''This article is about the album ''Animal Rights''. For the rights movement, see
Animal Rights .''
'' is an album by
Moby , released on
September 23 ,
1996 (see
1996 In Music ).
The album was poorly received upon its first release. Moby had earlier made his reputation with
Techno Music , but ''Animal Rights'' found him embracing
Alternative Rock .
While most praised his attempt at diversifying, ''Animal Rights'' is generally perceived as containing derivative rhythms and techno hooks poorly disguised as alternative rock
Riffs (
Salon.com writer
Douglas Wolk , for instance, opines that the album "finds Moby falling on his nose so hard it's a wonder the cartilage hasn't been driven into his brain," and concludes that "maybe somebody should try to convince Moby that guitars are actually made out of dead animals," while ''
Rolling Stone '' decides that "this time around, he has decided to push an agenda instead of boundaries").
Stephen Thomas Erlewine suggests that ''Animal Rights'' "ranks as one of the classic failed albums, right alongside
Sinéad O'Connor 's
Big-band ''
Am I Not Your Girl ''."
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Seeming to expect its critical reception, Moby added the following entreaty to the bottom of credits page: "please listen to animal rights in its entirety at least once."
The album's liner notes contain various pictures (the cover photographs features Moby at two weeks old, being held by his grandfather), an essay on the course of basic rights over history, an essay outlining Moby's disregard for the
Christian Coalition , and a page with various "last minute maxims," such as "cruelty is unacceptable" and "you can't expect people to worry about the world when they can't feed themselves or their children."
On the
Billboard Heatseekers chart, ''Animal Rights'' peaked at #31.
All songs by Moby except "That's When I Reach For My Revolver," by
Clint Conley of
Mission Of Burma .
Released
September 23 1996
#"Now I Let It Go" – 2:08
#"Come On Baby" – 4:39
#"Someone To Love" – 2:51
#"Heavy Flow" – 1:54
#"You" – 2:33
#"My Love Will Never Die" – 4:32
#"Soft" – 3:57
#"Say It's All Mine" – 6:04
#"That's When I Reach For My Revolver" – 3:55
#"Face It" – 10:01
#"Living" – 6:59
#"Love Song For My Mom" – 3:40
Released
February 11 1997 .
# "Dead Sun" – 3:40
# "Someone to Love" – 3:09
# "Heavy Flow" – 1:55
# "You" – 2:33
# "Now I Let It Go" – 2:09
# "Come On Baby" – 4:30
# "Soft" – 3:54
# "Anima" – 2:25
# "Say It's All Mine" – 6:04
# "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" – 3:55
# "Alone" – 10:45
# "Face It" – 10:00
# "Old" – 3:06
# "Living" – 6:58
# "Love Song For My Mom" – 3:38
# "A Season In Hell" – 3:57
The album's first single, "That's When I Reach For My Revolver," was subject to some controversy. The original version by
Mission Of Burma read in part, "Tonight the sky is empty/But that is nothing new/Its dead eyes look upon us/And they tell me we're nothing but slaves." Moby changed the lyrics, whether intentionally or not; his most noticeable change was in the third line above, replacing it with "Instead they look upon us." The result was that he replaced a statement of agnosticism with a baffling
Non Sequitur , though the change went generally unnoticed.
Controversy erupted when both the
BBC and
MTV asked Moby to change the lyrics to the song's title line "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" - Moby rerecorded the song as "That's When I Realize It's Over" so it would air. Fans of the original were outraged; Moby defended himself, saying he didn't consider the change in lyrics to be very important. Oddly, one of the album's "last minute maxims" is "freedom of speech is absolute and inviolate."
The album featured a second single, "Come On Baby," which came out in early November 1996. Released on a myriad of formats, the double CD in a rubber sleeve is considered by many to be one of the better Moby rarities. Apart from the usual remixes, the single also featured a "
Death Metal " version of the
Devo classic "Whip It".
Fans in the UK who were early enough to the record shops were treated to a 49 minute bonus CD called ''Little Idiot'' (LCDStumm150). Comprised entirely of drum-free ambient tracks, it was the second in a line of ambient bonus CDs (following from Underwater, which came with
Everything Is Wrong ). Little Idiot included reworkings of tracks from ''Animal Rights''.
#"Degenerate" – 3:25
#"Dead City" – 4:53
#"Walnut" – 3:06
#"Old" – 5:06
#"A Season In Hell" – 4:01
#"Love Song For My Mom" – 3:43
#"The Blue Terror Of Lawns" – 3:22
#"Dead Sun" – 3:44
#"Reject" – 18:28
- Moby - Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Drums, Keyboards, Producer, Engineer, Art Direction, Design, Mixing, Photography
- Alan Moulder - Engineer, Mixing
- Hahn Rowe - Violin
- Alli - Art Direction
