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You may say, with all its funky breaks and organ spells, that The Mix-Up is the last album you’d expect the Beastie Boys to make; but really, it could’ve been the first.

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Uncut

The Mix-Up is the best record collection ever thoroughly digested and re-imagined by a bunch of guys in love with sound.

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Vibe

Maybe The Mix-Up woks simply because it does nothing terribily wrong.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

A satisfyingly uneven, agreeably overreaching hodgepodge of sounds and styles a la Hello Nasty or Ill Communication.

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All Music Guide

The Mix Up is not a major statement, but that's the nice thing about the record: it's as personal and idiosyncratic as any old funky soul-jazz LP that you'd find deep in the crates of a second-hand record store.

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Stylus Magazine

The Mix-Up doesn’t present anything innovative, nor is it any sort of triumphant career coda; it just sounds good.

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Hartford Courant

"The Mix-Up" is all about groove and texture, sometimes at the expense of hooks.

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PopMatters

There’s very little about The Mix-Up not to like, yet there’s also very little that will be remembered in five months.

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Rolling Stone

The Beasties could have knocked out all twelve jams in a lazy weekend in 1992, 2007 or anywhere in between.

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Billboard

"The Mix-Up" is thematically sound and feels like a comprehensive piece instead of a self-indulgent scheme. [30 Jun 2007]

The New York Times

Low-fi, hazy and lightweight.

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Under The Radar

The Mix-Up may not be the cure for 2004's disappointing "To the 5 Boroughs," but it grooves nicely in the meantime. [Summer 2007, p.79]

Entertainment Weekly

Who'd have guessed that a Beastie Boys record could be too subtle?

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Village Voice

Tossed-off, underdone, monotonous, unfinished, and redundant maybe, but not bad.

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Slant Magazine

For an album that truly has nothing to say and risks suggesting nothing more need be said, The Mix-Up sounds merely satisfactory now, but I can't wait until some turntablist uses it to drop the science.

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Spin

It's slight and, even at its liveliest, inconsequential. [Jul 2007, p.92]

Drowned In Sound

It’s purely incidental material that goes nowhere for a dozen tracks and ends with just as much fuss as it began, i.e. none.

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Blender

It's the sound of a group treading water. [Jul 2007, p.110]

Pitchfork

There's a distinct lack of fun in the instrumental wankage of The Mix-Up, a bad sign for a band that has seen their results fade in direct proportion to how seriously they take themselves.

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NOW Magazine

The Beasties have neither the musical chops nor the compositional skill... to hold listeners' interest for the length of an album.

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New Musical Express

There's 100 reasons to worship the Beastie Boys. But, plugging in a wah-wah pedal and writing an album of indulgent jazz-funk instrumentals is certainly not one of them.

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Observer Music Monthly

For fans only.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eric C. gave it a5:
When I heard that they were going back to their instruments for their next ablum, the first thing that came to mind was their best stuff as a punk-hip-hop band. Instead, we get a bunch of jam sessions, which was probably a blast for the guys, but not for their fans. Not a horrible funk album, but come on. I want some classic Beastie Boys (and their last two rap albums are not that either).

Joshua gave it an8:
A solid & perfectly reasonable outing. As a fan of "In Sound From Way Out" I was happy to hear another instrumental B-Boys album. "Mix-Up" has earned itself a spot on my daily rotation. More often than not I don't want something grating or demanding attention - I don't want elevator music either. "The Mix-Up" fits the bill nicely. Not as experimental or far out as "In Sound" but a respectable release. Wish I had it on vinyl.

Mike D gave it a3:
Pretty much a waste of time from start to finish. 35 minutes of self-indulgent nonsense. There's probably 10 bar-bands in every state doing this kind of thing better on a nightly basis.

Bit Burn gave it a9:
Freakin' critics. Seriously, this is exactly what a Beastie instrumental album should be: lightweight, no frills, no BS, just plain ol' jammin and just press "record". What's wrong with that?

MrPeters MrPeters gave it a10:
Smooth, sweet, and niiiiice!

Matthew A. gave it a10:
Regardless of merit the Boys always produce a 10. However if you loved The In Sound From Way Out you will be beside yourself with a funkiness helmet of pleasure and contentment on your head. I am proud of the Beasties for producing another instrumental album that even dwarfs the previous "In Sound." A+ for the boys and if you don't agree you probably don't understand the Boys in the first place.

Jeff L. gave it a5:
The 5 Boroughs was to old skool, and now we have The Mix-Up. The songs really don't stand out from one song to another, in other words they all sound alike. I like the Mix formula (hip-hop- Live jams) they use for CYH, Ill Com, and H. Nasty. These themed CD's become tiresome; Come-on Beasties, if you're goanna call your album the Mix-Up, then by all means MIX IT UP.

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