12 of the best Remix Albums

8 October 2023, 18:00

From Gorillaz to The Cure, here's a dozen albums that have celebrated the art of the remix.

By Radio X

@RadioX

The Remix Album has been a regular option for the artist or band since the early 1980s when producers realised they could take songs, switch them around - often quite radically - and create something brand new.

Here are some of the best collections of remixes from over the years.

1. Linkin Park - Reanimation

   A radical reworking of Linkin's debut album Hybrid Theory. A highlight is the reworking of the hit In The End. The collection was so successful, the band did it all again with Recharged, a remix of their Living Things album.

   

   Enth E Nd - Linkin Park (Reanimation)

2. The Cure - Mixed Up

   Robert Smith and co seemed an unlikely subject for the remixer's art, but this 1990 collection embraced the then-popular baggy shuffle with interesting results. The best tracks are the dub version of Pictures Of You and the original 12" of Lullaby, which has a slinky groove that's quite appealing. Smith followed up the album with a second collection in 2018, Torn Down.

   

   The Cure - Lullaby (Extended MIX)

3. Gorillaz - D-Sides

   OK, so the first disc in this double set is a standards B-sides collection, but the second is full of remixes of tracks from the Demon Days album, including Soulwax's take on Dare and the rather brilliant Schtung Chinese New Year Remix of Dirty Harry.

   

   Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year Remix)

4. The Human League - Love And Dancing

   Alongside fellow Yorkshire synth pop enthusiasts Soft Cell, The Human League kick started the 1980s trend for the remix album with this pioneering collection that reworked the band's epic Dare album. The highlight is undoubtedly the version of classic No 1 Don't You Want Me, which strips the track down to its constituent parts and builds it all back up again.

   

   Don't You Want Me (Special Extended Dance Mix)

5. The Beatles - Love

   Some saw this mash up of classic Fab Four tunes as sacrilege, but Paul and Ringo - plus Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison - gave their blessing and the work was done by Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles. The project was intended as a soundtrack to the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, but it works as an album in its own right. Best track: the Chemical Brothers-esque cut of Within You Without You into Tomorrow Never Knows.

   

   Kraftwerk - Radioactivity [The Mix]

6. Massive Attack - No Protection

   Mad Professor created this dub remix of Massive Attack's second album Protection back in 1994. His take on Karmacoma is amazing.

   

   Massive Attack - Bumper Ball Dub (Karmacoma)

7. Pet Shop Boys - Disco

   Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were huge fans of US house in the mid-1980s, so as a follow-up to their 1986 debut album Please, they released this collection of rare remixes, including a previously unreleased track, In The Night. There were three sequels to the album: Disco 2, Disco 3 and Disco 4.

   

   Paninaro (Italian Remix)

8. Kraftwerk - The Mix

   The German electronica pioneers reworked some of their classic and influential material for this 1991 album. The best moment is the transformation of the ponderous and graceful Radio-Activity into a full-blown techno banger.

   

   Kraftwerk - Radioactivity [The Mix]

9. Bjork - Telegram

   A thorough reworking of the singer's second album Post, which includes a monster mix of Army Of Me by 808 State's Graham Massey and the exquisite version of Hyperballad scored by the Brodsky Quartet.

   

   Björk - Hyperballad (Brodsky Quartet Version)

10. Primal Scream - Echo Dek

    No stranger to the world of the transformative remix (Loaded is the most famous example), the band gave their Vanishing Point album over to dub producer Adrian Sherwood, who worked his magic on nine of the tracks.

    

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