THE MIX (Italy, 1991)
EMI - 462 7966714


Kraftwerk's 1991 album wasn't _quite_ neither the come-back album nor the best-of compilation their record label had been requesting, but taken for what it is, it's actually a great album in its own right. Kraftwerk were as ever guided by new music technology, and had spent years sampling their multi-track tapes, the masters for the original albums. They had also been updating their studio with the then-current digital equipment, so to the band themselves, it must have made perfect sense to put most of their live set, in its re-recorded form, out on album. Many fans failed to appreciate it though, and in more recent years, Kraftwerk have taken at least some of the warmth of the 70s originals back into the live set.

 

As with Electric Cafe, The Mix came in near-identical J-cards in many territories - Editions from the EU, UK, the USA, Canada and even Australia all had a lavish four-panel J-card with photos of the robots as well as the amended LP front cover (and the robot design from the LP inner sleeves, which was later used on the front of the 2009 reissues). Well, obviously, this makes any other release fascinating to collectors, right? Right. 

 

And here's the Italian cassette. Opting for a more budget-saving look than everywhere else, the Italian branch of EMI went for a simple 1-panel J-card, with the standard front design with Ralfbot on blue, while the inside of the card features the tracklist in black on white. The spine, which is in blue on most releases internationally, is actually yellow here.Cassettes are clear with white on-body print, which was pretty much the norm in 1991.

 






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