After the phenomenal success of "Play" it's hard to imagine what else Moby could astound us with, but "18" gives everything "Play" didn't and a little bit more.
Moby is more than a New York City based "DJ" he has become an amazing businessman as well. Shortly after the release of "Play" every single track on the album was licensed to either a motion picture sound track or commercial.
A strict vegetarian and animal rights activist, Moby is not what one might expect from an underground New York DJ who released his first album in the late 80's. Not only is Moby looking out for the animals, he’s looking out for the planet as well. After signing a multi-million dollar contract to license one of his tracks with a company who makes automobiles, Moby donated his earnings to activist groups who are trying to stop the production of automobiles.
Moby is more than a traditional DJ, he takes short samples from various songs, sounds bites or some times he makes the sample he needs in his in home studio. Many of the samples Moby uses are from old vinyl records he buys at yard sales and throughout Manhattan music shops.
"18" is made up of the 18 songs that made the final cut the other 132 tracks didn’t. In the liner notes for "18" Moby asks listeners to listen to the record in it's entirety, if not every time, at least once. I did, and by the second track, I was in tears.
The first single "We are all Made of Stars" is in a way like "South Side" with the same low-upbeat tempo and meaningless jargon that makes more sense to you than anything in the world. The video for the single has a semi-low budget but included cameos from Kato Kaelin, Dave Navarro and Todd Bridges to name a few.
One of the most amazing song is the on album is "In This World." Listening to this track gave me chills and left me in tears. Moby took Jennifer Price's raspy gospel voice and turned what sounds like an early rough version of "Porcelain" and gave it the heartbreak of "Why Does My Heart." This song is wondrous.
Using the same formula as "In This World," "One of These Mornings" has the same effect, but this time, Moby uses a new musical technique, in which he takes Dianne McCaulley's voice and turns it into a male’s voice, but later fades it back into her own voice.
For some reason, I was very eager to hear the title track "18." I impatiently wanted to skip the remaining few tracks so I could hear it, but I waited. "18" is an absolute euphoric track that left me feeling breathless and I had a feeling of great content. It was the feeling I had as a child when my mom read to me before bedtime or the feeling of waking up beside the person you love.
"18" has not left my stereo since I first listened to it and I even played it for the special someone in my life, we both listened in complete silence. "18" is an album that I will continue to listen to from track one to 18.
My Grade: A+
Runner@csubak.edu