Following a notorious flirtation with alternative rock,
Moby returned to the electronic dance mainstream on the 1997 album
I Like to Score. With 1999's
Play, he made yet another leap back toward the electronica base that had passed him by during the mid-'90s. The first two tracks,
"Honey" and
"Find My Baby," weave short blues or gospel vocal samples around rather disinterested breakbeat techno. This version of blues-meets-electronica is undoubtedly intriguing to the all-important NPR crowd, but it is more than just a bit gimmicky to any techno fans who know their
Carl Craig from
Carl Cox. Fortunately,
Moby redeems himself in a big way over the rest of the album with a spate of tracks that return him to the evocative, melancholy techno that's been a specialty since his early days. The tinkly piano line and warped string samples on
"Porcelain" frame a meaningful, devastatingly understated vocal from the man himself, while
"South Side" is just another pop song by someone who shouldn't be singing -- that is, until the transcendent chorus redeems everything. Surprisingly, many of
Moby's vocal tracks are highlights; he has an unerring sense of how to frame his fragile vocals with sympathetic productions. Occasionally, the similarities to contemporary dance superstars like
Fatboy Slim and
Chemical Brothers are just a bit too close for comfort, as on the stale big-beat anthem
"Bodyrock." Still,
Moby shows himself back in the groove after a long hiatus, balancing his sublime early sound with the breakbeat techno evolution of the '90s. ~ John Bush
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