Moby 'James Bond Theme'

Chart Peak: 8
YouTube

Moby's reworking of the classic James Bond Theme will be release to coincide with the new Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.

The name's Hall, Richard Hall, but he chose to work under a stage name. He'd already had a Top 10 hit with 'Go' and several minor hits to his name, but his career did seem to be on the wane a little until he was commissioned to remix Monty Norman's famous theme tune for the latest in the long-running franchise. Apparently even Moby himself, not a man who often seems to understate his own talents, had misgivings about the idea. Presumably he needed the money though and what he comes out with is a decent, if dated "re-version" of the original, complete with the obligatory "no Mister Bond I expect you to die!" sample. It also features then-Bond Piers Brosnan introducing himself, which fits with the corporate strategy.

It makes a lot of sense to try to attract younger pop fans to the series and in that sense it works, but it's hard to envisage anyone really wanting to listen to this in isolation. It was onwards and upwards for Moby though, as is his next project was the multi-million-selling Play album that made him ubiquitous for years.

Also appearing on: Now 20, 45, 46, 52
Available on: I Like to Score

Moby 'Porcelain'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

Moby first entered the pop charts in the early 1990s with seminal dance cut 'Go'... His latest album 'Play', has given the New Yorker a magnificent international hit, with platinum or gold discs earned in numerous countries including America, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Iceland and France!

Total worldwide sales of the Play album are reckoned to be in the region of 12 million, including 2 million in the US, an unprecedented success there for an electronic album and all the more remarkable since it never made the Top 30 there. Over here it had already topped the chart in early 2000 (the best part of a year after original release), which makes this sixth single release seem a bit like a lap of honour - but remarkably it managed to become the highest-charting track from the album and indeed of his entire career.

It's the only one of the UK hits from the album to feature Moby himself as a vocalist, although it does also feature the sampled blues vocals with which the album's most commonly associated. It's actually a rather pretty, if decidedly downbeat song, but there is one major problem with it: Moby can't actually sing. He goes most of the way to getting away with it because the sentiment and mood of the song don't demand a very expressive performance anyway, but his lack of energy does bring down the song somewhat and make it harder to empathise. Either that or he's chewing a wet paper towel in the studio.

Also appearing on: Now 20, 38, 45, 52
Available on: Go - The Very Best Of Moby

Moby 'Go'

Chart Peak: 10

YouTube

Although he'd surely been knocking about for a while, Moby made his first mainstream appearance with this single, reaching the Top 10 on its second chart run. Considering the obvious pop-cultural hook here (Angelo Badlamenti's music from Twin Peaks, which I could recognise even though I was too young to watch the programme at the time and have never bothered to since) it wasn't that surprising that it took him six years to reach such heights again, and that when he did it was with a cover version of the James Bond Theme. It's not like he was ever going to release an album that sold 10 million copies or anything was it? Oh.

Anyway, here he was, just another dance producer having an apparent one-off hit. Although it coincided with the era of rave hits based around children's television shows, 'Go' is rather a different sort of record, and not only because of the source material. It picks up on the spooky vibe of the music, adding pitched samples from Jocelyn Brown to create a tense atmosphere of anticipation... something's sure to bounce up out of here soon, surely? I presume it's a good fit in DJ sets for exactly that reason, although I don't exactly see how you could dance to it. It's still quite fun to listen to though; it's just a pity that the more famous he got the more annoying he got.

Also appearing on: Now 38, 45, 46, 52
Available on: Playlist - Dance