Review Summary: Britney's new remix album is in stores now, and we're thinking: is it better or worse than the first one released in 2005?
Six years after releasing her first remix album, that featured the beautiful and orchestral "And Then We Kiss", Britney Spears releases a sequel titled "B in the Mix: The Remixes - Volume 2". The new remix album features remixed tracks from Blackout, Circus and Femme Fatale. Actually, they are remixes from almost every single released from 2007 to 2011, not including, however, the electro-pop "Break the Ice".
The album opens with Spears' last single "Criminal". The track is almost the same as the version included on Femme Fatale. It features, however, substantial extra beats that were missing on the original, making it a more disposable hit for the radios. The second track, "Gimme More", was remixed by incomparable Kaskade, and features a heavy usage of synths in the background, with hard beats made specially for clubs. It is pretty cool, but there are a lot of better remixes that could have been added instead of this one.
The "Piece of Me" remix features DJ Tiesto signature beats, and is widely known since its release on 2007, while Benny Benassi transforms the girl empowerment anthem "Womanizer" from dance-pop to a hi-NRG. Another highlights on the album are the remix of Kesha's penned track "Till the World Ends", done by Alex Suarez, and U-Tern's "If U Seek Amy" remix.
A lot of these remixes, however, aren't as good as you think. The amazing "Circus" lost its magic with Linus Loves, while Philip Larsen and Chris Smith (also known as Manhattan Clique) completly removed the hard driving beats that made "3" a classic Britney song. "I Wanna Go" was remixed by Gareth Emery, who was actually praised by Spears herself. We, however, think that the remix is entirely unremarkable. Actually, it is just not good.
And what about the new tracks? Unlike Spears' first remix album, there aren't any in this new edition. Despite several Britney song leaks these past months, the only thing that didn't made this album a commercial success was the lack of new songs (the album only sold 9,000 copies in the US on its first week).
B in the Mix: The Remixes - Volume 2 is a must-have for collectors and a great album for partying too. Worse or better than Spears' first remix album? We'll let you decide for yourself, although we think Spears' should have waited a little more to release this compilation.
