Bill Evans and Jim Hall – Undercurrent Mobile Fidelity Vinyl
Diverse Set Encompasses Ballads, Waltzes, Hard-Swinging Bop
Bill Evans catapulted to the top of the jazz world in June 1961 after reeling off three straight masterpiece sessions at New York's Village Vanguard with his trio. Yet the emotional highs came to a screeching halt shortly thereafter when bassist Scott LaFaro died in a car accident. Devastated, Evans refrained from playing for nearly a year. If not for an inspirational collaboration of tremendous creative outpouring, one wonders what fate may have befallen Evans. Undercurrent, the outcome of two studio sessions with guitarist Jim Hall, is that project.
Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead Mofi 180g 45RPM 2LP
#264 On Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: Airy Harmonies, Simple Structures, Concise Arrangements, And Burnished Tones 1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master direct to lathe
Workingman's Dead defies the erroneous belief that the Grateful Dead never attained brilliance in the recording studio. Forever prized for natural sonics, Workingman's Dead attains audiophile reference status courtesy of this first-ever 45RPM version. As flawless as any rustic album ever released, the 1970 set now brims with soaring harmonies, organic execution, intertwined textures, and uncomplicated structures that furnish the songs a transcendence associated with timeless American music. Colorful, relatable characters seemingly torn from working-class histories and old-time fables inhabit the narratives.
Hall and Oates – H2O 180g Mofi Vinyl
1982 Multi-Platinum Smash Both Creatively Ambitious and Commercially Successful
Hall and Oates' biggest-selling album also stands as their most ambitious. Recorded in 1982, when the duo practically owned the pop market, H20 strikes a keen equilibrium between polish, melody, muscle, and craft. The vocalists expand the emotional reach of their songwriting, and shepherd meticulous production and measured arrangements toward thrilling intersections of blue-eyed soul, edge new wave, soft rock, and dance. Staked to two giant singles, the double-platinum affair lingers as the group's last masterwork.
Miles Davis – Filles de Kilimanjaro 180g 45RPM 2LP Mofi Vinyl
Landmark 1968 Effort Recognized as Davis' Prelude Into Full-On Fusion: Exotic Suite-Like Album Beautiful, Intense, Adventurous
Miles Davis' move into full-on fusion starts here. Abandoning his bebop roots and chasing electric dreams, rock-based rhythms, and ostinato pulses, the icon gives life to new music forms on Filles de Kilimanjaro, a titanic release prized for its historical significance and lasting beauty. Grounded and focused, the five compositions unfold like a unified suite. Such peak lyricism, flourishes, and phrases are experienced in the highest-possible fidelity on Mobile Fidelity's 45RPM 2LP set.
Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess – Mofi Hybrid SACD
Mastered from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies
If a more significant, influential, and lasting result of a creative musical partnership exists than that of Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ Porgy and Bess, society hasn’t seen it. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the pair’s collaboration on the landmark 1959 update of George Gershwin’s opera. Transcending genre, time, and place, the profound statement finds Evans and Davis implementing modal approaches in a mainstream context and advancing jazz idioms that would become the foundation of the form’s still-classic era. And that’s saying nothing of the soulful playing – legendary performances by Davis’ first great quintet that can now be heard in pristine detail courtesy of this definitive digital edition.
THE B-52’S – WILD PLANET – MOBILE FIDELITY VINYL
Party Out of Bounds! Eclectic Group's Sophomore Album the Equal of Its Smash Debut
Party out of bounds! Not only is this sentiment one of the B-52's directives on their ceaselessly fun sophomore album, it's one of the record's hit songs, and perfectly summarizes the spirit and intent behind this new-wave classic. Completely up to task in following up their kitschy debut, the B-52's step everything up a notch: Songwriting, humor, exaggeration, melodies, hooks, and group interplay. Wild Planet also finds the band embracing stronger psychedelic accents that seamlessly mesh with its lava-lamp colors and textures. What an album.
The Cars – Shake It Up 180g Mofi Vinyl
Numbered Edition 180-gram LP Sourced from Original Master Tapes
A return to form after the departure that was 1980's muddled Panorama, the Cars' Shake It Up bursts forth with a rich assembly of synthesizers, drum machines, electronic blips, and catchy melodies that make it an early 80s pop staple. Known the world over, the famous title track proves the band's arrangement skills were in perfect shape and set the stage for a record overflowing with memorable hooks and complementary rock riffs.
