Moby: Play: The B-Sides : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

As Moby points out in his album's liner notes, the whole idea of B sides is a vinyl anachronism. But time-tripping has always been Moby's forte -- this is the man who adopted his name from a classic nineteenth-century novel and filled his previous album, Play, with samples of mid-twentieth-century field recordings. This new disc (a limited-edition release available only when purchased with Play) is culled from singles and unreleased material, and continues Play's fusion of traditional blues with house beats and club ambience with old soul. This isn't just Play, Part II, though: Moby forgoes pristine dance-floor jams for lavish orchestral sprawl on "Memory Gospel" and "Spirit." Similarly, the monochromatic "Whispering Wind" (originally on the "Natural Blues" single) and the bluesy "Flying Foxes" (from the British release of "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad") are more the stuff of Zen rapture than modern-radio buzz bins. If Play was all about blending eras and genres to create a millennial time signature, Play: The B Sides is more of a meditative tone poem.