Preemptive Strike

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A first-strike attack with nuclear weapons carried out to destroy an enemy's capacity to respond. A preemptive strike is based on the assumption that the enemy is planning an imminent attack.

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  • Artist: DJ Shadow
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: January 13, 1998
  • Total Time: 61:10
  • Type: Compilation (best of)
  • Genre: Electronica

Review

DJ Shadow assembled the singles collection Preemptive Strike as a way for American audiences to catch up on his career prior to his debut album, Endtroducing. The 11-track album contains three new interludes and three complete singles that he released on Mo'Wax -- "In/Flux," "What Does Your Soul Look Like," and "High Noon" -- and a bonus disc, "Camel Bobsled Race," which is a megamix of DJ Shadow material by DJ Q-Bert. Given that Endtroducing was a masterpiece of subtly shifting texture, Preemptive Strike almost seems purposely incoherent, even though the tracks are sequenced chronologically. The jerky flow can make the album a little difficult to assimilate on first listen, but it soon begins to make sense, even if it never achieves the graceful flow of the album. Several of the selections on Preemptive Strike were available in different forms on Endtroducing -- parts four and one of "What Does Your Soul Look Like" are in their original forms here, presented along with one and three, and there's the "extended overhaul" of "Organ Donor." All of these are significantly different than the LP versions, and "What Does Your Soul Look Like" is necessary in its original, half-hour, four-part incarnation. But the key moments are the seminal "In/Flux," which arguably created trip-hop, and "High Noon," the dynamic, fuzz-drenched single that was his first single release since Endtroducing. Those three A-sides are reason enough for any serious fan of the debut to pick up Preemptive Strike, but the B-sides and "Camel Bobsled Race" are equally intriguing, making the package a nice summation of DJ Shadow's most important singles through the end of 1997. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Preemptive Strike (album)

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Preemptive Strike
Compilation album by DJ Shadow
Released January 13, 1998
Recorded 1991–1997
Genre Instrumental hip hop
Trip hop
Length 61:11
Label Mo'Wax
Producer DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow chronology
Endtroducing.....
(1996)
Preemptive Strike
(1998)
The Private Press
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars [1]
Robert Christgau (1-star Honorable Mention) [2]
Entertainment Weekly B [3]
Pitchfork Media 8.4/10 [4]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars [5]
Sputnikmusic 4/5 stars [6]
Almost Cool 7/10 stars[7]

Preemptive Strike is a retrospective compilation album of DJ Shadow's singles released on the UK record label Mo'Wax between 1991-1998.

Contents

Personnel

Track listing

  1. "Strike 1" – 0:26
  2. "In/Flux" – 12:12
  3. "Hindsight" – 6:52
  4. "Strike 2" – 0:15
  5. "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 2)" – 13:51
  6. "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 3)" – 5:12
  7. "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" – 7:12
  8. "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1)" – 6:21
  9. "Strike 3 (And I'm Out)" – 0:26
  10. "High Noon" – 3:57
  11. "Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)" – 4:26

Additional releases

When Preemptive Strike was first released, it included a bonus track on a second disc, which featured DJ Q-Bert in a megamix titled "Camel Bobsled Race (DJ Shadow Megamix)".

Preemptive Strike was also released in Japan under the Toy's Factory label (catalog number: TFCK-87954), and limited to only 2,000 copies worldwide. It included two bonus tracks not released on the U.S. version, "The Number Song (Cut Chemist Remix)" and a remix of Depeche Mode's "Painkiller (Kill The Pain Mix)." It also had a completely different packaging and was dedicated to the memory of Paul Ballenger [1].

On the vinyl release, "Strike 1," "Strike 2," and "Strike 3," were removed, leaving the album with

  1. "In/Flux"
  2. "Hindsight"
  3. "High Noon"
  4. "Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)"
  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)"

Samples

In/Flux

Hindsight

What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 2)

  • "Edge of Time" by The Growing Concern
  • "War of the Gods" by Billy Paul
  • "Girl on the Moon" by Foreigner
  • "Take Three and C" by Drum Session
  • "Webb of Jim Collage (MacArthur Park/Yard Went On Forever)" by Mystic Moods
  • "The Yard Went on Forever" by Richard Harris
  • Spoken words from the movie Brainstorm
  • Spoken words from the movie Johnny Got His Gun
  • Spoken words and sound effects from George Lucas' movie THX 1138

What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 3)

What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)

  • "The Vision and the Voice Part 1 - The Vision" by Flying Island
  • Spoken words by Billy Zane from the movie Dead Calm
  • "Monica" by The People's People
  • "Numbers" by Kraftwerk

What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1)

High Noon

Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)

References


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Mentioned in

Harris, Barbara G. (Quotes By)
Preemptive Strike [Japan] (1998 Album by DJ Shadow)
Pre Emptive Strike [UK] (2006 Album by DJ Shadow)
Camel Bobsled Race (Q-Bert Mega Mix) (1998 Album by DJ Shadow & DJ Q-Bert)
Operation Lysistrata (2008 Film)