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Music Review

 12 May 2008 14:13 BST

Moby: Last Night

Tuesday, 06 May 2008 07:45
Moby looks at a long night in the city that never sleeps

Other Reviews 

Mute, out May 12th.

In a nutshell…

Thoughtful, but surprisingly lightweight. Disappointing.

What's it all about?

Moby wants to take you on a journey, and only partly through time and space. This CD digs into his own memories of growing up, riding into Manhattan by train, touring between bars and clubs and dipping into the music offered at each.

With his friends he'd let evenings unfurl, absorbing the shifting musical landscape of New York City, and then slip back home at dawn, occasionally heading straight to school. This CD attempts to recreate all of that in your own home, or at least give you a rewarding taste of it.

To read the inthenews.co.uk interview with Moby, click here

Who's it by

Moby? What do you mean, who? That guy you liked when he oh-so-cleverly borrowed lots of old field recordings of blues singers, and strapped them on to the rising, vamping piano lines of house and dance music. The songs you used to dance to at university, not quite understanding who had travelled so hard, or why exactly, but enjoying it all the same.

And then him of the endless adverts, the tailored clips of songs – which you started to realise all the samples really were in the first place – that you quickly grew tired of, going back to something more reliably bleak and aggressively individual. Radiohead, say. At least they're still great.

As an example...

"Every day I dance before the Lord, ah-ah-ah-ah/Every day I dance before the Lord, ah-ah-ah-ah/Every day I dance before the Lord, ah-ah-ah-ah/Every day I dance before the Lord, ah-ah-ah-ah." – Every Day It's 1989

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

Never rule out the mainstream. By all means distrust it and flirt with hating it, but never rule it out. This record may win awards for its genuinely interesting concept, but there is little else to grab you here.

What the others say

"Can a night out in New York really be this dull?" – Independent

"Big on melodies and upbeat moods, Last Night is Moby's most non-rock, disco-friendly, purely pleasurable album since Play." – Times

So is it any good?

There is a lot to like about Moby, but this CD sadly isn't it. He is clearly intelligent – perhaps even bordering on a marketing genius – and can be wry and self-deprecating, but he can also be dull. Quite relentlessly dull.

Where Play attempted a sort of surface-level archaeology of blues and spirituals, and came away with an ad executive's wet dream, this mainly follows. The focus on a theme, and the no doubt genuine interest and passion in it, are familiar, as are the repeating soft synths, needlessly looped single vocal lines and the occasionally pedestrian drum programming.

This time Mr Moby is attempting to guide us through his take on New York City, at a quite specific time, when hip-hip was nascent, aggressive and uncertain, and when the driving house and dance of Detroit and Chicago were just starting to filter through.

However, this genuinely exciting idea never develops any steam or substance, relying heavily on tired electronica cliches instead. Several strong cameos – including Grandmaster Caz, a contributor to the fame of Rapper's Delight – do little to lift the soothing but uninspiring whole.

Nice try, but couldn't Danger Mouse just have made this instead? That really would have been exciting.

4/10

Chris Wilson

To read the inthenews.co.uk interview with Moby, click here End of story

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