Replay: A Tribute to Moby

by

Various Artists

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This is a well-performed tribute to one of the Gods of electronic music. Unlike most 'tribute albums' that have been released in 2002, this one goes out of the way to be completely original. Brought to you by the same bands from the Tool, Prodigy and Metallica tributes, they do just the same job on this one. The record starts off with a well tranced-version of "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters", possibly the best track on the whole CD by the group Transmutator. Track 2, "Machete", is plays very exactly like its original, but with far more electronics layered on. Then comes "Body Rock", which is less 'rock' sounding, but more electronic tweaked than the original hit single. Then follows are more of Moby's 'Play' hits in "Southside" and "Porcelain", however these tracks are the very weakpoint of the record, as both tracks come off sounding ...poorly arranged (some of these Hypnotic Records bands can really turn a beautiful song ugly). The CD does however rebound, when bands take on Moby's more aggressive songs like "All That I Need Is To Be Loved" and "What Love", both songs did turn out really well, although ironicallly Moby's originals were far more heavier than 2 versions covered by these 2 'industrial' bands. Followed by that is another one of the standout tracks on the record, Razed In Black's take on a less famous Moby song "Thousand", and an excellent result it turned out to be, as R.I.B. once again successfully crossed distortion guitars with rave beats. But sadly that is where alot of listeners may stop the CD, with the last 3 tracks being utterly uninteresting. The last track "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" has to be the worst track on the record, seeing as the original was one of the most touching, mellow songs Moby has ever recorded. The group Issa takes on a new meaning of the song, making it into a happy danceable song, which is totally wrong (does the line 'why does my heart feel so bad?' make you wanna grab a partner and head to the dancefloor and groove? no!). What was a letdown on the record was the songs that didn't appear, hits like "Natural Blues", "Every Time You Touch Me", "Come On Baby" and "Feeling So Real" would have been interesting to hear. But still, the CD artwork was really articulating, although very repetitive, it's very and creative looking, although it looks like it was made by a junior high student. Still, I am very glad to have purchased the record, and I also encourage others to buy the CD, if they have liked other electronic tributes from the past. And also this tribute is no imitation, read the info, it is not from Big Eye Records.

As a "collector" of trying to obtain all of Moby's remixed cd's, I thought I would try this one out myself. After purchasing it used, I was blown away by the first track - Transmutator's version of "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters". Though it is faster paced than the original, there is enough of the original elements to recognize the song and the track is remixed excellently!!! I would say the same of Razed in Black's version of "Thousand", but to a lesser degree. Glampire's remix of "Porcelain" sounds to me as if Moby went to MTV's Unplugged (which I think Moby should try sometime...) with a female singer. "Machete", BodyRock", "Go", and "Hymn" don't detract to far from their original releases, and not a real reason to buy this album. The other listed tributes should not have found their way onto the album.