Party Mix! is a remix album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1981 by Warner Bros. Records.

Background

The album was released between the band's second album, Wild Planet (1980), and their Mesopotamia EP (1982). It was devised as a stop-gap release by the band's manager, Gary Kurfirst, 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 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." Trouser Press opined that the album was "functional for discos but antithetical to the B-52's' minimalist precepts." 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." In 2022, Treble magazine named Party Mix! one of the ten essential remix albums.

Track listing

Side one Side two

Personnel

Credits adapted from Party Mix / Mesopotamia CD liner notes.

Chart performance