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Rating: Richard Melville, aka Moby, returns to the limelight in 2005 with his new musical endeavor: the album Hotel.
After the misstep of 18, merely a copy, and a rather unsuccessful one at that, of the brilliant work entitled Play, our New York DJ decides to change course by breaking the silence and abandoning the sounds that characterized Play and brought him success. This Hotel is indeed all about songs with an exquisitely pop form. But don't get me wrong! Our Moby is not one to make cheap electro-pop ditties; after all, he's been a DJ for a lifetime, he lives with and for music, it runs in his veins. Simply in this album, his flair and excessive ability to create classy melodies and electronic textures are completely devoted to achieving the sole objective of a catchy nature of the tracks.
Has Moby sold out? Has he also fully surrendered to the music business? (as the use of "lift me up" for the ad of a famous local telephone company would indisputably demonstrate?)
NO, simply our eclectic DJ knew it was time to change the air, to return to more familiar grounds, to show how even pop ditties can have a soul.
Yes, because these 14 tracks that make up Hotel, as incredibly easy to absorb as they may be, if listened to carefully, show a whole undercurrent of well-thought-out sounds, studied melodies, instruments excellently blended, sought-after atmospheres. Like for example the delicate "Temptation," revolving around guitar, piano, and the slow, steady beat of drums, all enhanced by the voice of Laura Dawn who punctuates this modern ballad. Melancholic atmospheres also characterize the splendid "Where you end," with Moby's voice on the mic (who is often present singing on this album), and what about "Love should"? They alternate with these darkly melancholic moments with more upbeat songs like "Very," balancing between dance rhythms and pop form, or "I like it," where Moby's trip-hop soul creates a piece worthy of a Tricky or Massive Attack album, or yet the catchy "lift me up" or even "beautiful," a song ready to take its turn.
Certainly, what comes out of it is nothing innovative, but one can't always seek experimentation; sometimes our ears love to be enchanted by catchy sounds, and if these are the work of someone who truly knows their craft, all the better.
In conclusion, an album that will make waves, for me an excellent electro-pop work, our Moby undoubtedly has talent. It doesn't deserve incredibly high ratings, but it allows for listening and never bores.
What more do you want from a pop album?!?
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Beautiful (03:11)
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
I love you baby,
I love you now,
I love you baby,
I love you now,
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
Let’s just go out and ride,
Talk about the things we’ve tried
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
They’ll never get inside,
We got too much to hide
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
I love you baby,
I love you now,
I love you baby,
I love you now,
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
Let’s just go out and ride,
Talk about the things we’ve tried
Look at us we’re beautiful
All the people push and pull but,
They’ll never get inside,
We got too much to hide
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
Let’s just go out and ride,
Talk about the things we’ve tried
Look at us we’re beautiful
All the people push and pull but,
They’ll never get inside,
We got too much to hide
Look at us we’re beautiful [x7]
Look at us we’re beautiful (yeah!)
Look at us (yeah!) we’re beautiful (yeah!) [x 3]
Look at us (yeah!) we’re beautiful
Look at us we’re beautiful [x4]
04 Lift Me Up (03:19)
Plain talking (Plain talking)
Take us so far (take us so far)
Broken down cars (broken down cars)
Like strung-out old stars (like strung-out old stars)
Plain talking (Plain talking)
Served us so well (served us so well)
We travelled through hell (travelled through hell)
We know how we felt ( We know how we felt )
Lift me up, lift me up
Higher now ama
Lift me up, lift me up
Higher now ama
Plain talking (Plain talking)
Making us bold (making us bold)
So strung out and cold (so strung out and cold)
I'm feeling so old (feeling so old)
Plain talking (Plain talking)
Has ruined us now (has ruined us now)
You never know how (you never know how)
Sweeter than thou (sweeter than thou)
Lift me up, lift me up
Higher now ama
Lift me up, lift me up
Higher now ama
[4x]
Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh
Higher
Lift me up, lift me up
oh la la la la
Lift me up, lift me up
oh la la la la
[4x]
(Feeling so old)
05 Where You End (03:22)
Some things fall apart
Some things makes you whole
Some things that you find
Are beyond your control
I love you and you're beautiful
You write your own songs
What if the right part of leaving
Turned out to be wrong
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
Thought I fell in love the other day
With an old friend of mine
I was running kisses
Down every inch of her spine
We had the roof down
The sun came shining in
The black fact is
That I was thinking of you
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
I slept in the sun the other day
I thought I was fine
Everything seemed perfect
'Til I had you on my mind
I tried to love you
I did all that I could
I wish that the bad now
Had finally turned into good
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
Oh where you end
Is where I begin
Oh where you end
Oh where you end
Oh where you end
06 Temptation (04:55)
Heaven
A gateway to hope
Just like a feeling
I need, it's no joke
And though it hurts me
To see you this way
Betrayed by words
I'd never heard
Too hard to say them
Up, down, turn around; please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone; find my soul as I go home
[2x]
Oh it's the last time, it's the last time
Oh it's the last time, it's the last time
Each way I turn
I know I'll always try
To break the circle
That has been placed round me
From time to time
I find I lost
Some meaning
That was urgent
To myself
I do believe
Oh, up, down, turn around; please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone; find my soul as I go home
[2x]
Oh it's the last time, it's the last time
Oh it's the last time, it's the last time
And I have never met anyone quite like you before
And I've never met anyone quite like you before
[2x]
And I've never met anyone quite like you before
Oh, up, down, turn around; please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone; find my soul as I go home
And I never met anyone quite like you before
Up, down, turn around; please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone; find my soul as I go home
Up, down, turn around; please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone; find my soul as I go home
[2x]
07 Spiders (03:45)
We just had to ask
Maybe some one out of heaven
Would hear us down here
We couldn't bear to stand
How the people leave us waiting
For something up there
Oh, why did you leave?
Why won't you come?
And save us again?
Come back to us spiders
Come uncrush my hand
Let peace and beauty reign
And bring us love again, like you can
We just didn't know
Someone there outside of heaven
Heard us down here
We couldn't stand it here
How the people leave us longing
For something up there
Oh, why did you leave?
And why won't you come?
And save us again?
Come back to us spiders
Come uncrush my hands
Let peace and beauty reign
And bring us love again, like you can
[2x]
So much time, we need to ask everything
How did it go, you need it I got it
Come back to us spiders
Come uncrush my hands
Let peace and beauty reign
And bring us love again, like you can
[2x]
Like you can
08 Dream About Me (03:21)
Babe, oh dream about me
Lie on the phone to me
Tell me no truth if it is bad
There's enough in my life to make me so sad
Just dream about colour fills our lives
Just dream about someone else tonight
And babe, oh dream about me
On the phone talking quietly
I want to be yours, oh won't you be mine
Against red skies for all time
So dream about us when you're alone
Just dream about how I will let go
And
And
Babe, oh dream about me
Lie on the phone to me
Tell me no truth if it is bad
There's enough in my life to make me so sad
Just dream about colour fills our lives
Just dream about someone else tonight
Just dream about colour fills our song
Just dream about how I will let go
12 Slipping Away (03:39)
All that we needed was right
The threshhold is breaking tonight
Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good when it's all going bad
Seeing the sun when I can't really see
Hoping the sun will at least look at me
Focus on everything better today
All that I need and I never could say
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away
All that we needed tonight
Are people who love us and like
I know how it feels to mean it
Oh and we leave here, you'll see
Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good when it's all going bad
Seeing the sun when I can't really see
Hoping the sun will at least look at me
Focus on everything better today
All that I need and I never could say
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away
So long
So long
Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good when it's all going bad
Seeing the sun when I can't really see
Hoping the sun will at least look at me
Focus on everything better today
All that I need and I never could say
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away
Hold on to people they're slipping away
[14x]
13 Forever (03:39)
Two simple places
We wanted to go
Two simple things
You wanted to know
Everything around
I could not see
I wish I'd known
How much you loved me
Oh
We could feel this way forever
[2X]
I watched the sun
Cause it touches you while you sleep
You gave me something
That I wanted to keep
I see you smile you smile like a little child
And hold you crying when it all goes wild
Oh
We could feel this way forever
[6X]
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