Mobile Fidelity - MFSL 3-45009 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl -

 Mastered by Kreig Wunderlich 

Numbered Limited Edition -   Pressed at RTI  - 45RPM - Three Disc

1/2" / 30 IPS analog remix master to DSD 64 to analog console to lathe

The Absolute Sound Super Disc List    TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!  

So how did Mobile Fidelity do here? The sound and overall presentation are simply astonishing. I don’t care how many time you’ve heard this album in stereo, you will hear musically significant details in every track. The instrumental separation and subsequent release of inner detail boggles the mind and ear.-MICHAEL FREMMER

100 Recommended All-Analog ressues Worth Owning - Michael Fremer Analogplanet 2019

As good as my original pressing sounds, it's a shadow of MoFi's wide-groove reissue, which puts Dylan and the band right there: his vocal modulations so tingly, the organ, guitars, and drums so present. Stereophile 2014 Records to Die For

Winner of a Gruvy Award, chosen by AnalogPlanet's editor, Michael Fremer, for vinyl records that are musically and sonically outstanding and are also well mastered and pressed. www.analogplanet,com

The most astounding fidelity ever, it'll bring tears to your  eyes.5/5 LPReview

Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde on Numbered Limited Edition - 180g 45RPM 3LP Box Set from Mobile Fidelity

“That Thin, That Wild Mercury Sound:” Dylan’s Ground-Shaking 1966 Double LP Sent Tremors Throughout the World Wider Grooves, Superior Sound:

Mobile Fidelity’s 45RPM Edition The Last Word in Analog Fidelity Recorded With One of Most Ear-Awakening Lineups Ever Assembled: Al Kooper, “Pig” Robbins, Joe South, Kenny Buttrey, and The Band’s Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson Among Musicians Vaudeville, Contemporary Pop, Fiery Rock and Roll, Memphis Blues, Folk-Derived Sagas Among Enriched Palette of Styles Ranked 9 on Rolling Stone’s List of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Blonde on Blonde: A double album that transcends time, defies space, suspends reality, and looks through the human soul and tells the listener characteristics about themselves they didn’t know. Professor Sean Wilentz, historian-in-residence for Bob Dylan’s Web site, comes as close to summing up its brilliance in his superb Bob Dylan In America as any who’ve tried:“The songs are rich meditations on desire, frailty, promises, boredom, hurt, envy, connections, missed connections, paranoia, and transcendent beauty—in short, the lures and snare of love, stock themes of rock and pop music, but written with a powerful literary imagination and played out in a pop netherworld.” No lie.

As part of its Bob Dylan catalog restoration series, Mobile Fidelity is thoroughly humbled to have the privilege of mastering the iconic LP from the master tapes and pressing it on 45RPM LPs at RTI. The end result is the very finest, most transparent analog edition of Blonde on Blonde ever produced. Forever renowned for what the Bard deemed “that thin, that wild mercury sound,” the album’s famed aural character lives and breathes on this superb version, with wider and deeper grooves affording playback of previously buried information and lifelike presentation of the studio sessions.

Prized for a unique sound that cultural critic Greil Marcus tagged “the most glamorous record imaginable; listening you [can] see the checkered jester’s suit Dylan had worn on stage for the nine previous, furious months,” Blonde on Blonde is to music, production, prose, and performance as what hydrogen is to water. The secret to its inimitable aural character partially stems from Dylan’s request in Nashville to producer Bob Johnston to remove the baffles from the studio room, allowing the musicians to interact as well as the music to assume a more organic quality that drifts from one microphone to another.Mobile Fidelity’s reissue captures this ensemble ambience, with echoes, resonation, and some of the most natural timbres you’ll ever hear in plain sight.

The story of Blonde on Blonde is almost as compelling as the music within. Dylan, frustrated with how initial attempts fared in New York, relocating to Tennessee and pairing with Nashville’s top session players as well as members of what would become the Band, feverishly chasing perfectionism while also arriving at an on-the-fly feel that remains a reference point for recorded music. The Bard sweated over lyrics, demanded his band get the exact sounds he heard in his head, and limited most takes to a handful at most. A majority of songs were recorded long after midnight, the post-A.M. vibe reflected in the nocturnal aura, woozy optimism, inversion of intervals, and spiritual soulfulness of the playing.

 So how did Mobile Fidelity do here? The sound and overall presentation are simply astonishing. I don’t care how many time you’ve heard this album in stereo, you will hear musically significant details in every track. The instrumental separation and subsequent release of inner detail boggles the mind and ear. The release of information and textures on, for example, the late Kenny Buttrey’s kick drum alone (he died in 2004 at age 59, which means he was but 21 when he drummed on this record) will have you shaking your head. Same for the rhythm guitar fills and the keyboard parts.

Instrumental separation, dynamics, rhythmic drive, textural complexity, bass clarity, placement in space, every aspect of what makes a recording compelling are ramped way up compared to the 3 3A pressings I have, two of which include the Claudia Cardinale photo so I assume them to be early pressings. Dylan’s voice remains somewhat caustic and harsh as intended.

The originals sound soft and mushy by comparison even though I used to think the 3A pressing sounded more than fine.

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• 45rpm Speed Edition
• Half-Speed Production and Mastering by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
• Specially Plated and Pressed on 180 grams of High Definition Vinyl
• Special Static Free - Dust Free Inner Sleeve
• Heavy Duty Protective Packaging
• Mastered from the Original Master Tapes

Bass – Henry Strzelecki
Bass Guitar – Joe South
Drums – Kenneth Buttrey
Guitar – Al Kooper, Jerry Kennedy, Jaime Robertson*, Wayne Moss
Harmonica – Charlie McCoy
Keyboards – Bill Aikins
Lead Vocals – Bob Dylan
Organ – Al Kooper
Piano – Hargus Robbins
Producer – Bob Johnston
Vocals – Joe South, Wayne Moss
Written-By – B. Dylan

Selections: 
1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
2. Pledging My Time
3. Visions of Johanna
4. One of Must Know (Sooner or Later)
5. I Want You
6. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
8. Just Like a Woman
9. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
10. Temporary Like Achilles
11. Absolutely Sweet Marie
12. 4th Time Around
13. Obviously 5 Believers
14. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

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-180 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.