Track Listing

1. We Are All Made Of Stars
2. In This World
3. In My Heart
4. Great Escape
5. Signs Of Love
6. One Of These Mornings
7. Another Woman
8. Fireworks
9. Extreme Ways
10. Jam For The Ladies - featuring Angie Stone and MC Lyte
11. Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)
12. 18
13. Sleep Alone
14. At Least We Tried
15. Harbour - featuring Sinead O’Connor
16. Look Back In
17. The Rafters
18. I’m Not Worried At All

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3930 in Music
• Released on: 2002-05-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Admittedly, 18 isn't a million style miles away from its predecessor, but this can only be a good thing. If it ain't broke (and let's face it, Play was a pretty hole-free record all told), then don't fix it. Hence the dominance here of Moby's heartbreaking way with strings, pianos and those sampled gospel vocals he's so cleverly made his own.

"In My Heart" is familiar territory: a mournful blues voice sat astride the epic swell of military drums and tear jerking symphonia, while further tales of love gone bad surface on the bass-driven "One of These Mornings" and the subtle house simmer of "Another Woman". Is there anyone else out there that can do grief you can dance to? Thankfully "We Are All Made of Stars" does shed a little optimism, and there are some cool collaborations here too. Sinead O'Connor lends fragile breath to "Harbour" while MC Lyte and Angie Stone bring sassiness to the funky hip-hop anthem, "Jam for the Ladies". Welcome back, little man. --Claude Walls

CD Description
'18' is the follow up to Moby's critically acclaimed, multi-million selling album 'Play' which was released in 1999. Features guest appearances from Sinead O'Connor, Angie Stone, and MC Lyte amongst others. Includes the first single from the album 'We Are All Made Of Stars'. '18' continues where 'Play' left off, focusing on chart orientated ambient trance, and techno.

Customer Reviews

He Is Made Of Stars!
"18" new songs by Moby and it's about an equal match for his previous "Play" release - and that's a good thing.
The first hit, "We Are Made Of Stars" is very close to Bowie's "Heroes" with the guitar work and the repititious vocal arrangements (Bowie and Moby are buddies). "In This World" is close to "Play"'s, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" with superb vocals by guest Jennifer Price who seems to be singing through the spirit of Janis Joplin. Shauna and Lorraine Phillips check in with their sound bytes on "Rafters", both continuing Moby's white soulfulness. "One Of These Mornings" brings on another great soul-filled, multi-layered song with Dianne McCaulley on vocals - a nice mood piece. For those still in need of a Moby instrumental ambient piece, there's the short "Fireworks" and the somber Vangelis-like title track "18". Need a little rap? Try "Jam For The Ladies". Looking for Motown? Moby covers that as well with "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" with Sylvia Robinson bringing in a Billie Holiday sound-alike.

The entire album benefits from all the guest vocalists who seem to understand Moby's direction, but then, he uses most of their talent in precorded snippets - and that's fine.

"Im Not Worried At All" finishes off the album with a great Gospel rendition by The Shining Light Gospel Choir.

Moby has managed to match his previous work with another collection of satifying works. This is a album worth repeated listenings.

A great chill out record
Before I write this review, I must admit that I have never listened to Moby's previous work bar of course all the great singles I've seen on T.V.

Perhaps after I have done so I might change my standing on this record. But I really have to say, the first time I played this album, I was totally moved by it! It was exactly what I wanted, its groovy and relaxing. Every track just allows u to simply melt away.

I feel a slight reference to Pink Floyd on some tracks. Some of these tunes particularly 'In this world' make me think about them and no doubt they have influenced Moby. And thats not a bad thing because this album has shown me what a great talent this man is. This album is brilliant!

One thing that is a little annoying is the fact that Moby only sings on three tracks, the best of which is 'Extreme Ways'. All of them are really good.

Another thing I do feel is that no track really stands out. They all just seem to blend into one brilliant piece of chill out music.

This record does the trick for me. You can just do what ever you want to get up to and have this album playing in the background.

Alternatively you can just sit back and let this grand bunch of '18' tunes let u forget about lifes worries and just melt away. Moby lets you reach the stars and like he says 'We are all made of stars'.

5 stars in my book...... but then again......it is my book!

Great New Consistent Album
Having read other reviews about how this is simply a watered down version of 'Play', I had to write my own viewpoint.

'Moby' did not set out to explore the extremities of the musical universe with this album. He wanted to create a nice consistent album. That is what this album is. If Moby created a completely different album people would write how it is not as good and say he should have stuck to the same formula. But he chose the other alternative; to draw on his previous efforts and create an album on similar lines. But he still gets criticised for not being experimental. Why is this? Moby has searched for the type of music that he likes playing most and that is popular. He has found it.

'We Are All Made Of Stars' is a great upbeat opener for '18'. Quite different from any other song on the album, Moby mixes the effects of numerous instruments and his vocals with a solid beat. Next is 'In This World', a typical Moby song combining blues with a lovely swirling melody. As already mentioned by other reviewers this has a hint of 'Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad' in it. But that isn't a bad thing. All artists create similar songs. The only way you can avoid this is to change musical genre after writing every song, and what you'd end up with would be a mess.

'Signs of Love' is a personal favourite of mine. Moby provides gentle warming vocals against a beautiful drifting backdrop.

'Extreme Ways' is a more powerful record than most on this album, yet it still retains the subtlety.

Making a brief return to his disco days, 'Jam For The Ladies' sees Moby creating a more upbeat track. Mid-album, this acts as a nice interlude between the predominant blues theme. 'At Least We Tried' is a good example of this theme. The vocals are very soulful, and the melody is simple but effective. The next track, 'Harbour', has an echoing voice against a more definitive guitar and piano melody, which drifts you away by the end of the song.

This album is more than just a continuation of 'Play'. In ways this is in fact better. 'Play' was an experimental album, and so it deviated a lot. '18' is a much more solid attempt. Don't criticise it just for being similar. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy his latest offering, because next time, we may find Moby somewhere completely different in the musical universe.