Moby Wait For me (2009)

Moby's most unified and understated album, and all the better for it, Wait for Me is a morose set of elegantly bleary material, quite a shift from the hedonistic club tracks of Last Night. Dominated by instrumentals, "Shot in the Back of the Head" is the most evocative of the bunch, seemingly pulled from an unreleased David Lynch film scored by the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen - a lament from a dustbowl, full of mournful slide guitar and dewy electric piano. Other than "Mistake" - a glum neo-post-punk rave-up that, despite its cathartic release, remains downcast - Moby leaves the vocals to a series of women (neighborhood chums, apparently) who each contribute to one song. The smoky 3-a.m. gospel whispers from throwback soul singer Leela James on "Walk with Me" steal the show.

Moby's most unified and understated album, and all the better for it, Wait for Me is a morose set of elegantly bleary material, quite a shift from the hedonistic club tracks of Last Night. Dominated by instrumentals, "Shot in the Back of the Head" is the most evocative of the bunch, seemingly pulled from an unreleased David Lynch film scored by the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen - a lament from a dustbowl, full of mournful slide guitar and dewy electric piano. Other than "Mistake" - a glum neo-post-punk rave-up that, despite its cathartic release, remains downcast - Moby leaves the vocals to a series of women (neighborhood chums, apparently) who each contribute to one song. The smoky 3-a.m. gospel whispers from throwback soul singer Leela James on "Walk with Me" steal the show.

Moby's most unified and understated album, and all the better for it, Wait for Me is a morose set of elegantly bleary material, quite a shift from the hedonistic club tracks of Last Night. Dominated by instrumentals, "Shot in the Back of the Head" is the most evocative of the bunch, seemingly pulled from an unreleased David Lynch film scored by the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen - a lament from a dustbowl, full of mournful slide guitar and dewy electric piano. Other than "Mistake" - a glum neo-post-punk rave-up that, despite its cathartic release, remains downcast - Moby leaves the vocals to a series of women (neighborhood chums, apparently) who each contribute to one song. The smoky 3-a.m. gospel whispers from throwback soul singer Leela James on "Walk with Me" steal the show.

Moby's most unified and understated album, and all the better for it, Wait for Me is a morose set of elegantly bleary material, quite a shift from the hedonistic club tracks of Last Night. Dominated by instrumentals, "Shot in the Back of the Head" is the most evocative of the bunch, seemingly pulled from an unreleased David Lynch film scored by the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen - a lament from a dustbowl, full of mournful slide guitar and dewy electric piano. Other than "Mistake" - a glum neo-post-punk rave-up that, despite its cathartic release, remains downcast - Moby leaves the vocals to a series of women (neighborhood chums, apparently) who each contribute to one song. The smoky 3-a.m. gospel whispers from throwback soul singer Leela James on "Walk with Me" steal the show.

Co-credited to the Void Pacific Choir - a name derived from a D.H. Lawrence quote - These Systems Are Failing is only slightly more collaborative than Moby's solitary ambient work, and its effect is the opposite of that. Fully energized and tightly concentrated, the producer's first studio album in three years is a concise and infrequently relenting set of songs that rail against those who have caused emotional and planetary harm. Moby revisits his punk and post-punk roots with a needling attack. Battering programmed drums, searing synthesizers, and torrents of rhythm guitar serve as prodding backdrops for his belting, often multi-tracked vocals. (The actual choir, a seven-member group including Moby, appears on two songs.) All the chanted choruses and seething verses over riotous rhythms evoke an apocalyptic glam-punk protest of sorts…

Hotel rarely shows, in any shape or form, traceable inspiration from the new wave and post-punk era Moby advertised as being in full effect. More surprising is that apart from the lovely ambient instrumentals that open and close it, the album is all valley and no peaks, suggesting that the shelving of his sampling device was the worst creative move he could've made. The first half contains simple - as in basic and/or emaciated, so we're talking poor - modern rock songs that tend to be anthemic and soul-searching in nature. Lead single "Beautiful" is one exception, a tongue-in-cheek thing Moby has imagined being sung by vacant celebrity couples. No matter how affable, vegan, liberal, bespectacled, or vertically challenged he is, the real irony is that a millionaire and former love interest of Natalie Portman has made a song of this kind (see also: Aerosmith's "Eat the Rich")…

Hotel rarely shows, in any shape or form, traceable inspiration from the new wave and post-punk era Moby advertised as being in full effect. More surprising is that apart from the lovely ambient instrumentals that open and close it, the album is all valley and no peaks, suggesting that the shelving of his sampling device was the worst creative move he could've made. The first half contains simple - as in basic and/or emaciated, so we're talking poor - modern rock songs that tend to be anthemic and soul-searching in nature. Lead single "Beautiful" is one exception, a tongue-in-cheek thing Moby has imagined being sung by vacant celebrity couples. No matter how affable, vegan, liberal, bespectacled, or vertically challenged he is, the real irony is that a millionaire and former love interest of Natalie Portman has made a song of this kind (see also: Aerosmith's "Eat the Rich")…

The CD in this set features Moby's leftovers from the 18 album, and they are pretty much what you would expect with the quality notched up a little. A bit less polished than his album tracks, they'll generally remind you of some other Moby tunes, only in demo form. "Soul to Love" sounds just like a more sedate "Go" and "String Electro" sounds like most of Play, only they're both pleasantly naïve and much less ambitious. "Landing" (with guest vocals by Azure Ray) and "Stay" make for moody bookends that sound the most complete and make for just enough of the poptacular Moby to hold you over till the next album.

Go: The Very Best of Moby is not the career-spanning compilation implied by its title. Instead, it's based around 1999's Play, 2002's 18, and 2005's Hotel. With the exception of Everything Is Wrong's ambient epic "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," Anders Trentemøller's fresh mix of "Go," and a rough-sounding live version of "Feeling So Real," nothing here references Moby's output prior to Play. The one new track, "New York, New York," is a fun Giorgio Moroder-inspired throwaway featuring Debbie Harry.

Go: The Very Best of Moby is not the career-spanning compilation implied by its title. Instead, it's based around 1999's Play, 2002's 18, and 2005's Hotel. With the exception of Everything Is Wrong's ambient epic "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," Anders Trentemøller's fresh mix of "Go," and a rough-sounding live version of "Feeling So Real," nothing here references Moby's output prior to Play. The one new track, "New York, New York," is a fun Giorgio Moroder-inspired throwaway featuring Debbie Harry.