The Mix

Release type:What's this?
remix album
First released:
Jun 10 1991

Overview Edit

The Mix is a 1991 studio album by Kraftwerk. It featured newly arranged, re-recorded versions of a selection of songs which had originally appeared on the albums Autobahn through Electric Café. Hütter stated in interviews that he regarded The Mix as a type of live album, as it captured the results of the band's continual digital improvisations in their Kling Klang studio. When, subsequent to the album's release, Kraftwerk made their return to performing live in concert, many songs featured on their set list were heavily rearranged in a similar fashion to what appears on the album.

Stated reasons from the group explaining the release include:

# The group didn't want to release a traditional "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" collection.

# At the time, the band were in the process of reconfiguring their Kling Klang studio from analog to digital recording technology; integrating MIDI into their setup and creating sound archives from their original master tapes that were stored onto computers. This proved to be an ongoing task, as new upgrades and equipment were continually made available in the years following the album project.

# Despite no new, original recorded material or live tours outside of Europe, Ralf Hütter didn't want Kraftwerk to appear defunct to the public.

The album met with a rather mixed reception on its release. Many were disappointed at the lack of new compositions and, moreover, the production values of the re-recorded tracks did not strike many listeners as particularly cutting edge, something which Kraftwerk had previously been renowned for. The Mix was created entirely digitally, albeit during a period when the technology had yet to reach its maturity, and thus featured a sound which many listeners tend to find somewhat "sterile" compared to the analogue electronics employed on most of Kraftwerk's previous recordings of these songs.

The album sleeve was somewhat obtuse in the information it offered. Production of the album is credited to Ralf Hütter,

Florian Schneider and Fritz Hilpert, the latter of whom replaced percussionist and stage set designer Wolfgang Flür after Flür left the group in 1987. Karl Bartos also left the band in 1991, after the sessions for the album were completed. Bartos claimed in later interviews that much of his programming work was still featured on The Mix, uncredited.

A newly remastered edition of the album was released by EMI and Mute Records (in the UK) on CD and digital download in October 2009, with a heavyweight vinyl edition released in November 2009. Due to licensing restrictions, the release was only made available in the US by Astralwerks Records as part of The Catalogue box set.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mix. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
unknown
Catalog number:
60869
Release dates:
  • Jun 25 1991 in United States

Genres

Classic Rock, Electronic, Electronica. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars Music Non-Stop
"By pressing down my special key, it plays a little melody." Those are words that all fans of electronic music are familiar with. They come from the 1981 song, Pocket Calculator, by the German techno group Kraftwerk, possibly the most influential group on all modern music. Pocket Calculator as well as many other Kraftwerk greats are found on the astounding disc titled, The Mix, a reworking of classic Kraftwerk hits from the 70's and 80's that would inspire genres such as new wave, rap, and techn…
Written by Justin Zellers
3 stars A solid compilation
The Mix is a compilation from Kraftwerk that was released in 1991. It furnishes 11 compositions, and all of them have something to offer. The sound quality of this album is remarkable; it is clean and dynamic. I also like the pulsating beats. The music is vibrant, precise, creative, and serious. "Trans Europe Express," "Abzug," and "Metal on Metal" are my favorite pieces. The sharp-sounding, commanding "Trans Europe Express" sports some absorbing synthesizer melodies. The CD is just over 65 minu…
Written by sauerkraut

Track listing Edit

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Other versions Edit

The Mix 11 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Elektra / Wea
release dates: Jun 25 1991
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The Mix 11 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Elektra / Wea
release dates: Jun 10 1991 in Germany
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The Mix 11 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Elektra / Wea
release dates: Jun 25 1991
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