For the second half of September, I’m putting my Mental Jukebox into a time machine, featuring the best songs on the best albums from the very best years of music. #70sThrough90sBestAlbum
With the Play album, Moby left the rave, but he didn’t leave electronica. He gave it a new skin, making it a desirable thing for listeners who wouldn’t necessarily spend their weekend nights at a techno club. Moby also found a way to make rhythm and blues accessible for a wider audience. In 1999, I couldn’t stop playing this album. But Track 8, in particular, was especially irresistable: “Natural Blues”.
The soul of the song is the sample from Vera Hall’s “Trouble So Hard”. But the heart is Moby’s synth and drumbeat orchestration. While some may think of the use of samples in music as lazy, Moby’s inclusion was anything but. “Natural Blues” was the result of sifting through countless folk and gospel field recordings. Hall’s haunting melody was recorded in 1937, but Moby’s track had this powerful way of resurrecting her voice and showing the world this hidden gem of a melody. Hall’s version was distraught and raw. Moby’s was gutsy and angst-ridden.
“Oh Lordy, Lord, trouble so hard. Oh Lordy, Lord, trouble so hard. Don't nobody know my troubles but God.”