The Hard Sell is a fairly apt title for a DJ release. There's a misconception about the craft, because the term "DJ" is often confusingly used in various settings. The guys scratching in the background at a hip hop show are called DJs. The hosts on the radio are called DJs. The guys keeping an eye on their iPod playlists at wedding receptions are called DJs. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are called DJs.

The Hard Sell at the Hollywood Bowl offers almost as much education as it does entertainment of the art form. The set begins with a tongue-in-cheek, '50s style educational film about what it is they'll actually be doing. What that is consists of playing, manipulating, montaging, mashing up, and obscuring crates full of 45-rpm records in order to create their own unique set. Two DJs, eight turntables, boxes of 45s spanning five decades of music, creating something in between new creation and music history lesson.

The music selection for this particular show consists of a dizzying spread of popular music, songs, and styles from throughout the 45-rpm era. Everything from '50s bubblegum pop to '80s hip hop, '70s disco to '90s trip-hop, '60s psychedelia to movie themes to smooth jazz to punk rock to... whatever else was ever pressed onto a 45.

The first half of the show comprises the bulk of the time (roughly two-thirds), and also contains the most interesting content. Musically, it is all over the place, but retains a very melodic and populist approach. Popular forms of radio fare from the '50s on up through the '90s are presented - although the weight is given to earlier decades - and then mangled and reprocessed with a slew of other samples and effects. This is the party half of the show, and although it does dip down into slower sections at times, it's just flat out fun. The selection of tracks is great, and even those who might not guess that they would be into a DJ show would most likely be grooving along and dancing around the entire time. It literally contains something for everyone.

The second half is not only shorter, but a bit weaker. It's a little more experimental, and that doesn't always work. Although it shows their ability to mine and recompile, convincingly, some disparate sources, it almost comes off as a proof of concept of what can be done as opposed to what should be done (to serve a crowd). It's certainly not bad, but it does lose the party vibe that was built so steadily over the first half. And the dueling mobile DJs at the end just brings the whole set to an abrubt and odd close. Mostly the entire concert is quite entertaining, but it does fade a bit there at the end.