Hotel - Moby
Metascore
47 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 24
  2. Negative: 8 out of 24
  1. It's certainly not the most bracing thing he's ever done, but it's hardly disposable pop dreck.
  2. 70
    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]
  3. Reveal[s] just how ordinary his synth-pop has grown. [25 Mar 2005, p.71]
  4. 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]
  5. 60
    A slightly muted, at times infuriatingly uneven, but ultimately rewarding collection. [Apr 2005, p.89]
  6. 60
    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]
  7. 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]
  8. 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.
  9. Impeccably made, hedonistic, lovelorn, catchy, compelling. But spiritual, messianic, visionary? Not by a long shot.
  10. Hotel is more focused than 18, but suffers a bit for it's dogged humility and raw emotionalism.
  11. A few moody moments work, but this CD should come with a warning sticker that reads vacant.
  12. 40
    [A] fruitless bid to affect euphoria. [Apr 2005, p.97]
  13. 40
    The frustrating saving grace is a bonus disc of fluid, pain-killing Brian Eno pastiche. [Jun 2005, p.75]
  14. Apart from the lovely ambient instrumentals that open and close it, the album is all valley and no peaks.
  15. Hotel is aptly titled: it's ultimately a clinical, generic experience.
  16. His music has lost a large degree of the vitality that it once held.
  17. The lyrics seem ripped from a teenager's journal, and his regular-guy vocals can't make them compelling.
  18. An album that finds Moby half-remembering ideas for songs that are hard not to forget.
  19. 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.
  20. Hotel is all vacancy. [Apr 2005, p.128]
  21. 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.
  22. Of all the glaring sonic crimes, it's Moby's nonexistent voice that most solidifies Hotel's future infamy.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 53 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 37
  2. Negative: 17 out of 37
  1. Mike
    2
    The worst moby album to date.
  2. TR
    0
    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 **** album had I known in advance. Because of that, it is also the last Moby album I will ever buy. Full Review »
  3. LaurenH
    9
    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. Full Review »