Play & Play: B Sides

Album Review

Play: The B Sides ends up quite close to what regular listeners would expect from a collection like this. There are a few blues-sampling songs similar to "Play" (though none are as good), some slightly groovy but still atmospheric tracks of trance-techno, a few interesting electronics experiments, and a bit of beatbox funk, all of it distinctly inferior to what was heard on Play — which proves nothing much more than the fact that Moby is a good editor as well as a great producer. As he admits in the liner notes, these tracks probably wouldn't be getting a wide release if not for the incredible success of Play, and the truth is that few other than true believers will really relish this collection. (Play: The B Sides was originally released as part of a two-disc box in combination with the regular version of Moby's 1999 breakout Play)