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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Hotel
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: V2 / Mute
Release Date: 22 March 2005
Discs: 2 discs
Genre(s): Electronic
Summary
The latest from the New York-based techno guru eschews samples for live instrumentation and vocals (by the bald one himself), and is backed by a second disc of ambient works.
Also By This Artist: 18 Last Night Play Wait For Me
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Voodoo Child: Baby Monkey
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
ShakingThrough.net
It's certainly not the most bracing thing he's ever done, but it's hardly disposable pop dreck.
Read Full Review >Filter
14 tracks that go from anthemic to soothing and sleepy, while never once crossing any kind of line--or even looking at one. [#15, p.94]
Entertainment Weekly
Reveal[s] just how ordinary his synth-pop has grown. [25 Mar 2005, p.71]
Los Angeles Times
The irony is that even though the sound itself is more "natural" than on most of Moby's previous work, the essence feels less organic and more calculated. [20 Mar 2005]
Rolling Stone
The slower stuff vagues out, and the bonus disc of ambient instrumentals ought to come with a controlled substance, but elegant relationship songs such as the torchy "Forever" suggest this talented softy has found a sensible way to come down from a multiplatinum high.
Read Full Review >Blender
Singing on nearly every song, the techno star gets more up-close-and-personal here--a ballsy move for someone the Lord didn't heap with vocal gifts, but one that pays off. [Apr 2005, p.124]
Village Voice
Impeccably made, hedonistic, lovelorn, catchy, compelling. But spiritual, messianic, visionary? Not by a long shot.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Hotel is more focused than 18, but suffers a bit for it's dogged humility and raw emotionalism.
Read Full Review >Mojo
A slightly muted, at times infuriatingly uneven, but ultimately rewarding collection. [Apr 2005, p.89]
Q Magazine
When it works... he is as heroically spirit-raising and stomach-tighteningly emotional as he was on Play.... Yet, when Moby plods, it's as if the world is burning with boredom. [Apr 2005, p.121]
E! Online
A few moody moments work, but this CD should come with a warning sticker that reads vacant.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Apart from the lovely ambient instrumentals that open and close it, the album is all valley and no peaks.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
Hotel is aptly titled: it's ultimately a clinical, generic experience.
Read Full Review >Uncut
[A] fruitless bid to affect euphoria. [Apr 2005, p.97]
Urb
The frustrating saving grace is a bonus disc of fluid, pain-killing Brian Eno pastiche. [Jun 2005, p.75]
Stylus Magazine
His music has lost a large degree of the vitality that it once held.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
An album that finds Moby half-remembering ideas for songs that are hard not to forget.
Read Full Review >Billboard
The lyrics seem ripped from a teenager's journal, and his regular-guy vocals can't make them compelling.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
If Moby has accomplished anything with Hotel, it's that he may have become the rare musical artist equally despised by both of modern music criticism's warring camps.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Hotel is all vacancy. [Apr 2005, p.128]
The New York Times
More than ever, the focus here is on Moby as a singer and songwriter, which is strange, because he is not very good at either job.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
Of all the glaring sonic crimes, it’s Moby’s nonexistent voice that most solidifies Hotel’s future infamy.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mike gave it a2:
The worst moby album to date.
T R gave it a0:
A couple of good songs. But I give the album the lowest possible score because of the protection software. I have been wasting my time trying to transfer the album to my iPod. Unsuccessfully because of what the artists call the opendisc technology. Putting on such protection software on an album the consumer already have purchased the rights for is completely unacceptable. I would never have bought this shitty album had I known in advance. Because of that, it is also the last Moby album I will ever buy.
Lauren H gave it a9:
I loved this album. Not having heard his other complete albums, but liking what i had heard, I bought this on a whim and was very happy I did. It never bored me, Each song stands alone and it's better than all the crap on the radio. Gives me a nice break from all the generic pop/rock/rap that popular radio exclusively plays.
Jonathan C gave it a9:
This album was one of my favourites of 2005. A couple of the tracks towards the end drag a little but the more I listen to the album, the more I enjoy it. It's different to his other work; that doesn't mean it's not good. Play was wildly different to Everything is Wrong, but both are outstanding records.
Jeffery S gave it a10:
This is one of my favorite tracks to listen to as I drift into a sleep: high notes are definately the first 2 songs... if you are in the market for a fun-easy listening cd, this is top notch
Armando A gave it a4:
Ok, so yeah. This album basically blows compared to genius-artwork "Play", but a couple of songs (for instance "Lift Me Up") are worth a listening. The ambience aggregate does a much better job than the pop album, but then again, you must be into that kind of music or own a lounge-bar or something in order to appreciate it.
Carl C gave it a6:
even the cover of "temptation" is just flat- and some of the key lyrics to that are missing. the rest of the album is an uninspired roller coaster rider ride aimed to please everyone.
