The Private Press

The Private Press is the second studio album by American hip hop producer DJ Shadow, released by MCA Records on June 4, 2002. It peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[2]

The Private Press
Studio album by DJ Shadow
Released	June 4, 2002 (2002-06-04)
Studio	The Parlor of Mystery
Genre	Instrumental hip hop[1]
Length	56:57
Label	MCA
Producer	DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow chronology
Preemptive Strike (1998) The Private Press (2002) The Private Repress (2003)
Singles from The Private Press
"You Can't Go Home Again" Released: 2002 "Six Days" Released: 2002 "Mashin' on the Motorway" Released: 2003

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[5]
The Guardian	[6]
Los Angeles Times	[7]
NME	6/10[8]
Pitchfork	7.0/10[9]
Q	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Uncut	[12]
The Village Voice	A[13]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[3]

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "When Shadow incorporates a bit of '80s synth-pop here or industrial grind there, he's like a conductor waving in new instrumentalists with the flick of his wrist."^[5] Pascal Wyse of The Guardian commented that "It is strange for someone who 'creates' so few of his own sounds to have such a distinctive voice, but Shadow finds little ghosts in other people's music and sets them free."^[6] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called it "an album full of playful experiments."^[11]

Spin included the album on the "40 Best Albums of 2002" list.^[14]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"(Letter from Home)"	Josh Davis	1:09
2.	"Fixed Income"	Davis Steve Cataldo	4:49
3.	"Un Autre Introduction"	Davis François Bernard Michaël Larcanche	0:44
4.	"Walkie Talkie"	Davis	2:27
5.	"Giving Up the Ghost"	Davis	6:30
6.	"Six Days"	Davis Brian Farrell Dennis Oliveri	5:02
7.	"Mongrel..."	Davis Franco Falsini	2:20
8.	"...Meets His Maker"	Davis Falsini	3:02
9.	"Right Thing/GDMFSOB"	Davis	4:20
10.	"Monosylabik"	Davis	6:46
11.	"Mashin' on the Motorway"	Davis Lateef Daumont	2:58
12.	"Blood on the Motorway"	Davis	9:12
13.	"You Can't Go Home Again"	Davis	7:03
14.	"(Letter from Home)"	Davis	0:57

Japanese edition CD bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Flashback"	3:51
16.	"Dark Days (Main Theme)"	4:30

Limited edition CD bonus track

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Giving Up the Ghost" (original version)	6:14

Limited edition CD bonus disc

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pushin' Buttons Live" (featuring Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark)	12:41

Tour edition CD bonus disc

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Right Thing" (Z-Trip 'get the party off mix' in three parts)	6:18
2.	"Six Days" (Soulwax mix)	5:18
3.	"GDMFSOB" (Unkle uncensored)	6:26
4.	"Six Days" (remix)	3:52
5.	"Walkie Talkie" (radio edit)	3:16
6.	"Mashin' on the Motorway" (radio edit)	2:39

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

• DJ Shadow – production, arrangement, art direction
• Tim Young – mastering
• Keith Tamashiro – art direction
• B+ – photography

Charts

Chart	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15]	21
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16]	20
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17]	54
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18]	37
French Albums (SNEP)[19]	21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20]	75
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21]	16
UK Albums (OCC)[22]	8
US Billboard 200[2]	44
US Top Dance Albums (Billboard)[23]	3

Year-end charts

Chart (2002)	Position
Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[24]	161

Certifications

Certifications for The Private Press

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[25]	Gold	100,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.