The Mix is a 1991 remix album

Remix album

A remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point!...

 by Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

. It featured re-recorded versions of a selection of songs which had originally appeared on the albums Autobahn

Autobahn (album)

Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...

through Electric Café

Electric Café

Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...

. 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. The band made a return to the stage in 1990, after a nine year hiatus from touring. Most of the songs featured on their set list from this point to the present time have been heavily rearranged in a similar fashion to what appears on the album.

Stated reasons from the group explaining the release include:

1. The group didn't want to release a traditional "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" collection.
2. At the time, the band were in the process of reconfiguring their Kling Klang
   Kling Klang
   Kling Klang is the private music studio of the band Kraftwerk. The name is taken from the first song on the Kraftwerk 2 album...
   
    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.
3. 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

Obtuse

Obtuse may refer to:* Obtuse angle, an angle of between 90 and 180 degrees,* Obtuse triangle, a triangle with an internal angle of between 90 and 180 degrees,* leaf shape,* Linguistic ambiguity, lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility....

 in the information it offered. Production of the album is credited to Ralf Hütter,
Florian Schneider and Fritz Hilpert

Fritz Hilpert

Fritz Hilpert, born May 31, 1956 in Amberg, Germany, is a member of the electro-pop group Kraftwerk.- Background :Fritz Hilpert studied trumpet and percussion at the Musisches Max-Reger-Gymmnasium, Germany, until 1976....

, the latter of whom replaced percussionist and stage set designer Wolfgang Flür

Wolfgang Flür

Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...

 after Flür left the group in 1987. Karl Bartos

Karl Bartos

Karl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...

 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

Audio mastering

Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

 edition of the album was released by EMI Records

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, Mute Records

Mute Records

Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...

 and Astralwerks Records on CD, digital download and heavyweight vinyl in October/November 2009. Due to licensing restrictions imposed by Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

, this version has only been made available in the US and Canada as a part of The Catalogue

The Catalogue

The Catalogue is a boxed set comprising eight albums by Kraftwerk that were released from 1974 to 2003...

box set.

English release

1. "The Robots
   The Robots
   "The Robots" is a single by the influential German electronic music pioneers, Kraftwerk, released in 1978. The single and its B-side, "Spacelab", both appeared on the band's seventh album, The Man-Machine...
   
   " (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) – 8:56
2. "Computerlove" (Hütter, Bartos & Schult) – 6:35
3. "Pocket Calculator"(Hütter, Bartos & Schult) – 4:32
4. "Dentaku" (Hütter, Bartos & Schult) – 3:27
5. "Autobahn
   Autobahn (song)
   "Autobahn" is a song by German electronic band Kraftwerk, composed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider of the band, with Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics. It is co-produced by Conny Plank, and was the band's first track to use sung lyrics...
   
   " (Hütter, Schneider & Schult) – 9:27
6. "Radioactivity
   Radioactivity (song)
   Fatboy Slim covered "Radioactivity" on his compilation album Late Night Tales: Fatboy Slim. The song was released as a limited edition 7" single.- Track listing :# "Radioactivity" - Fatboy Slim# "Everything Is Everything" - Bootsy Collins...
   
   " (Hütter, Schneider & Schult) – 6:53
7. "Trans-Europe Express" (Hütter & Schult) – 3:20
8. "Abzug" (Hütter) – 2:18
9. "Metal on Metal" (Hütter) – 4:58
10. "Homecomputer" (Hütter & Bartos) – 8:02
11. "Music Non Stop
    Musique Non Stop
    "Musique Non-Stop" is a 1986 single by German techno group Kraftwerk, which was featured on the album Electric Café. It was re-released as a remix on their 1991 album The Mix. The single was their first #1 on the Dance charts and was one of two songs to make it to #1...
    
    " (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) – 6:38

• "Homecomputer" also includes elements from "It's More Fun to Compute"
• "Musique Non Stop" also includes elements from "Boing Boom Tschak"

German release

1. "Die Roboter" – 8:56
2. "Computerliebe" – 6:35
3. "Taschenrechner" – 4:32
4. "Dentaku" – 3:27
5. "Autobahn" – 9:27
6. "Radioaktivität" – 6:53
7. "Trans Europa Express" – 3:20
8. "Abzug" – 2:18
9. "Metall auf Metall" – 4:58
10. "Heimcomputer" – 8:02
11. "Musik Non-Stop" – 6:38

Personnel

The 2009 remaster gives the following performer credits:

• Ralf Hütter – voice, vocoder, synclavier
• Florian Schneider – vocoder, speech synthesis
• Fritz Hilpert – music data mix

Images