The Remix is a compilation album of remixes by American recording artist Lady Gaga released in Japan on March 3, 2010. It contains remixes of the songs from The Fame and The Fame Monster. A revised version of the tracklist was prepared for release in additional markets, beginning on May 3, 2010. A number of recording artists have produced several of the remixes, including Pet Shop Boys, Passion Pit and The Sound of Arrows.
The album received positive reviews from contemporary critics who noted how Gaga was able to sell the songs from The Fame in new and novel ways. It reached the top of the charts in Greece, and charted within the top ten in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia region), Canada, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top-twenty in others. It was certified gold in Japan.
The album had the same artwork for all regions, excluding the United Kingdom. For the United Kingdom release, the artwork featured a picture of Lady Gaga with a pink background.
Background
On April 15, 2010, The Guardian reported that a number of artists contributed to the compilation, including Pet Shop Boys, Passion Pit and rocker Marilyn Manson, for a remix album, titled The Remix.[1] The remixes included in the package had however all been previously released across the several single releases in the past years. The album was originally released in Japan on March 3, 2010, containing sixteen remixes of Gaga's songs.[2] The revised version, consisting of seventeen remixes, was released on May 3, 2010.[3] Manson features on the Chew Fu remix of "LoveGame", Passion Pit remixed "Telephone", while Pet Shop Boys remixed "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Other artists who remixed Gaga's songs included Alphabeat, Frankmusik, Stuart Price, Monarchy and Robots to Mars.[1] The album was released in the United Kingdom on May 10, 2010 and featured a different artwork only for that region.[4]
Simon Cage from the Daily Express gave the album three out of five stars and said that she "has a winning way with ostentatious hats but Lady Gaga’s true talent is actually selling the same album over and over again. [...] It’s great but… enough already!"[7] Music critic J. D. Considine, while reviewing the album for The Globe and Mail, complimented the piano and voice version of "Poker Face" and said, "the smartest track on her newest remix album – her second such album in nine months – isn’t a remix at all, but an unadorned piano-and-voice version of Poker Face that brings out her inner Elton John. And yes, this move, too, is probably just another bit of calculated image management, but that doesn’t make it any less brilliant."[9] Matthew Richardson from Prefix Magazine reviewed The Sound of Arrows remix of "Alejandro" and said that they "have been releasing material in a slow trickle, but the quality has been such that people are still paying attention. While we're all waiting for their album to drop, hopefully sometime before the world ends, this remix that the duo did of Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" has recently surfaced. The laser house drought is over, for now."[10]
Robert Copsey from Digital Spy commented that "The Remix feels like a fairly natural progression, as opposed to the cynical label cash-in often associated with this sort of release. What's more, it features input from a tasty mix of world-class knob-twiddlers and trendy up-and-comers, both of whom are as vital to keeping the singer's music fresh as her Haus Of GaGa designers are to her image."[8]Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the album three out of five stars and commented: "At 17 tracks it borders on overkill, but that’s fitting for Gaga, who has made excessiveness her raison d’être, and some of the included remixes are quite good, particularly when they come from either veterans of this game (Pet Shop Boys) or something approaching the latest fashion (Space Cowboy). That this is not an essential addition to Gaga’s canon goes without saying [...] but there’s glitz and glamour to enjoy here."[5] Mark Beech from Bloomberg Television said that "The Madonna for our times, Lady Gaga, has wheeled out another version of her debut album.... The familiar tracks, now in danger of being played to death, are given a new sheen by the Pet Shop Boys and sometime Madonna producer Stuart Price."[6]
Chart performance
Following the album's release in Japan, it debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart.[11] On the issue dated May 17, 2010, the album moved to a new peak of seven and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipment of 100,000 copies.[12][13] The album also charted in Australia, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), the Netherlands and New Zealand.[14] In Canada, the album debuted at five on the Canadian Albums Chart issue dated May 22, 2010.[15][16] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number three on the official UK Albums Chart dated May 16, 2010.[17] The album also debuted at seven on the European Top 100 Albums chart of Billboard.[18]
