Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers - 45rpm 180g 2LP

Product no.: MFSL2-457

In stock

Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers - 45rpm 180g 2LP
£77.99
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Mobile Fidelity - MFSL 2-457 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl

Numbered Limited Edition -  Pressed at RTI 

Mastered by Kreig Wunderlich

1/4" / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

This one though using the original tape is easily best and better than the orange label original. The recording's bass power and dynamic slam were too much for young peoples' turntables of the day, but here at 45rpm you get it all from the visceral bottom end growl of Jack Casady's bass to Jorma's wet, juicy wah-wah uncommonly well-recorded, mixed and here mastered for that or this time. If your system's bottom end is at all soft, and uncontrolled this might sound muddy but if all is good below and extended and clean on top, you can crank it up and expect a rocking great time.Add the absurdist cover and inner sleeve artwork that too resonates today and you have a "classic rock" album that's as powerful and relevant today as it was in 1969 sounding better than ever - Sound 9/10 Music 9/10 Michael Fremer Analogueplanet

Jefferson Airplane Volunteers on Numbered Limited Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP from Mobile Fidelity

Seminal 1969 Album Steeped in Revolution, Vitality, Protest: The Aural Equivalent of a Demonstration March, Jefferson Airplane's Uncompromising Volunteers Rooted in Belief Music Can Change World

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes: Wider, Deeper Grooves on 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Yield Superior Transparency, Rich Nuances, and Engaging Dynamics on Set Ranked #370 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Defiant, Assured, Cohesive Songs Filled With Driving Psychedelia, Rustic Country, and Crunchy Acid-Rock: Guest Musicians Include Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, and David Crosby

Awash in controversy and loaded with revolutionary protest, Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers stands as the last album made by the group's classic lineup and brings insurgent closure to the peace-and-love era. The potent 1969 record confronts war, politics, greed, and environmental ruin in head-on fashion matched by few peers. Steeped in the belief people and music could transform the world, it steers the band in community-minded and county-rock directions, and features charged playing by guest luminaries such as Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Nicky Hopkins. Volunteers also benefits from being one of the first 16-track recordings. And now, the historic set can be heard in the fidelity the artists and producers intended.

Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP set of Volunteers teems with soul-affirming energy, dynamics, immediacy, and standout textures. The wider and deeper grooves translate into finer pacing, enhanced information retrieval, and superior transparency. Soundstages stretch far and extend back, with instrumental separation giving all of the musicians their own place in the mix. As a result, subtle albeit important details – Hopkins' rollicking piano, guitarist Norma Kaukonen's biting tones, Garcia's deft pedal-steel work – emerge in three-dimensional fashion amidst a musical canvas that manages to be both edgy and produced, raw and revealing. Jefferson Airplane has never sounded more vital.

Much had changed in America – and within Jefferson Airplane – in just the two short years since the release of the San Francisco collective's breakthrough smash Surrealistic Pillow. The countercultural movement had darkened, government involvement in Vietnam escalated, and regard for human rights fallen. Retreating from the excessive experimentalism that graced its prior two LPs, the Airplane responded to the social circumstances with defiant, assured, and cohesive songs shot through with driving psychedelia, crunchy acid-rock, and rustic country. From start to finish, it's the aural equivalent of a demonstration march.

Having drawn attention for the inclusion of profanities in multiple tunes, the Top 20 LP also ran up against the nonprofit Volunteers of America after the sextet wanted to title the record Volunteers of Amerika in order to express further dissatisfaction with the country. While Grace Slick and Co. gave into the charity's desires to switch the name, there's nothing compromising about Volunteers. Kaukonen's leads cut searing swaths through urgent fare like "Eskimo Blue Day" and anthemic "We Can Be Together," which boldly speaks out against convention and in favor of chaos and anarchy.

Indeed, in organizing a pseudo summit of many of the counterculture's leading musical figures to participate on Volunteers, the Airplane treats the album as an orchestrated stance against the establishment. Stills and Crosby assist in rocking the boat on a turbulent cover of "Wooden Ships" lined with Slick and Marty Balin's overlapping lead vocals. Hopkins gooses the call-to-arms title track with frisky boogie-woogie lines. Garcia lends "The Farm" a suitable rustic vibe, and on his final appearance with the Airplane, drummer Spencer Dryden helms the pastoral sing-a-long "A Song for All Seasons."

Ranked #370 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Volunteers remains a cultural and musical touchstone. Experience it in the best sound it's ever enjoyed on vinyl, and secure your lowest-numbered limited-edition copy

• Numbered, Limited Edition • 33rpm Speed Edition
• 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 • Pressed at RTI
 
Musicians:
Nicky Hopkins, piano
Steven Stills, hammond organ
Jerry Garcia, pedal steel guitar
Joey Covington, percussion chair
David Crosby, music sailboat
Ace Of Cups, vocals
 
Jefferson Airplane Volunteers Track Listing:

1. We Can Be Together
2. Good Shepherd
3. The Farm
4. Hey Frederick
5. Turn My Life Down
6. Wooden Ships
7. Eskimo Blue Day
8. A Song for All Seasons
9. Meadowlands
10. Volunteers

 Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers - 45rpm 180g 2LP
Image result for mofi mobile fidelity sound lab
 
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.

 
 

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