Mobile Fidelity UDSACD2119 - SACD Hybrid Stereo
Numbered Limited Edition - Plays On All CD Players
Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR™ Hybrid SACD
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s myth making was already complete by the time that his third record in as many years was released in October 1985. But no one could have expected the artistic leaps and additional prowess the guitarist displays on Soul to Soul, a record on which Vaughan added a full-time keyboardist and saxophonist, and dug deep into his native state’s musical well for soul, R&B, and surf motifs. The rate at which the Texan was growing as a first-rate composer and virtuosic instrumentalist is evident throughout what became his most diverse album to date.
Recognizing the importance and legacy of this heartfelt masterwork, Mobile Fidelity has finally done justice to the sound, music, and overall feel. Surpassing the myriad inferior remastered and reconfigured editions, Mobile Fidelity went straight to the source—the original master tapes—to produce a version of Soul to Soul that stands up to the best-sounding blues records ever made. This numbered limited-edition hybrid SACD allows you to savor Vaughan’s shuffles, wah-wah pedal effects, and string-squeezing fervor like never before.
While mindful of the blues’ capacity to mourn and ponder, Vaughan concentrates on turning every song into an occasion for hope, no matter the subject. He and Double Trouble—now complemented by keyboardist Reese Wynans and saxophonist Joe Sublett, the expansion indicative of the guitarist’s interest in jazz, R&B, and, true to the album’s title, soul—aim to soothe, treating each note as an extension of their own feelings. Recorded at a time when the pop landscape became inundated with plastic synthesizers, mechanized beats, and robotic emotion, Soul to Soul brings music’s basic elements back home, exploring roots passages while taking Vaughan’s hallmark fusion down a road that travels from Dallas to Memphis to New Orleans and beyond.
Teasing out textural possibilities, Vaughan comes up roses on a dramatic rendition of Hank Ballard’s “Look At Little Sister” as well as on “Life Without You,” the latter typical of the balladic tenderness that a man equally adept at shoot-you-through-the-back barnstormers was capable of expressing. Also present is a more delicate use of melody, a capacity undoubtedly related to Vaughan’s boundless intimacy with the guitar, which is at one with his hands. It’s all so incredible to behold.
Our numbered limited-edition hybrid SACD brings Vaughan’s tremolo bar dynamics, heavy-duty fills, blistering runs, and soulful ache into pristine focus. More importantly, the raw tones from his Stratocaster guitar, triumphant carry drawl of his voice, and every knee-buckling string bend are captured with extreme delicacy, so you don’t miss a note. What’s more, the more spacious arrangements get plenty of sonic legroom to stretch out on a vast soundstage.
Stevie Ray Vaughan Soul To Soul Track Listing:
1. Say What!
2. Lookin' Out The Window
3. Look At Little Sister
4. Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up On Love
5. Gone Home
6. Change It
7. You'll Be Mine
8. Empty Arms
9. Come On (Part III)
10. Life Without You
Mobile Fidelity believes that mastering systems should be neutral and transparent. The essential idea is to unveil all the detailed musical information on the original master recording without adding deterioration, coloration or other sonic artifacts.
It is worth noting that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab stands out as one of few record labels that independently invests in research and development of audio technology. With proprietary innovations such as GAIN 2™, general music enthusiasts and audiophiles alike have reaped the benefit of a higher consumer audio standard without investing in costly new hardware. Mobile Fidelity is pleased to work with a variety of engineering legends and companies including Tim de Paravicini, Ed Meitner, Pass Labs, Theta Digital and Sony Electronics.
Our joint efforts to seek out the ultimate audio experience, has resulted in significant advances for the technology of music reproduction.
GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR™ Hybrid SACD and Ultradisc II™ 24kt Gold CDs
For over twenty years, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has continually searched for the ultimate audio experience. During this search MFSL engineers and associates created The GAIN™ System, a proprietary mastering technology which brought warmth and ambience to the compact disc format. A few years ago - with higher resolution formats on the horizon - the vision of GAIN 2™ began. As it stands today, GAIN 2™ is one of the greatest technical advancements in analogue and digital technology in the last ten years. It consists of a series of critical modifications and new components to Mobile Fidelity's proprietary mastering chain.
We feel that GAIN 2™ has come extremely close to meeting this goal. The key accomplishments of GAIN 2™ System are 1) the ability to extract all the musical information as possible through the Ultra High bandwidth analogue tape playback system with proprietary custom tape playback heads, reproducer electronics and 2) transparently capturing and storing that information with the Direct Stream Digital recording system.
