Moby - Extreme Ways

Moby is an odd character. I won't recount his biography here, but he's interesting in many ways and off-putting in as many others. However, regardless of who he is as a person, I think he's one of the greatest musical geniuses of our time.

There's an ongoing debate about whether one can separate art from the artist. I think one can, most of the time, and for me, Moby is the perfect example. I dislike him as a person for several reasons, but it would be dishonest to criticize his music of who he is, what he says or does.

And we're here to talk about music, so let's leave the rest for another day or for someone else.

Moby has been active since the early '80s, but he didn't become hugely popular until the end of the 20th century. Hugely popular, he became especially with the release of his album Play in 1999. Even if you don't think you're familiar with Moby, you probably are. At the turn of the century, his music was everywhere. You could hear it through regular channels like radio and TV, but also in movies, commercials, and TV shows, and pretty much anywhere music is played. Even today, on the other side of the planet: a few weeks ago, my family was watching Japanese TV, and lo and behold, Moby's music was playing in the background.

Today's song is Extreme Ways. It's from the 2002 album 18. I have a fondness for this album for various reasons, but I don't think it is my favorite song from it. Actually, I consider 18 to be one musical unit, I don't think of it as a collection of individual songs. When you listen to the whole album at once, while it doesn't tell a story, it brings you along a certain emotional journey. Interestingly, I think that Extreme Ways is the turning point of that journey in the album.

So, I was saying that Extreme Ways is not my favorite Moby song, nor is it my favorite song on the album it's on. However, I recently stumbled upon a newer version of the song and I really loved it. From what I understand, it was re-recorded for the soundtrack of the Bourne franchise. As I've said, his music is frequently used in movies. Strangely, I've only seen one of the Bourne movies, the first one. Maybe I'll watch the others one day.

Anyway, here are two different versions of Extreme Ways. (from what I understand, he re-recorded several times, and there are even more versions around)

Tell me what you think of them.