Customer Reviews

Hotel

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

This product offered by amazon does NOT include the second cd, Hotel: Ambient, that is included in most editions of this release. Many of the review consider disc 2 of hotel, Hotel: Ambient, to be the better of the two. Imagine my disappointment when my amazon order did not include it. If you want the complete alblum, be careful what you order. Don't be a stooge like I was. I ran down to my local record store and got the double disc for what I paid for this incomplete edition. The alblum art is the exact same, the Amazon reviews mention the second disc. Amazon, please take action on this.

... But Amazon.com has AGAIN chosen to mislabel a copy-controlled "CD" (Philips and Apple have declared that "copy-controlled" discs are NOT CDs, either in a technical or a legal sense and therefore cannot be labelled as Compact Disc Digital Audio; check for yourselves). Anyway, it's one more great release by Moby, who has proven time and again that he's the master of both understanding - as if by some uncany magic skill - what the listener NEEDS to hear and how to keep the listener's interest. The arrangements are very interesting (I particularly loved the slide guitar on "Raining Again"), the songs well thought-out... It's what Mike Oldfield could have been now IF he had finally learned to avoid those horrid-sounding digital distortion boxes for his guitars and IF he still could stay on the cutting edge.

Moby is a true successor to the throne of Mike Oldfield, The Art Of Noise and other such great ambient acts. And he can rock out too!

Now, let me explain the "1 star" rating. PLEASE, all you accountants, ditch this "copy protection" stuff. All you do is pay - without any reason whatsoever - tons of money to Macrovision, annoy thousands of consumers who simply cannot play the discs they bought, because the transports of so many CD and DVD players today (and especially car CD players) will NOT (and don't have to, anyway) recognize this unauthorized "variation" of the CD Digital Audio format... So, they often go out looking for equipment that will tolerate this useless gimmick or just rip the discs and copy them, as Macrovision's "copy protection" (which was developed with the blessings of IFPI) DOES NOT prevent the ripping of the "protected" discs! Why bother then?

And, please, Amazon.com guys, when you see the "Copy Control" sign, label it accordingly - it's NOT ENHANCED, it's "COPY CONTROLLED" (or, better yet, "playback controlled").

I stand with those who love this masterful release by Moby; and
I love both CDs. Normally, I've only appreciated Moby's
great instrumentals, so when I saw that Hotel comes with
a 2nd CD called Hotel-Ambient, I pre-ordered it instantly.
Now: anyone who criticizes the Ambient CD for being "boring"
has limited understanding as to what Ambient music is all about.
Speaking as a lover of non-verbal music, I find the Ambient
disc to be brilliant & deep & intriguing---an ideal
CD to play while engaged in creative pursuits. If you have
a multi-CD player, I recommend programming the first track
from the Hotel CD (which is an instrumental) to lead into the
entire Ambient CD. This music shows a level of musical maturity
that is astounding and nearly flawless. Now: the big surprise.
I love the vocal tracks on CD one! I've listened to this CD
about 6 times now, and each time I found myself off my chair and
dancing around the room. Don't let the apparent lyrical simplicity fool you.
When you write at a higher level, sometimes
the meaning comes out in simple language; but wow these songs
are moving. Track 2 really gets you going...and the
rest of the CD is loaded with greatness. A few of the tracks with
female vocals are plenty sexy...and I stand with those who appreciate
Moby's vocals...frankly, I like the vocal tracks on Hotel better than the vocal
tracks on Play. The music really Lifts You Up...and to quote another track,
I like it. I like it a lot. Way to go Moby!

I hesitated for so long to get this. Having followed Moby's rise since circa 1994 it has been amazing to watch what an impact he has had on music and on various cultural media over the years. I like his early techno/rave stuff and have enjoyed the gift he has for using electronica to score some beautiful and haunting hymns. But I wondered: has Moby gone soft? has he sold out? I was pleasantly surprised.

Look at the cover and add rain. That's the overall mood of this album. I find rain to be cleansing on many levels, often building a mood of pensiveness, reflection and a fragile peacefulness. There is a glorious melancholy in the music, the lyrics and the singing on the album. Take the chilled out moments from Moby's other albums and build on it. That's what he's done here.

Almost every song has singing - primarily Moby's longing, almost cyring, voice - and almost every song is for those rainy nights, when the world doesn't make sense, when longing for companionship and understanding burdens the heart, yet with a subtle hope underneath it all.

It's downtempo, mellow, moody and sometimes sad. But it is beautiful. Don't expect "old" Moby, don't look for the commercial jingles of Play. Just put it on and listen.

Why misunderstood? I keep hearing all these references to the trite lyrics on this alubm, especially those of the first American single, "Beautiful." When I first listened to this song, I too shared this opinion and wondered why a poet like Moby would put out something like this... then I read this article: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1497337/02222005/moby.jhtml - apparently the song is meant to be trite, about two celebrities just singing to each other about how beautiful they are when in fact they're just ignorant of the rest of the world and too wrapped up in themselves to see it. Knowing this gives me a whole new respect for the song, which I first perceived to be a simple love song without a whole lot of thought put into the lyrics. Also, check out the incredibly dark and darkly humorous music video for this song - it portrays very well the conflicting imagery Moby is trying to present.

The rest of the album has many highlights, namely the catchy "Lift Me Up," "Raining Again," and "Spiders," and the beautiful "Temptation" and "Love Should." There is not a bad track on this cd, and is very eclectic, as Moby is usually known to be, ranging from the satiric and pretty "Beautiful," to the sexy "I Like It." The last track, "Homeward Angel," and the first, "Hotel Intro," are the only instrumentals and are very nice.

The second disc is all very nice ambient music that you'll want to pay attention to - the subtle details and relaxing melodies will create an environment around you to take you away from your normal setting - such is all good ambient music. It is very much like Moby's release "The End of Everything," under the name Voodoo Child, only more sophisticated.

Overall this album is very very nice and will have you listening repeated times. A beautiful album.

I bought Hotel on faith, Moby has been awesome and up until now his albums have always impressed me (even if 18 sounded a lot like play). But Hotel was a huge disappointment. It's boring and average, the vocals are... Well, I hate to say it, but poor. The lyrics mean nothing; they're trite and repetitive. I prefer when he was just making music, just interesting stuff to listen to, and now every song has lyrics but none of the songs are saying anything. The whole album blends together for me, most of the songs sound very similar. Sure, a few songs have stood out and made me pay attention, but they're definitely not what I would have expected from an artist like Moby.

Disc two is interesting, but it's background music and not nearly good enough to save this album. I know Moby is capable of more! But next time I'll listen to the album before I buy it.

This CD is available in TWO CD set -- Amazon only offers the one CD version in spite of the fact that the two cd version is the SAME price at other retailers. When I complained to Amazon I was told essentially "buyer beware" -- not the service I usually expect from Amazon. It's a slightly below average Moby album but I can't really review it -- because I only got half the music.

My first unsatisfactory Amazon purchase.

It really hurts to give such a low rating to one of my most treasured music artists. Mobys CD was a let down by all means. I tried, I tried so hard to love this CD but I have not touched it in three months or longer. The songs sound like pop songs with catchy lyrics, maybe for some people. I hope this is'nt the direction Moby continues to go in because I absolutely love his other music. Im sure these songs sound somewhat better live, I have found that to be true with much of his music.

On another note, how bout that ambient cd? That was amazing. I am so happy it came with this CD because the ambient CD alone is worth your money. I was relieved to find I was not the only customer to think that. The ambient cd is filled with emotion and passion, you can feel it in the music. A song that enjoyed the most was 'Blue Paper,' it is trueley an amanzing song. If you find this stuff boring, you most likely loved the hotel cd!This CD will remain in my top favorites in the Ambient gerne for years to come.

So this was a weird realease. A great Ambient record, and a dissapointing Hotel record.

I'm a huge fan of Moby ("Play" remains one of my favorite cds ever), but "Hotel" was badly disappointing. I knew this cd didn't contain the same level of high tempo music I've heard previously with Moby, but aside from a few tracks, the music never caught my attention. I don't mind his vocals, if they were placed properly, but Moby tries too much to be a lead singer on this disc, and it just didn't work for me. If you must buy it, I'd get it used.

Then I listened to it. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to say that a Moby album is bad, there are plenty of artists/celebrities out there who I'd like to see fall off their perch but Moby is not one of them, I have Play and 18 both of which I still listen to and I also like his articles and social commentary but there isn't much to enjoy from this new 'singer/songwriter' effort.