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Elly Roberts reviews
Mute Records
- Released: March 2005
- Format:2 CD set
- Rating: 2/10
- Cat.no: LCDSTUMM240
The view from the window of Mobys Hotel is that of a concrete jungle.
A cold and imposing landscape. Flip over and youll find a minimalist interior-hugeempty spaces. A strange reflection on what is his home town of New York.At ground level we all know it has a massive soul.So,if Richard Hall, akaMoby, ever thought his Hotel would get a five star rating then hes living incloud cuckoo land.
This twin CD release (ambient & whatever) needs a liftthat goes upwards, not to the basement of his admiration for 80s synth-pop,e.g. Very and Lift Me Up. Play was a massive successand rightly so. Several tracks moved me, like Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Sad?Follow-up, 18, never matched it.
This one goes nowhere: probably stuck in the elevator shaftlooking for the panic button. This is a pretty shaky structure, that may wellcome crashing down on his career. Liner notes explain away the albums title,“A variety of reasons,but heres one of them. Hotels fascinate me in thattheyre incredibly intimate spaces that are scoured every 24 hours and madeto look completely anonymous..” Yeah, right Moby.
Anyway, his familiar genre-bending is absent. His style remains simple enough: the proverbialspacey FX (Homeward Angel)and dance beats, but this time around its rendereddull as dish water. Play gave him a baseline for exploration: it had a heartas well. This time hes used his head, so when hes reliant upon his owncreative output he comes out faltering like a building without afoundation. Dont forget Moby, even the best Hotels have a soul – this onedoesnt.
Only one standout track;a belting Raining Down.
Disc 2: Ambient, protracted sound effects.
Weblink: Moby.com
The full list of tracks included are :
Disc 1:
1. Hotel Intro
2. Raining Down
3. Beautiful
4. Lift Me Up
5. Where You End
6. Temptation
7. Spiders
8. Dream About Me
9. Very
10. I Like It
11. Love Should
12. Slipping Away
13. Forever
14. Homeward Angel
Disc 2:
1. Swear
2. Snowball
3. Blue Paper
4. Homeward Angel(long)
5. Chord Sounds
6. Not Sensitive
7. Lily
8. The Come Down
9. Overland
10. Live Forever
11. Aerial
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.