Party Mix!

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Party Mix!
B52s partymix.jpg
Remix album by
the B-52's
ReleasedJuly 1981
Recorded1980
Studio Compass Point (Nassau) [1]
Genre
Length28:29
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Rhett Davies, the B-52's, Chris Blackwell
The B-52's chronology
Wild Planet
(1980)		Party Mix!
(1981)		 Mesopotamia
(1982)
Singles from Party Mix!

Party Mix! is a remix album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1981 by Warner Bros. Records. It features three songs from their first studio album, The B-52's (1979), and three songs from their second LP, Wild Planet (1980). It has received generally good reviews. Commercially, the album peaked at number 55 in the US and number 36 in the UK.

Contents

Background

The album was released between the band's second album, Wild Planet (1980), and their Mesopotamia EP (1982). [2] It was devised as a stop-gap release by the band's manager, Gary Kurfirst, while the band was working on the Mesopotamia sessions. [3]

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. [4] 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. [5] 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. [6]

Critical

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]
Christgau's Record Guide A− [8]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Select 3/5 [11]

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice 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." [8] Trouser Press opined that the album was "functional for discos but antithetical to the B-52's' minimalist precepts." [2]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, 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." [7] 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 and Soulwax would reference it in a mashup 21 years later". [12]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Party Out of Bounds" (Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Ricky Wilson, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson) – 5:12
  2. "Private Idaho" (Schneider, Strickland, R. Wilson, C. Wilson, Pierson) – 4:04
  3. "Give Me Back My Man" (Schneider, Strickland, R. Wilson, C. Wilson) – 7:02

Side two

  1. "Lava" (The B-52's) – 6:08
  2. "Dance This Mess Around" (The B-52's) – 2:59
  3. "52 Girls" (Jeremy Ayers, R. Wilson) – 2:58

Personnel

Credits adapted from Party Mix / Mesopotamia CD liner notes. [1]

Chart performance

Chart (1981)Peak
position
Australia Albums Chart [ citation needed ]79
UK Albums (OCC) [13] 36
U.S. Billboard 200 55 [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The B-52's (1991). Party Mix / Mesopotamia (CD liner notes). Reprise Records. 9 26401-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 Isler, Scott; Robbins, Ira; Neugebauer, Delvin. "B-52's". Trouser Press .
  3. ↑ Wawzenek, Bryan (30 January 2017). "35 Years Ago: B-52's, David Byrne Team Up on 'Mesopotamia'". Diffuser. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  4. ↑ Zaleski, Annie (14 July 2017). "No novelty, the B-52s may be the most subversive band America ever gave us". Salon.com .
  5. ↑ "Party Mix!/Mesopotamia - The B-52s". AllMusic . Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  6. 1 2 "The B-52s". Billboard .
  7. 1 2 Ruhlmann, William. "The B-52's - Party Mix! Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic . Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1990). "B". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s . Pantheon Books. ISBN   0-679-73015-X . Retrieved 17 August 2020– via robertchristgau.com.
  9. ↑ Larkin, Colin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9780857125958 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (27 May 2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9780743201698 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Cavanagh, David (July 1990). "Flip Your Wig". Select . p. 121.
  12. ↑ Blyweiss, Adam (19 May 2022). "10 Essential Remix Albums: The B-52's – Party Mix!". Treble.
  13. ↑ "B-52s | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
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