{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox album | name = Party Mix! | type = Remix album | artist = the B-52's | cover = B52s partymix.jpg | alt = | released = July 1981 | recorded = 1979–1980 | studio = Compass Point (Nassau, Bahamas) | genre = * New wave * post-punk | length = 28:29 | label = *Island *Warner Bros. | producer = * Rhett Davies * the B-52's * Chris Blackwell | prev_title = Wild Planet | prev_year = 1980 | next_title = Mesopotamia | next_year = 1982 | misc = {{Singles | name = Party Mix! | type = Remix | single1 = Give Me Back My Man (Party Mix) | single1date = 1981 }} }}
'''''Party Mix!''''' is a remix album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1981 by Warner Bros. (US) and Island Records (Europe, Japan). 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Great Indie Discography |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |year=2003 |page=11 |publisher=Canongate |location=Edinburgh |isbn=1-84195-335-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatindiediscog0000stro/page/11/mode/1up |author-link=Martin C. Strong}}</ref>
==Background== The album was released between the band's second album, ''Wild Planet'' (1980), and their ''Mesopotamia'' EP (1982).<ref name="TrouserPress">{{Cite web |url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=b-52s |last1=Isler |first1=Scott |last2=Robbins |first2=Ira |last3=Neugebauer |first3=Delvin |title=B-52's |website=Trouser Press}}</ref> It was devised as a stop-gap release by the band's manager, Gary Kurfirst, while the band was working on the ''Mesopotamia'' sessions.<ref name="diffuser">{{cite web |url=https://diffuser.fm/b52s-mesopotamia |title=35 Years Ago: B-52's, David Byrne Team Up on 'Mesopotamia' |last=Wawzenek |first=Bryan |date=January 30, 2017 |website=Diffuser |access-date=January 26, 2023}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.salon.com/2017/07/14/b-52s-tour-band-love-shack/ |last=Zaleski |first=Annie |title=No novelty, the B-52s may be the most subversive band America ever gave us |date=14 July 2017 |website=Salon.com}}</ref> 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.<ref name="allmusic1991cd">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/party-mix%21-mesopotamia-mw0000310861#review |title=Party Mix!/Mesopotamia – The B-52s – Review |access-date=February 25, 2022 |website=AllMusic |last=Ruhlmann |first=William}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Billboard">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-b-52s-2/chart-history/tlp/ |title=The B-52s |magazine=Billboard}}</ref>
===Critical=== {{Album ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/party-mix%21-mw0000836679 |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |title=The B-52's – Party Mix! – Review |website=AllMusic |access-date=February 18, 2025}}</ref> |rev2 = ''Christgau's Record Guide'' |rev2score = A−<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=B&bk=80 |chapter=B |accessdate=17 August 2020 |title=Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1990 |isbn=0-679-73015-X |via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref> |rev3 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' |rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&q=Party+Mix%21+b-52s+1981&pg=PA2319 |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |first=Colin |last=Larkin |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8 |author-link=Colin Larkin |via=Google Books}}</ref> |rev4 = ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide'' |rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA67 |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-last=Brackett |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-last=Hoard |date=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |isbn=978-0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/67 67–68] |chapter=The B-52's |last=Considine |first=J. D. |author-link=J. D. Considine |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-link=Christian Hoard}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Select'' | rev5Score = 3/5<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Flip Your Wig|last=Cavanagh|first=David|date=July 1990|page=121|magazine=Select |author-link=David Cavanagh}}</ref> |noprose=yes }} 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."<ref name="Christgau"/> ''Trouser Press'' opined that the album was "functional for discos but antithetical to the B-52's' minimalist precepts."<ref name="TrouserPress"/>
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."<ref name="AllMusic"/> 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".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=19 May 2022 |title=10 Essential Remix Albums: The B-52's – ''Party Mix!'' |magazine=Treble |url=https://www.treblezine.com/10-essential-remix-albums/ |last=Blyweiss |first=Adam}}</ref>
==Track listing== '''Side one''' #"Party Out of Bounds" (Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Ricky Wilson, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson) – 5:12 #"Private Idaho" (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" (The B-52's) – 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 ''Wild Planet'' (1980) * Side two: original versions from ''The B-52's'' (1979)
==Personnel== Credits adapted from ''Party Mix / Mesopotamia'' CD liner notes.<ref name="CDLiners">{{cite AV media notes |author=The B-52's |author-link=The B-52s |title=Party Mix / Mesopotamia |type=CD liner notes |publisher=Reprise Records |year=1991 |id=9 26401-2}}</ref>
* Rhett Davies – producer (1–3) * The B-52's – producers (1–3) * Daniel Coulombe – remixing * Steven Stanley – remixing * Paul Wexler – remixing * Chris Blackwell – producer (4–6) * Robert Ash – associate producer (4–6) * Tony Wright – cover * Lynn Goldsmith – photograph
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" !Chart (1981) !Peak<br />position |- ! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6}}</ref> | 80 |- {{album chart|Sweden|23|artist= The B-52's|album=Party Mix!|rowheader=true|accessdate=March 17, 2026}} |- {{album chart|UK2|36|date=19810712|rowheader=true|refname=UKA1|accessdate=March 17, 2026}} |- {{album chart|Billboard200|55|artist=The B-52s|rowheader=true|accessdate=March 17, 2026}} |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{The B-52's}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1981 EPs Category:1981 remix albums Category:Albums produced by Chris Blackwell Category:Albums produced by Rhett Davies Category:Albums recorded at Compass Point Studios Category:The B-52's EPs Category:The B-52's remix albums Category:Island Records EPs Category:Island Records remix albums Category:Remix EPs Category:Warner Records EPs Category:Warner Records remix albums