Amazon.co.uk: After three albums that seemed to find Moby in some sort of creative stasis, Last Night sees the once-restless DJ/producer changing the record and returning to one of his first loves: the heaving dancefloors of his native New York. Soulful, uplifting piano rave is the order of the day here, and while some hallmarks of Play remain--Moby still has a fascination for long, tearful synth lines and sampled vocals, which he drops in here and there, seemingly to yield the maximum emotional response--Last Night still feels like a clean slate. "I Like to Move in Here" shimmies along on a languid house beat that doffs a cap to early hip-hop in the shape of a cameo from MC Grandmaster Caz, one of the writers of "Rapper's Delight", while "Everyday It's 1989" is the sort of overdriven, ecstatic piano house that Moby perfected on his 1995 classic Everything Is Wrong. There's more guest spots in the shape of British MC Aynzli, the Nigerian 419 Squad and Sylvia from dark NYC disco band Kudu, but the most impressive thing about Last Night is the peaks that Moby can reach when he's working alone: see the grand, emotive swell of "Sweet Apocalypse", cold synths and driving beats that, were it released by James Murphy, would be hailed as genius--and rightfully, too.--Louis Pattison
Album Description: Last Night - the fifteen track album was recorded in Moby's home studio in Manhattan NY and mixed by Dan Grech - Maguerat who has also worked with Radiohead and the Scissor Sisters. The new album features guest vocalists and includes the original 70's MC Grandmaster Caz one of the writers of Rappers Delight, Sylvia from Kudu, the UK's MC Aynzli and S.O. Simple and Smokey from the Nigerian 419 Squad. EMI. 2008.
Okay but nothing to write home about LAST NIGHT is the first Moby album which left me leaving me bored and unimpressed. I knew that this album would be more dance orientated than its predecessors, and I liked his earlier albums pre-PLAY. Unfortunately I am not like most people here who enjoyed LAST NIGHT. There were some songs that I did like on the cd, like the catchy electro-pop "Ooh Yeah" with its chirpy female vocals and percolating dance beats. The dance-friendly grooves of "257.zero" is another song that I like. "Live For Tomorrow" reminds me of EVERYTHING IS WRONG and the GO era with its mix of gospel vocals and techno beats. Sadly though there are more songs that left me bored and stopping the cd before it ends. For me personally this is Moby's weakest album. It is uneven and lacks the beautiful melodies of his previous albums.
Very good album...NICE MIX OF LATE NITE MOOD AND DANCE This album is a little bit retro, a little bit dance, a little bit mood music. The more I listen to it the more I like it. There are even revists to older Moby styles....like "Everyday it's 1989" which reminds me alot of his eighties classic dance hit "Next is the E".
I get more of a 1978-1980 feel on some of the songs. Some of that feel is intentionally late years Disco. But there other influences on here too. It's goofy, but "OOH YEAH" sounds more to me like an early Cars song. And check out that cover art....an homage to The Cars cover art if I ever saw one.
Standout track has got to be "I Love to Move in Here". Most contemporary and groovy track on the album. At first it seems like the weakest and the most repetitive, but then you get hooked on it. Great track and best on the album.
257.zero is a pretty good track too (in that Kraftwerk kind of way when they were their most New Wavey Danceable...does that make any sense?)
That said, there is alot on here (especially towards the end)that sounds like "Play". Nothing wrong with that. Overall, I think it's pretty much on par with "Play", if not better in some respects.
Exactly what I like!! This album is so good that I need to review it. I love Moby since I was 14 when I bought "Play", I have all the other albums and "18" was always my personal favorite, until now. I can say that "Last Night" is even better than all the other albums because it takes the best of each one, feels like if you are listening to a "best of" compilation. This album don't have the same effect on you if you listen to it at night or day, but in both cases it is a great experience, althought I think this fits better for a cold night. There are no fillers in this album, you won't want to skip a song!
Best songs:
Ooh Yeah I Love To Move In Here Live For Tomorrow Hyenas The Stars Mothers Of The Night Last Night
Enjoyable, But No "Hotel" I bought this album two or three weeks after it came out, and wrote a review of it then, but I'm only now getting around to posting it. Odd how the two years and ten months that separated "18" and "Hotel" seemed so much longer to me than the three years that separated "Hotel" and "Last Night." "Play" is good, "18" is almost excellent, and "Hotel" is probably one of the twenty most perfect albums ever put out by anyone in any genre. Each is almost completely different from its predecessor, and I suppose "Last Night" continues that pattern, but it often recalls Moby's pre-"Play" singles and E.P.s, as well as individual tracks of his albums, making it seem less unprecedented than "18" or "Hotel."
I'll start with the basics. "Last Night" has fifteen songs (two of which are on the same track, something I hate) with an average length of 4:21, compared to "Play"'s 3:27, disc 1 of "Hotel"'s 3:46, and "18"'s 3:57. But the increased song length doesn't hurt it, and the album actually feels much shorter than "Play," despite being three minutes longer.
The first half is fast-paced, and none of the songs have a full set of audible lyrics, while at the same time none of the instrumentals are devoid of at least some vocal samples or background talk. One of these is a rap by members of 419 Squad, and a rap by Grandmaster Caz pops up randomly in the middle of another, but neither are particularly intelligible (the full rap sounds like it's done through one of those filters Beck always uses).
The second half begins with two fully audible and fully vocal songs which strongly recall Moby's past sound (although no specific song in the latter). Then the rapid tempo of the music falls and we are treated to four instrumentals, three of which have no singing or talking whatsoever. Then Sylvia Gordon comes in for the finale, which recalls "Temptation" from "Hotel" (perhaps a little too much) yet has a very sparse musical backing reminiscent of "Doctor Who" background music. After about half a minute of silence there's another four-minute song with shades of David Bowie's "Bring Me the Disco King." The final count is seven vocal songs, three semi-instrumentals, and five instrumentals. As far as structure and cohesion go, "Last Night" is good, better than "18" or "Play."
But on an individual song level it's something of a letdown. Actually, it's at about the same level of quality as "18;" probably a little better. Three years ago I would have been joyous, if not elated, to hear "Last Night." But after "Hotel" it seems weak, like a waste of Moby's talent. Only "Ooh Yeah," "Everyday It's 1989," and "Live for Tomorrow" would even have been worthy of inclusion on "Hotel." Listening to "Last Night," I could often tell where it was going, in stark contrast to "Hotel." It also lacks the wild eclecticism of "Play" or "18." One thing I do love is how it contains a lot of retro synthesis, with tone colors you don't hear much these days and many notes that sound like they were sampled from pre-mid-Nineties video games.
This time around Moby doesn't show off his gifts as a singer, lyricist, rocker, or crafter of ambient textures. While it's inevitable that any one album will fail to use a few of his diverse talents, the absence of lead vocals from him is one disappointment that's hard to get past. Instead he uses eleven guest vocalists and more sampled singing than I care to tally. Not only is this a wasted opportunity since he's such a good singer, it diminishes the sense of it being his album.
Another thing bothers me. The samples, as previously noted, are back with a vengeance, but, whereas the liner notes of "Play" and "18" had meticulous documentation of whose voices are sampled and from what songs, "Last Night"'s liner notes don't tell me anything of the sort. If you unfold them, there's a poster that says "Disco lies." I don't know what that's all about.
Overall, "Last Night" is a good album; the best new album I've bought since the Postmarks' debut sixteen months ago. No plodding, no skip-worthy tracks, plenty of energizing and uplifting sound, and some heavily layered songs I can listen to endlessly and still pick up new things. But it clearly doesn't take full advantage of Moby's artistic potential, and the lack of his friendly, familiar voice leaves me somewhat cold.
Bring On the Night One of Moby's best. Just a great cd to pop in on a long drive home or for a dinner party or just to get your groove on. Dance and ambient music to inspire your soul.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
