Jonathon from “Help Me Help You” (Richard Melville Hall) – the controlled, secretive and bespectacled man, who prefers the alias Moby, inspired, by the novel Moby Dick, which was penned by his great-great-granduncle Herman Melville was raised on the staggeringly property assessed streets of "Aryan Darien" Connecticut. Throughout the photo spread in the pages of the Go: The Very Best Of Moby booklet Jonathon is the picture of Nu York Luxury; barefoot, attired in a dark suit and tie, posing seductively (sometimes with the glasses, sometimes without) on mid-century furniture against a floor to ceiling window Manhattan backdrop. When this vegan goes postal Darien-style about one quarter into his CD booklet essay, Jonathon suggests that the world’s tensions could be eased with lunch and a friendly game of tennis. Clearly little has changed since he was the boy in the photo on his site titled “Young Moby” in an aquamarine Lacoste tucked neatly into ironed jeans (and a Beatles wig.)
Jonathon’s boyhood dreams of glowsticks and kick drums hitting every quarter note of the 4/4 bar have come true. And so in Go: The Very Best Of Moby we get a new mix of “In My Heart”, a Burning Man cell phone recording of “Feeling So Real”, a handful of songs from Play, a few from Hotel, a few from 18 and one updated track from Moby’s 1992 self-titled album, the “Twin Peaks” Laura’s Theme sampling, Daniel Ash and Glenn Campling partook "Go". It’s a decent collective (a stocking stuffer if you will) for new fans with a few hits and some lesser-known songs. Maybe one or two should have stayed that way. I don’t think we really needed to revisit the…‘emotive’ (weak, breathy) singer/songwriter/MoveOn.org’s Cultural Director Laura Dawn sung, “Dream About Me”. Those hoping for hidden tracks, obscure pre “Moby” Jonathon work, or if you were one of the few who liked Ambient or Animal Rights - or at least his bastardized cover of Mission Of Burma’s “That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (remember the roller boogie circle pit video?) - No tracks for you.
The second disc of eleven tracks that is included with ‘Go’ is DJ remixes of Jonathon’s work. As if turning onto Santa Monica Boulevard from La Cienega Boulevard, suddenly you’re lost in a world that worships Madonna and lives at 135 bpm’s (especially Olav Basoski’s methtastic Da Hot Funk Da Freak Funk “Body Rock” remix.) The best are Jason Nevins’ killer stab at “Jam For The Ladies” followed by Perfecto’s Frankie Goes To Hollywood manic meets dramatic Faith No More Epic-style piano dub of “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad”. The lone new track of ‘Go’ is the Debbie Harry sung “New York, New York”. As a marginal pop song that’s sure to please, it could pass for one off of (as Borat calls her) new father and singing tranny Madonna’s last album (“I Love New York”); the video for which showcases improv actors as Go Go boys in gold lame hot pants (Jonathon, Jonathon, Jonathon.) It shant be long til Jonathon and Debbie Harry perform it on (his favorite program) a “Dancing With The Stars” results show. |