Private Press

Ah yes the Private Press. Has it already been 6 years? Well it has and the album continues to impress. I honestly believe the album is appreciated more today than it was upon its' release back in 2002. DJ Shadow quality music with a bit more flair. This album could've been a masterpiece had it not been for some tracks. Ahem ...Monosylabik and Right Thing / GDMFSOB. To this day I have no idea why he did not include the other version of GDMFSOB with Roots Manuva (see the Private Repress). I simply couldn't give this album 5 star because of the above mentioned tracks.

However, the remaining tracks are excellent. The Motorway songs are great with their continuity and soul. Giving up the Ghost shows off Shadows beat skills and Six Days has to be heard to be believed.

If I could, I would give The Private Press 4 and a half stars.

Any guy who can steal an obscure song by an obscure 70's band from Italy ("Strange About The Hands" by Sensation's Fix) and turn it into a fairly decent hop ("Mongrel . . . Meets His Maker") can't be all bad. But he ain't all that great either.

Five years following the creation of Entroducing... DJ Shadow has again significantly altered the music genre which is known as trip-hop. Shadow's album The Private Press has contradicting yet very similar aspects in comparison to its predecessor. Both are built based on instrumentals. Both encapsulate the mind through mind altering beats and classic scratching. However The Private Press unlike Entroducing... is a journey into the trip-hops ability to alter the mind.
The Private Press tone is instantly set by the gloomy track Fixed Income. This song incorporates fleeting music tidbits with a heavy beat which seem to flow effortlessly with each other. Immediately following are songs like Giving up the Ghost and Mongrel... Both songs have such heavy beats you find yourself naturally swaying your head to the music. Yet the two songs which will forever change my thinking of stylistic music are the two ending tracks of Blood on the Motorway and You can't go home again. Both of these tracks are so dark and mysterious that I would rather have you experience the songs then me having to attempt to describe such genius through words. My words would do no justice for such songs. This album from beginning to end is a musical journey. It encapsulates the mind but also gives you ample moments of individual thought. What I am trying to say is that this album makes thinking natural, it makes listening to music seem natural. You find yourself immersed in hard beats coupled with bits and pieces of unidentifiable music. The outcome is an album which alters your very perception of music and sets a prototype for music as a journey rather than music as time filler.

The sophomore slump has by far become the norm in music and when you cake on the monumental disappointing effect that could have by following a landmark piece of art, well, to put it modestly, the stakes are high. 'The Private Press' is by no means the disaster it could have been, but it is nowhere near the cohesive groundbreaking masterpiece its predecesor was. A compilation of B-Sides is the generic thought that comes to mind.

"Monosylabik", with its geek-out sampler-effects extravaganza does not belong on any respectable album. Not only is the track an annoyance to the ears, it just goes to show that maybe Davis' music is all about sound or technique over substance.

"Mashin' on the Motorway", again, filler and very out of place. I think this could have been a novelty B-Side but should have DEFINITELY been replaced with "100 Metre Dash" from the "Six Days" single. "Mashin'" just sounds immature with its failed attempts at comedic road rage.

Those are the only two tracks I can say are bad. The rest of the songs are solid, just not album material.

The bookends (Letters from Home) are there for concept purposes, though you'd be hard-pressed to dissect any sort of concept in the body of the album. So instead of adding to the experience, they distract and are constant skips.

What works?

"Fixed Income", "Giving Up the Ghost" and the 2-part "Mongrel... Meets his Maker" are all showstoppers. An album created around those pieces may have been able to match 'Endtroducing...' in impact, though not in relevance and depth.

I admit, my expectations were ridiculously high back in '02 when I picked this up. It has since been five years and the album gets very little to no rotation. There is no mood, so I steer away from putting it in for the two tracks at a time that may fit how I feel that day. Instead, I take the highlights and include them on compilations where they DO stand out as opposed to sound desperately stranded as they do on this album.

I can appreciate the fact that Davis is moving in his own direction but this just didnt do it for me. His style took a complete turn from the trip-hop aspect and presents more conversation filled segments that are rather boring. There are a couple tracks that showcase Shadow's DJ talent and a few other alright tracks but if your looking for endtroduing or preemtive strike you wont find it here.