by Moby List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$13.00 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Details
Media: Audio CD
Release Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Label: V2. / Bmg
Average Customer Review: 3.5 Based on 101 reviews.
Sales Rank: 306
Tracks
1.
Slipping Away
2.
Spiders
3.
Temptation
4.
Very
5.
Where You End
6.
Raining Again
7.
Love Should
8.
Lift Me Up
9.
I Like It
10.
Hotel Intro
11.
Homeward Angel
12.
Forever
13.
Dream About Me
14.
Beautiful
Editorial Review
Once a roving maverick who skipped from euphoric rave to speed-metal to ambient soundscaping as if just to prove he could, recent years have seen Richard Melville Hall relax into a comfortable--and yes, lucrative--niche. On the surface, Hotel follows a similarly laid-back trajectory to his last two albums, Play and 18; melancholic torch-songs indebted to electro-pop, gospel, and David Bowie's "Heroes." That vibe is typified on Hotel by the rousing, keyboard-drenched likes of "Beautiful" and the twinkling, optimistic "Spiders," but that's not to say Moby is stagnating, exactly. For one, he's bravely jettisoned the vocal samples that powered the likes of "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" and relies instead on his own understated, faintly awestruck vocals--and, indeed, those of guest vocalist Laura Dawn, whose sparse, synth-and-drum-machine cover of New Order's "Temptation" is a low-key highlight. But there's also a return to his raving roots on the pulsing, diva-led "Very," and a touch of politics on "Lift Me Up"--a song that hides its contempt for the Bush Administration amid a dark carnival of sweeping strings and disco-noir rhythms. --Louis Pattison
Top Customer Reviews
Rating:
2 Much better producer than vocalist
I'm a huge fan of Moby ("Play" remains one of my favorite cds ever), but "Hotel" was badly disappointing. I knew this cd didn't contain the same level of high tempo music I've heard previously with Moby, but aside from a few tracks, the music never caught my attention. I don't mind his vocals, if they were placed properly, but Moby tries too much to be a lead singer on this disc, and it just didn't work for me. If you must buy it, I'd get it used.
Rating:
4 2 CD's
First CD is pretty darn cool. Second CD is full of very slow electonic music (one song sounds like a 70's planetarium track).I'd give the first CD a 5. The second CD a 2 1/2.
Rating:
4 glum exuberance from our favorite sonic pharmacist
This review is a form of penance. I was out shopping with a friend and he picked out this album. Having both eagerly anticipated it and read negative reviews of it online, I scoffed "Don't buy that, I heard it sucks." He wisely ignored me, bought the cd, and after a few days loaned it to me with no more comment than a raised eyebrow.Hotel is marked by pulsing, cresendoing beats and mournful downbeat piano. Moby's vocals, more present than on most of his albums, are glum and exuberant, often at the same time. On "Lift me up," for example, the lyric "plain talking...has taken us so far" is delivered in a grey tone, but the chorus "Lift me up, HIGHER AND HIGHER" is triumphal.Overall, the album is reminiscent of "Hymn," "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," and "When It's cold I'd like to die" from Everything is Wrong, "Extreme Ways" from 18, "Memory Gospel" from the play b-sides cd, and tracks from the second half of play, such as "the sky is broken," and "my weakness." Hotel is a worthy addition to the more subdued side of Moby's catalog. He's said that music like this can be kind of an "aural Xanax," and that's fair. If you were expecting or hoping for more Moby coffee beans than Moby xanax pills, you might be a bit disappointed, otherwise there's nothing to complain about from this offering.Oh, and my friend didn't make me eat crow. . .much.
