Moby - 18 B-sides

A B-sides collection is the type of release marketed towards a focused, rabid fan-base, quelling both the desire for the artist to release subsequent material and the desire for fans to snatch up every possible song. Typically, B-sides are B-sides for a very good reason: They aren’t developed enough to impact every potential listener but have a sufficient amount of ideas to interest the most passionate of fans. Recent examples that come to mind are System of a Down’s extremely forgettable Steal This Album and Radiohead’s less than fantastic Japanese release Com Lag. Moby’s 18 B-sides has a few highlights that are clearly good enough to have been considered for the initial album tracklist but a lot that fall into the underdeveloped category. Yet, to an album that seemed entirely themeless, its B-side counterpart is surprisingly more organized and feels a little more sumptuous. “Landing” and “String Electro” may not be the most ornate Moby songs, but they feel much more pragmatic than most of 18. [www.moby.com]