Originally Released May 17, 1999

Reissued August 26, 2022

D.E.F.

2xLP 

It’s been over twenty-three years since Moby released his now legendary album Play, so what else remains to be said? Firmly entrenched among various best-of-the-century and even all-time lists, Play has wormed its way into worldwide music consciousness, such that almost everyone has a relationship with it, however deep or glancing in nature. Nor has it (and Moby himself) been without controversy, from the aggressive licensing techniques used to boost its popularity, to his notoriously ill fated 2019 autobiography Then It Fell Apart, which covers the period in his life following the release of Play. In any case, Play has largely transcended squabble and critique, a testament to its cultural ubiquity and uncanny fin-de-siecle sound; few albums seem to have captured the feeling of 1999 quite like it. Decadent and triumphant, one finger in the heavens, another on commercial trends, Play is an “end of history” album that embodies the halcyon mood of the late 90s.