Published on Apr 12, 2004
The timing for the release of
18 is not proper: it comes as a follow-up to one of the most
innovative and best albums of the 1990s,
Play. Of course, the expectations for this follow-up were
pretty high. This alone is bad for the follow-up. If this is not
enough, the follow-up turns out to be strictly mediocre.
Frankly, overwhelmed by the gargantuan success of
Play, Moby has tried to repeat what he had done with its
successor
18. It seems as if he has run out of ideas for this album,
and didn’t have enough of them to make this album unique and
special in any way, hence making it sound a lot like
Play, only not as good. The result: a number of songs that
sound more or less the same as songs on
Play.
The songs “In This World,” “One Of These Mornings” and “Sunday
(The Day Before My Birthday)” are amongst the best on
18, and these sound really good. But sadly, any of these
numbers could be “Porcelain” or “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad”
from
Play, if one changes the lyrics. It is because of the
striking similarity of these songs from
18 to the ones on
Play, that they don’t seem as enjoyable as they ought to be.
In a way, there is a feeling that not enough justice has been done
to both sets of songs, from
Play and from
18.
Still, not everything is disheartening about
18. There are also many reasons to smile about this album.
Not every good song on
18 sounds like a copy of the ones on
Play. To begin with, the first single, “We Are All Made Of
Stars,” with an uncannily ’80s-ish feel to it, is a perfect radio
song — irresistibly likeable. Other songs like “At Least We Tried”
and “I’m Not Worried At All” not only have fantastic vocals, but
their melancholy, and musically simple and honest nature are
touching. As a matter of fact, “I’m Not Worried At All” is a
beautiful way to end the album: positive lyrics, simple and somber
tune; it really invokes a teardrop or two.
So,
18 is not as good as
Play. It appears worse than it is because expectations were
set too high by
Play, and it can’t live up to them. Though it has more than
a few memorable moments,
18 is strictly a decent dance album, nothing
spectacular.