Track Listing

1. Strike 1
2. In/Flux
3. Hindsight
4. Strike 2
5. What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 2)
6. What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 3)
7. What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)
8. What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1)
9. Strike 3 (And I'm Out)
10. High Noon
11. Organ Donor [Extended Overhaul]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13166 in Music
• Published on: 1997
• Released on: 1998-01-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
This set compiles much of DJ Shadow's pre-major label material in one convenient package in an attempt to foil bootleggers and bring new fans up-to-date in the curriculum. The results are naturally varied, but all point to a marvelous evolution of talent. The collection is kept together primarily by its propensity for jazzy beats and psychedelic loops. Shadow (né Josh Davis) moves through everything from old school funk ("In/Flux") to grungy '60s-style guitar raveups ("High Noon"). The centerpiece of the set, however, is a four-part composition called "What Does Your Soul Look Like," which is likely to be the first ever entirely sample-driven rock opera. It's a brilliant piece of work, laced with intriguing sounds, sound bites, and a detectable set of motion. It is also quite possibly better than anything on the critically -acclaimed Entroducing. --Aidin Vaziri

Option
[T]he weight of these constructions is undeniable. Even if some of Shadow's grooves seem a bit facile, his rich layers of appropriated samples, perfectly pitched and positioned into organic units, eventually draw you in.... Shadow's penchant for rare groove keeps things moving. There are trippy snippets floating up through flute loops or living strings, disembodied voices delivering pseudo-heavy bons mots.... On "Hindsight" and "Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)" he nearly gives it up, hinting that he could tear up a dancefloor if he wanted. But for now, it seems like his mind is elsewhere; conversing with vinyl ghosts, headphones over both ears.

Customer Reviews

Post-emptive Review
Yeah, it's been years since any of you even thought of this guy... but, oh well, so I'm late to the party... I guess I just wasn't impressed back in the day when I was listening to techno by mr Shadow. His sound on this record is somewhat accomplished, very atmospheric, etc. It's kind of like an intersection between jazz and dnb. Unfortunately I'm not that into jazz, and the work contained here is rather on the slow-paced side. Interesting, and accomplished, no doubt. But the only song I enjoyed listening to was High Noon, a fast paced, weird show-down type rave song. Pretty fun. The production values are pretty high, so you might wanna give this a listen. The quartet `what does your soul look like' is pretty good, and atmospheric, but it just didn't hold my attention. However, it's better than a lot of dnb records, and possibly jazz records.

A worthy album
The forgetten album I like to call it. Some people think the Private Press is DJ Shadow's second album but I beg to differ. This album stands well on it's own. Yeah I know 3 of the songs are on Endtroducing but the rest are all solid pre-Endtroducing DJ Shadow tracks. What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 3 is the best of the WDYSLL series. And then theres High Noon. Oh boy what a great track. One of my top Shadow tracks hands down. The Organ Donor remix is memorable but I prefer the original version.

My only riff is that it's a bit short. Especially if only consider the new tracks. And theres filler that honestly takes away from the album as a whole. It had really huge shoes to fill coming right after Endtroducing and given the genius of Psycence Fiction, I can see how it's forgotten.

Not his best but a phenominal album none the less.

The best of early Shadow b-sides and rare tracks
As the liner says, this release encompasses much of Shadow's early work that predated Endtroducting, or was released outside of North America. Also, the title suggests what Shadow acknowledges as a protective measure against the clamping-down of sampling by the recording industry. Much of Shadow's early work relied very heavily on sampling, so to put these track on a release for popular distribution was a very wise release.

In/flux, Organ Donor (extended overhaul) and the What Does Your Soul Look Like (pts. 1-4) are monumental accomplishments in the realm of the modern sample and digging DJ scene, which Shadow pioneered and popularized, to the delight of millions. What can we do but listen and praise?