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Mobile Fidelity - MFSL 2-304 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Numbered Limited Edition -  - Pressed at RTI  - Two Disc

Pure Analogue Mastered by Shawan R Britten  from the Original Master Tape at MFSL

Half Speed Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity The Gain 2 Ultra Analog System

AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

I don't care if you have the original Monument/Columbia issue—this new one from Mobile Fidelity is easily the best-sounding, and by an ear-bulging margin. You'll hear stuff you've never heard before, and what you have heard before, you've never heard sound this good - Stereophile.com /2009-records-die-page for

TAS Recommended! Rated a 'Best Audiophile Label Recording' The Absolute Sound!

Music 10/10 Sound 9/10 Michael Fremer - Anaogue Planet

Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For! 

Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the February 2009 Issue of Stereophile!

After much success (and a little luck) with their Little Richard hits packages, MoFi next visited the Sony vaults to identify and audition the original masters of another rock pioneer. This famous Roy Orbison collection had originally been compiled by Monument Records in 1972 and has stayed in print ever since

 Permission to bring the first-generation masters to California for direct transferring was eventually granted (most for the first time*). We are very pleased to say that the resulting MoFi and LP version now set the standard in the mastering of these historic songs.

Before being wooed away by the old MGM Records label, Orbison experienced an astonishing run for Monument 

Rare is the voice, personality, and image that defines cool for more than 50 years. But Roy Orbison simply had it all – the tender tone, the laidback charisma, the mellifluous baritone, the cover-magazine looks, the gazing eyes hidden behind black Ray-Ban shades. And of course, the songs. Sad ("Only the Lonely"). Soaring ("Crying"). Summery ("Dream Baby"). Sweet ("Blue Angel"). Sentimental ("Pretty Paper"). Sensuous ("Shahdaroba").

Few singers ever captured such a rainbow of romantic emotions – longing, heartache, hope, loss, melancholy – with such effortlessness, smoothness, and suaveness. An early rock n' roll pioneer that defied songwriting tradition, Orbison is at home whether playing with orchestral strings, rockabilly bands, doo-wop singers, jumping horn sections, or swinging pop groups. Like fellow Sun Records alums Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, his art is timeless, his command irreproachable.

No wonder, then, that a basic search literally turns up dozens upon dozens of compilations. Demand for Orbison's trademark vocal shiver and pussycat purr has never been greater. But with so many duplicative collections available, which one to get? Mobile Fidelity recognized that none of the available releases had the necessary mark of quality – namely, first-rate sound. So they changed that by providing a necessary sonic update to the best collection – a 1972 set that has never once gone out-of-print.

Remastered from the original analog master tapes for the first time ever, here are all of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member's finest singles for Monument Records in one place, all claiming a clarity, richness, tonality, and presence that has never been before experienced outside of the studio. Captured by legendary producer Fred Foster, Orbison's famous voice now reverberates with a realistic decay and astonishing purity that puts all previous compilations to shame.

And there's no arguing with the 20-song track list, which includes no fewer than 15 Top 100 singles, beginning with the career-launching "Only the Lonely" and climaxing with the international smash "Oh, Pretty Woman," the last cut the Grammy winner made for Monument before departing for MGM in 1965. There is not a weak tune on this album, and you will never hear them sound better.

Selections: 
1. Only the Lonely
2. In Dreams
3. Uptown
4. Candy Man
5. Working For The Man
6. Dream Baby
7. Crying
8. Mean Woman Blues
9. Running Scared
10. Love Hurts
11. Shahadaroba
12. Blue Angel
13. Falling
14. Leah
15. I'm Hurtin'
16. It's Over
17. Blue Bayou
18. Pretty Paper
19. Oh, Pretty Woman
20. The Crowd

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.