''Party Mix!'' is a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

album by American new wave band

the B-52's The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, k ...

, released in 1981 by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

(US) and

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

(Europe, Japan). It features three songs from their first studio album, ''

The B-52's The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, k ...

'' (1979), and three songs from their second LP, ''

Wild Planet ''Wild Planet'' is the second studio album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in August 1980 by Warner Bros. (US) and Island Records (Europe, Japan). As with their first album, the B-52's traveled to Compass Point Studios in the Ba ...

'' (1980). It has received generally good reviews. Commercially, the album peaked at number 55 in the US and number 36 in the UK.

Background

The album was released between the band's second album, ''

'' (1980), and their ''

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

'' EP (1982). It was devised as a stop-gap release by the band's manager,

Gary Kurfirst Gary Kurfirst (8 July 1947 – 13 January 2009) was an American music promoter, producer, manager, publisher, and record label executive. Kurfirst founded Radioactive Records, whose acts included Live, Black Grape, Ramones, Big Audio Dynami ...

, while the band was working on the ''Mesopotamia'' sessions. On the original vinyl, the six-song collection featured songs from their first two albums remixed and sequenced to form two long tracks, one on each side. On the CD version, however, the six songs were their own individual tracks. In 1991, ''Party Mix!'' and a 1990 remix version of ''Mesopotamia'' were combined and released as one CD in the US. In Europe, both albums were made available on separate CDs, with ''Mesopotamia'' retaining the original U.S. mix.

Reception

Commercial

''Party Mix!'' spent 11 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at No. 55.

Critical

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' observed that the album's "implicit equation of party and disco offends old new-wavers, but at EP list for half an hour's music the extravagance is recommended." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' opined that the album was "functional for discos but antithetical to the B-52's' minimalist precepts." In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, William Ruhlmann stated, "Since the group's bouncy songs are already dance-ready, this makes for alternatives rather than real improvements, even from a dancefloor perspective." In 2022, ''Treble'' magazine named ''Party Mix!'' one of the ten essential remix albums, and wrote: "''Party Mix!'' is such a part of the canon that

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

and

Soulwax Soulwax are a Belgian electronic band and DJ/production collective from Ghent, who formed in 1995. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor and Laima Cavalera, and Stefaan Van Leuven. The group first ...

would reference it in a mashup 21 years later".

Track listing

Side one #"

Party Out of Bounds "Party Out of Bounds" is a song by American new wave band the B-52's, from their second album, ''Wild Planet'' (1980). Featured with the other dancefloor-bound tracks from the album, the song peaked at number five on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Dan ...

" (

Fred Schneider Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock band the B-52s, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well known for his '' sprechgesang'', which he developed from reciting ...

Keith Strickland Julian Keith Strickland (born October 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and one of the founding members of the B-52s. He was born in Athens, Georgia. Originally the band's drummer, Strickland ...

, Ricky Wilson,

Cindy Wilson Cynthia Leigh Wilson (born February 28, 1957) is an American musician and one of the vocalists, songwriters and founding members of New wave music, new wave rock band the B-52s. She is noted for her distinctive contralto voice and also plays per ...

Kate Pierson Catherine Elizabeth Pierson (born April 27, 1948) is an American singer, lyricist, and founding member of the B-52s. She plays guitar, bass and various keyboard instruments. In the early years, as well as being a vocalist, Pierson was the main ...

) – 5:12 #"

Private Idaho "Private Idaho" is a single released by the B-52's from their second studio album ''Wild Planet'' (1980). Composition The B-52's are from Athens, Georgia, and never played a concert in Idaho until September 13, 2011, when they played at Eagle Ri ...

" (Schneider, Strickland, R. Wilson, C. Wilson, Pierson) – 4:04 #" Give Me Back My Man" (Schneider, Strickland, R. Wilson, C. Wilson) – 7:02 Side two #"Lava" (

) – 6:08 #" Dance This Mess Around" (The B-52's) – 2:59 #"52 Girls" ( Jeremy Ayers, R. Wilson) – 2:58 * Side one: original versions from ''

'' (1980) * Side two: original versions from ''

'' (1979)

Personnel

Credits adapted from ''Party Mix / Mesopotamia'' CD liner notes. *

Rhett Davies Rhett Davies (born 1949 in London) is an English record producer and engineer. Davies' father was the trumpet player Ray Davies. Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records in the early 1970s. One of his first recording sessions was for B ...

– producer (1–3) *

– producers (1–3) * Daniel Coulombe – remixing *

Steven Stanley Steven J. C. Stanley (born July 11, 1958), is a Jamaican audio engineer, record producer and keyboardist who has worked in the reggae, dub and rock music genres since 1975, most notably with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Black Uhuru. Sta ...

– remixing * Paul Wexler – remixing *

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...

– producer (4–6) * Robert Ash – associate producer (4–6) * Tony Wright – cover *

Lynn Goldsmith Lynn Goldsmith (born 1948) is an American recording artist, film director, celebrity portrait photographer, and rock and roll photographer. She has also made fine art photography with conceptual images and her paintings. Taschen, Rizzoli, an ...

– photograph

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1981 EPs 1981 remix albums Albums produced by Chris Blackwell Albums produced by Rhett Davies Albums recorded at Compass Point Studios The B-52's EPs The B-52's remix albums Island Records EPs Island Records remix albums Remix EPs Warner Records EPs Warner Records remix albums