricked my ears up with his
Mute debut 'Move'?
It is, I guess, indicative of Mute's
faith in an artist's vision that they have allowed Moby to skip
around genres so freely. You can see the same laissez-faire approach
having been taken with Depeche Mode and Nick
Cave over the years. But when it comes to compilation time,
which the market dictates that it must, particularly at Christmas,
it does present a major problem, as it has done on both Depeche
Mode's most recent scattergun 'best of' and the Bad Seeds' compilation
from 1997. Anyone whose only exposure to Moby was through Play
or 18 could find themselves only really ever listening
to the tracks from that period which dominates the 15 songs on this
collection. Because of the apparent lack of continuity, Go –
The Very Best Of Moby almost comes across like a various artists
compilation with barely anything close to a 'theme' connecting the
tracks together. It's harder still to know who would actually buy
this compilation other than the die-hard Moby fans.
Moby himself admitted that he didn't
actually pick the songs for this compilation himself, and his unusually
inarticulate sleeve notes suggest a distinct lack of interest in
the project overall. Perhaps that's a manifestation of what seems
to be a very shy personality and almost a lack of belief in his
own material. Perhaps if he had pulled this compilation together
we'd get a bit more diversity, including his brave yet harrowing
take on Mission Of Burma's 'That's When I Reach For My Revolver'
from the totally unrepresented Animal Rights.
All of this said, however, there's
no denying that this is a great selection of pop tracks from the
erstwhile 'bald New York Christian vegan techno idiot', perhaps
with the exception of 'Feeling So Real' which still sounds horribly
dated.
My version of this came with a bonus DVD containing a short filmed
interview with Moby (a longer version was shown on Sky Arts a few
months after this was released). There is no denying that Mr Hall
is a thoroughly endearing fellow and the insights into his life,
outlook, self-described nerdish tendencies and Manhattan apartment
are helpful clues in explaining his introverted tendencies. After
being pretty sceptical on the compilation and wondering which Moby
I actually liked, watching the DVD made it all make sense.
CD:
1. Go
2. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
3. In This World
4. Porcelain
5. In My Heart
6. New York, New York
7. Natural Blues
8. Lift Me Up
9. Bodyrock
10. We Are All Made Of Stars
11. Slipping Away
12. Honey
13. Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)
14. James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-version)
15. Feeling So Real
single // New York, New York
Review forthcoming,
12":
1. New York, New York (Armand Van Helden Long Version)
2. Go (Trentemøller Remix)
L12":
1. New York, New York (Tocadisco's NYPD Mix)
2. Porcelain (Murk Remix)
3. In My Heart (Sandy Rivers Mix)
XL12":
1. Go (Vitalic Remix)
2. Go (2006)
3. Go (2006 Digital Remaster)
XXL12":
1. New York, New York (Radio Slave's Not Long Now Remix)
2. Porcelain (Matthias Tanzmann Remix)
3. Porcelain (Matthias Tanzmann 2nd Remix)
CD:
1. New York, New York (Single Version)
2. Go (Trentemøller Remix Edit)
LCD:
1. New York, New York (Armand Van Helden Long Version)
2. New York, New York (Tocadisco's NYPD Mix)
3. New York, New York (Emperor Machine Extended Mix)
4. New York, New York (Radio Slave's Not Long Now Remix)
5. U-MYX New York, New York
|
