Play (Moby album)
| Play | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Moby | ||||||||||
| Released | May 17, 1999 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||||||||
| Studio | Moby's home studio (Manhattan, New York) | |||||||||
| Genre | ||||||||||
| Length | 63:12 | |||||||||
| Label | ||||||||||
| Producer | Moby | |||||||||
| Moby chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Alternative Press | 4/5 |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | A+ |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork | 5/10 |
| Q |  |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 9/10 |
| Play: The B Sides | ||||
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| Compilation album (B-sides) by Moby | ||||
| Released | October 24, 2000 | |||
| Length | 60:34 | |||
| Label | V2 | |||
| Producer | Moby | |||
| Moby chronology | ||||
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Play is the fifth studio album by American electronica musician Moby. It was first released on May 17, 1999 by Mute and V2. Recording of the album began in 1998, following the release of his fourth album, Animal Rights (1996), which deviated from Moby's electronica style; his goal for Play was to return to this style of music. Originally intended to be his final record, the recording of the album took place at Moby's home studio in Manhattan, New York.
While some of Moby's earlier work garnered critical and commercial success within the electronic dance music scene, Play was both a critical success and a commercial phenomenon. 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 his music in films, television, and commercial advertisements. It eventually became the biggest-selling album of its genre, with over 12 million copies sold worldwide.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 341 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was nominated for both a Grammy Award and Brit Award, was the UK's biggest-selling independent album of 2000, and certified platinum status in more than 20 countries.
The second half of the 1990s saw Moby in career turmoil after years of being a successful techno wunderkind. 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 considering quitting music altogether and going back to school to study architecture. 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, he claimed, "I got one piece of fan mail from Terence Trent D'Arby and I got a phone call from Axl Rose saying he was listening to Animal Rights on repeat. Bono told me he loved Animal Rights. So if you're gonna have three pieces of fan mail, that's the fan mail to get."
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Wikipedia