Following a notorious flirtation with alternative rock, Moby returned to the electronic dance mainstream on the 1997 album I Like to Score. With 1999's Play, he made yet another leap back toward the electronica base that had passed him by during the mid-'90s. The first two tracks, Honey and Find My Baby, weave short blues or gospel vocal samples around rather disinterested breakbeat techno. This version of blues-meets-electronica is undoubtedly intriguing to the all-important NPR crowd, but it is more than just a bit gimmicky to any techno fans who know their Carl Craig from Carl Cox. Fortunately, Moby redeems himself in a big way over the rest of the album with a spate of tracks that return him to the evocative, melancholy techno that's been a specialty since his early days. The tinkly piano line and warped string samples on Porcelain frame a meaningful, devastatingly understated vocal from the man himself, while South Side is just another pop song by someone who shouldn't be singing -- that is, until the transcendent chorus redeems everything. Surprisingly, many of Moby's vocal tracks are highlights; he has an unerring sense of how to frame his fragile vocals with sympathetic productions. Occasionally, the similarities to contemporary dance superstars like Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers are just a bit too close for comfort, as on the stale big-beat anthem Bodyrock. Still, Moby shows himself back in the groove after a long hiatus, balancing his sublime early sound with the breakbeat techno evolution of the '90s. ~ John Bush, Rovi

1		Honey
2		Find My Baby
3		Porcelain
4		Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
5		South Side
6		Rushing
7		Bodyrock
8		Natural Blues
9		Machete
10		7
11		Run On
12		Down Slow
13		If Things Were Perfect
14		Everloving
15		Inside
16		Guitar Flute & String
17		The Sky Is Broken
18		My Weakness