Numbered Limited  Edition - Plays On All CD Players

Mastered by Kreig Wunderlich from the Original Master Tape at MFSL

Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR SACD   

Still Rock and Roll to Him: Joel Toughens Up and Increases the Animosity, Sarcasm, Confidence, and Rock on 1980 Set Accessible and Angry: Phil Ramone’s Stalwart Production Bristles With Boldness, Raucousness, and Directness on Definitive Mobile Fidelity Reissue Chart-Topper Certified Seven-Times Platinum: Includes “You May Be Right” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Don’t Ask Me Why” Elvis Costello long had a reputation for being the “angry young man.” With apologies to the former Declan McManus, he had nothing on Billy Joel’s Glass Houses.

 

Fed up with inexcusable critical backlash and believing he’d still not been regarded as a serious artist, Joel ratcheted up the angst on the 1980 set that, oh, by the way, happened to sell another seven-million-plus copies and top the Billboard charts. Revenge is sweet. An integral part of Mobile Fidelity’s Billy Joel catalog restoration series, Glass Houses is mastered from the original master tapes . Honing in on producer Phil Ramone’s radio-tailored albeit looser, straightforward production, this edition opens up the previously veiled soundstages, spotlights the clean yet raucous arrangements, and decongests the imaging so that every note comes to the fore. 

 

Joel’s urgency and temperament have never sounded so vibrant. In addition to firing shots at detractors, Joel further solidifies his reputation as a pop maestro on the hit “Don’t Ask Me Why” and mellow classic “C’etait Toi (You Were the One),” each replete with sparkling structures and shimmering melodies. Throughout, he dials down the grand gestures, focusing more on an attitude and directness. At the time, Joel was conscious of the punk movement, and seems inspired to follow that genre’s preference for simplicity, frankness, and irritability. The album’s legendary artwork—the singer preparing to toss a brick through the windows of his house—is a metaphor for Joel shattering his image as a cocktail-lounge pop crooner. Such changes are evident in the now-signature “You May Be Right,” a hard-rocking and scathing rebuttal to a romantic partner on which Joel embraces the identity of a tough-skinned madman that won’t stop at anything.

 

He inhabits the role with convincing theatrics, his voice mixing pushiness, smugness, self-evident humor, and cool that fits the resistive tone of the record’s songs. Glass Houses is Joel’s megaphone for stubborn independence, dogged assertiveness, and blustery confidence. It’s also an announcement of artistic intent, a statement that’s simultaneously catchy and barbed, well-crafted and rowdy. And it succeeds on all levels, bringing to commercial pop-rock a brashness and grit often absent from fare that sticks in your head for days. Joel would never be seen the same way again.

 

• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Mastered From Original Master Tapes• 

 

Bass – Doug Stegmeyer
Drums – Liberty DeVitto
Engineer – Jim Boyer
Guitar – David Brown
Producer – Phil Ramone
Rhythm Guitar– Russell Javors
Saxophone – Richie Cannata
Vocals, Piano – Billy Joel

 

Selections: 

1. You May Be Right

2. Sometimes A Fantasy

3. Don't Ask Me Why

4. It's Still Rock and Roll To Me

5. All For Leyna

6. I Don't Want To Be Alone

7. Sleeping With the Television On

8. C'etait Toi (You Were the One)

9. Close to the Borderline

10. Through the Long Night

 

 

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.