Mobile Fidelity - MOFI 1-020 - 140 Gram Virgin Vinyl 

Numbered Limited Edition - Pressed at RTI  

Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity The Gain 2 Ultra Analog System

1/4" / 15 IPS analog copy to analog console to lathe

Fans can rejoice anew...Most importantly, we tip our hats to Mobile Fidelity for continuing to release fun records. If this era was part of the soundtrack of your life, this one’s a must.  -Jeff Dorgay Toneaudio

Original vinyl copies of Upstairs at Eric’s are available for slightly less than you’d pay for this new pressing, but the improved sound and hardly noticeable price difference make this MoFi release the vinyl edition to get.- The Audio Beat

This just happens to be my favorite Artist and Album ever. I have listened to this music ever since its original release. Easily 1000 times. I have 4 different releases of this on CD - imports and domestic. I have probably owned 6 or 7 copies of this vinyl LP. Nothing comes even close to depth, detail, crispness, intimacy and clarity off this recording. One of my "all digital" friends asked if he was listening to one of my new SACDs. I pointed to the turntable and all he said was, "Wow". I firmly agree. - LPReview

An 80s Landmark: Ex-Depeche Mode Member Vince Clarke and Vocalist Alison Moyet Create Synthpop Classic The 1980s will forever be remembered for electropop sensations, yet few, if any, are quite as sensational as Yazoo’s Upstairs at Eric’s. A standard-setting mélange of smoky blues singing, jazzy arrangements, disco-tinged beats, and dancefloor vibes, the smash debut fits equally as well at a late-night club as it does in a living room, where the record’s complexity and exoticism takes listeners hostage. No wonder the 1982 landmark remains one of the decade’s most essential albums.

This numbered limited edition Silver Label LP breathes with a decongested openness, textural richness, and tonal palette never before experienced on previous analog or digital editions. Alison Moyet’s inimitable vocals, such a huge part of the record’s appeal, are dramatically enhanced, her sensual timbre, bittersweet crooning, and knockout range now encompassing the full frequency spectrum and projecting outward in a way that traverses the flatness of the original pressings.

Indeed, her bluesy deliveries are at once elegant and exuberant, and give collaborative partner Vince Clarke free range to construct beat architectures that encompass freewheeling disco, house music, uptempo dance, and chilled-out pop. The former Depeche Mode member also layers on elegant keyboard melodies, establishing contagious hooks and electronic-laced landscapes that preceded the techno explosion and do so with a cooler elegance. Tape loops, random field-noise dialogues, and synth-stroked bass notes add to what’s nothing less than a perfect collusion of moody paranoia and soulful warmth.

While a cousin to synth-pop LPs by the likes of the Eurythmics, Soft Cell, OMD, and Depeche Mode, Yazoo’s Upstairs at Eric’s is singular for its chemistry between Moyet and Clarke—and an insouciant batch of songs high on emotion, style, and substance.

Engineer – E.C. Radcliffe
Noises – Clarke
Vocals, Piano – Moyet

1.  Don’t Go

2. Too Pieces

3. Bad Connection

4. I Before E Except After C

5. Midnight

6. In My Room

1. Only You

2. Goodbye Seventies

3. Situation

4. Winter Kills

5. Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I)

GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ is a proprietary cutting system built and designed by legendary design genius Tim De Paravicini, with consultation from one of MFSL’s founding fathers – Stan Ricker, an audio engineer responsible for many of MFSL’s most heralded past releases.

The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system is comprised of a Studer™ tape machine with customized reproduction electronics* and handcrafted cutting amps that drive an Ortofon cutting head on a restored Neumann VMS-70 lathe. (*It is worth noting that independent studies have confirmed that the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system can unveil sonic information all the way up to 122kHz!)

First and foremost, we only utilize first generation original master recordings as source material for our releases. We then play back master tapes at half speed enabling the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system to fully extract the master’s sonic information. Our lacquers are then plated in a specialized process that protects transients in the musical signal. (Due to this process, there may be occasional pops or ticks inherent in initial play back, but as the disc is played more, a high quality stylus will actually polish the grooves and improve the sound). We further ensure optimum sound quality by strictly limiting the number of pressings printed for each release. These limited editions, in addition to being collectors’ items, ensure that the quality of the last pressing matches the quality of the first.

As you can imagine, all these efforts involve a tremendous amount of time, technology, cost and effort. The introduction of GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ maintains Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s position as the world’s leading audiophile record label, where a passion for music with extraordinary sound quality matters most.

RTI HQ Vinyl

Record Technology is a world class record pressing plant located in Camarillo, California. We have been operating since 1974, pressing for most audiophile record labels and for many quality minded independent and major record labels from around the world.