Wax Trax! MasterMix Volume 1

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Robert Christgau	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[11]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]
Spin	7/10[13]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[14]

The Chicago Tribune noted that "the album's intent seems to be much less high-minded, serving simply as a solid representation of Atkins' propulsive live sets, which touch on techno classics, foreign manifestations and prime second- wave Motor City cuts".^[5] The Detroit Free Press stated, "Even with the mix of old and new material from Atkins and other artists, Atkins glides through the 19 tracks so effortlessly, it makes it difficult to have a complete grasp on the end of one song and the beginning of another. Techno-heads will probably hail MasterMix as a DJ's masterpiece, but newcomers may find it monotonous."^[15]

Rolling Stone said that the compilation "works as a pocket history of Motor City microchip music, explicitly admitting techno's evolution from Seventies European disco."^[16] The Orange County Register listed the compilation among the best examples of Detroit techno.^[17] The Washington Post concluded that many tracks "showcase Detroit techno's accomplishment: endowing Kraftwerk's mechanical beats with the suppleness of a live funk band."^[6] Entertainment Weekly called the album "a beautiful, warts-and-all set of genre classics."^[11] LA Weekly listed Wax Trax! MasterMix Volume 1 as the ninth best "pop" album of 1998.^[18]

In 2011, Spin included Wax Trax! MasterMix Volume 1 on its list of "essential" Detroit techno albums.^[8] AllMusic concluded that "the mixing is much more raw than on a live Atkins date, perhaps a reaction to the dozens of seamless (read: overdubbed) mix albums already on the market."^[9]