RECONSTRUCTED: THE BEST OF DJ SHADOW 2 XLP

DJ Shadow, rightly regarded as one of the most influential and consistently innovative artists to emerge from music in the last 20 years, has released, “Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow.”

DJ Shadow’s reputation is largely built on the skill with which he manipulates samples, taking rare and unheard pieces of music and reworking them into parts and phrases for his songs. Many of his tracks feature dozens of samples from a wide array of styles and influences including rock, soul, funk, experimental, electronic and jazz.

Shadow famously sampled American composer David Axelrod twice: the piano in “Midnight In A Perfect World” from 1996’s Endtroducing was originally recorded for Axelrod’s “The Human Abstract”; and on his collaboration with DJ Krush, “Duality”, sampling Axelrod’s “The Warnings” (Part 1). Although Shadow currently uses fewer samples than on his earlier albums, several examples feature on 2006 album, The Outsider. His collaboration with David Banner, “Seein’ Thangs”, features a synthesizer and vocals from Cecilia’s “Crimson Red” and “Outsider Intro” includes an excerpt from Ron Geesin’s “Concrete Line Up” from the 1973 album, As He Stands.

All the music on Reconstructed is drawn from Shadow’s 20-year career – from the early pre-Mo Wax days, right up to the present and his most recent album, ”The Less You Know, The Better.” Perhaps most exciting to Shadow fans is the inclusion of two brand new tracks, including the pop masterpiece “Listen,” featuring legendary vocalist Terry Reid.

“A (mostly) marvellous snapshot of a supreme production talent.” – BBC

” Reconstructed favors the deep, crafted, and cool side of Shadow’s output over his more outgoing and heavily rap-based work. Still, it’s a fine set, worth owning along with Endtroducing… while giving beat-friendly newcomers a very persuasive career-to-date overview.” – AllMusic

Track Listing:

1. Midnight In A Perfect World
2. High Noon
3. I’ve Been Trying
4. This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way)
5. You Can’t Go Home Again (Radio Edit)
6. Scale It back (Radio Edit)
7. Listen
8. Stem
9. Six Days
10. Won’t You Be
11. Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)
12. Lonely Soul (7″ Version)
13. Blood On The Motorway
14. You Made It
15. Redeemed