Play is the fifth studio album by American electronic musician Moby. It was released on May 17, 1999, through Mute Records internationally and V2 Records in North America. Recording of the album began in mid-1997, following the release of Moby's fourth album, Animal Rights (1996), which deviated from his electronica style; Moby's goal for Play was to return to electronica, blending downtempo with blues and roots music samples. Originally intended to be his final record, the album was recorded at Moby's home studio in Manhattan.
While some of Moby's earlier work had garnered critical and commercial success within the electronic dance music scene, Play was both a critical success and a commercial phenomenon. Initially issued to lackluster sales, it topped numerous album charts months after its release and was certified platinum in more than 20 countries. 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 its songs in films, television shows, and commercials. Play eventually became one of the biggest-selling electronica albums of all time, with over 12 million copies sold worldwide.
In 2003 and 2012, Play was ranked number 341 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Background
The second half of the 1990s saw Moby in career turmoil after years of success in the techno scene. 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 contemplating quitting music altogether. 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, positive reactions to Animal Rights from fellow artists such as Terence Trent D'Arby, Axl Rose, and Bono inspired Moby to continue producing music.
Moby started work on Play in August 1997 and put it on hold several times to complete touring obligations. At the time, he planned on making the album his last before ending his career. Recording sessions took place at Moby's Mott Street home studio in Manhattan, New York. Play was delayed due to Moby's dissatisfaction with the initial mix of the album that he had produced at home. A second mixing was completed at an outside studio before attempts at two other studios displayed similar results. After returning home and producing a mix by himself, Moby felt happy with it. Ultimately, he said that he "wasted a lot of time and money" on the previous unsatisfactory mixing sessions.
When Moby finished recording Play, there was no sign that the album would perform any differently than Animal Rights. While he remained signed to the label Mute, which issued his records in the United Kingdom, Elektra had dropped him from its roster of artists following the release of Animal Rights, leaving him without an outlet to release Play in the United States. According to Moby, he shopped the record to every major label, from Warner Bros. to Sony to RCA, and was rejected every time. After V2 finally picked it up, his publicist sent the record to journalists, many of whom declined to listen to it.
Music
According to Spin magazine's Will Hermes, Play was "the high-water mark for populist electronica" and a "millennial roots and blues masterwork", while John Bush from AllMusic said it balanced Moby's early electronica sound with the emergent breakbeat style of techno. Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis noted its incorporation of such disparate musical influences as early blues, African-American folk music, gospel, hip hop, disco, and techno, "all within the context of his own distinctly melodic ambient stylings." Complex described Play as "an organic downtempo masterpiece" that fused live studio recordings and "found sounds".
Play was particularly notable for its use of samples from field recordings collected by Alan Lomax and compiled on the 1993 box set Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey from the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta. Moby was introduced to the box set through a friend, Gregor Ehrlich, who loaned the CDs to him. Apart from the Lomax material, Moby also used samples of old gospel recordings on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" and "Run On". In the liner notes for Play, Moby gave "special thanks to the Lomaxes and all of the archivists and music historians whose field recordings made this record possible." On its release, it underperformed commercially. The record debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, but thereafter descended the chart. Moby recounted that the first show he played in support of Play, at the basement of the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, was attended by only around 40 people.
Moby and his management, however, soon found another approach to increasing public exposure of Play, by way of licensing its songs for use in films, television shows, and commercials. "Most of the licenses weren't particularly lucrative," he noted, "but they enabled people to hear the music because otherwise the record wasn't being heard."
English singer-songwriter Adele cited Play as an influence on her 2015 album 25, saying: "There's something that I find really holy about that Play album... The way it makes me feel. Even though there's nothing holy or preachy about it. There's just something about it—maybe the gospel samples. But it makes me feel alive, that album, still. And I remember my mum having that record."
Track listing
Sample credits
- Moby – engineering, mixing, production, instruments, vocals on "Porcelain", "South Side", "Machete", "If Things Were Perfect", and "The Sky Is Broken"
- Pilar Basso – additional vocals on "Porcelain"
- Mario Caldato Jr. – mixing on "Honey"
- Corinne Day – photography
- Graeme Durham – mastering
- I Monster – mixing on "Natural Blues"
- Ysabel zu Innhausen und Knyphausen – design
- Reggie Matthews – additional vocals on "If Things Were Perfect"
- Nikki D – additional vocals on "Bodyrock"
- The Shining Light Gospel Choir – vocals on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Weekly chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (1999–2002)
!scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)
| 1
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 3
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)
| 4
|-
!scope="row"| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)
| 34
|-
|-
!scope="row"| European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)
| 2
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Portuguese Albums (AFP)
| 5
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| UK Dance Albums (OCC)
| 2
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+1999 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (1999)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 39
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 199
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2000 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2000)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 10
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 10
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| 14
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 16
|-
!scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 20
|-
!scope="row"| European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)
| 2
|-
!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 3
|-
!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 37
|-
!scope="row"| Italian Albums (FIMI)
| 11
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 1
|-
!scope="row"| Norwegian Spring Period Albums (VG-lista)
| 3
|-
!scope="row"| Norwegian Summer Period Albums (VG-lista)
| 3
|-
! scope="row"| Singaporean English Albums (SPVA)
| 5
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)
| 71
|-
!scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
| 23
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 5
|-
!scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 69
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2001 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2001)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 65
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)
| 10
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 29
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 13
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| 25
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 61
|-
!scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 51
|-
!scope="row"| European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)
| 56
|-
!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 53
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 92
|-
!scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 111
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2002 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2002)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)
| 15
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 175
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 55
|-
!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 130
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 190
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2004 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2004)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 33
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2005 year-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2005)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 25
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Mid Price Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| 25
|}
Decade-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Decade-end chart performance for Play
!scope="col"| Chart (2000–2009)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 44
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 36
|}