Up For Auction: Super Half Speed Mastered / Audiophile 3 LP Box Set ~ In Spectacular MINT Condition!!!

Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MFSL) Records, Cat. # 3-281, 3 x12 inch, 33 1/3 RPM Half Speed Mastered Stereo, Pressed on High Definition 180 Gram Super Vinyl (Victor of Japan, LTD), Cat. #, Audiophile Pressing. Limited numbered edition. Featuring: Alison Krauss & Union Station. Titled: "Alison Krauss & Union Station LIVE".

Song Titles Include: Let Me Touch You for a While // Choctaw Hayride // The Lucky One // Baby, Now That I've Found You // Bright Sunny South // Every Time You Say Goodbye // Tiny Broken Heart // Cluck Old Hen // Stay // Broadway // Ghost in This House // Forget About It // Faraway Land // A Tribute to Peador O''donnell / Monkey Let the Hogs Out // The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe // Take Me for Longing // I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow // Maybe // We Hide and Seek // But You Know I Love You // When You Say Nothing at All // New Favorite // Oh, Atlanta // Down to the River to Pray // There Is a Reason.

If you're not familiar with this title, here's some additional information: "Given Alison Krauss' tremendous popularity and her status as the first female bluegrass singer to cross over into genuine pop marketability, and given the fact that her guitarist, Dan Tyminski, is the voice behind "Man of Constant Sorrow" (or at least the version that served as an idée fixe in the blockbuster movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?), a live album was inevitable. That it should be a two-disc set can simply be chalked up to good luck. Unless you're a bluegrass purist, that is, looking for music that preserves the traditional Appalachian sounds of Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe. Listeners of that mindset will be bitterly disappointed by the presence of modern singer/songwriter fare ("Lucky One," "Let Me Touch You for a While"), by the drums on "Oh, Atlanta," and, most of all, by those dreadful call-and-response vocals on the chorus of "Man of Constant Sorrow" (which, you can hear them sniff, Tyminski takes at about twice the appropriate speed). All of this would explain why bluegrass purists are no fun to be around and, one suspects, don't have very much fun in private either. The simple fact is that every time Krauss opens her mouth to sing, angels stop what they're doing and take notes. There may be no musical pleasure quite as pure and sweet as listening to Krauss sing "Baby, Now That I've Found You" or "When You Say Nothing at All." And when she starts in on the impossibly beautiful gospel tune "Down to the River to Pray," the effect is almost disturbingly moving. Which brings listeners to the problem with this album, which is the amount of time it spends on stuff other than Alison Krauss singing great songs. The instrumental bits, the Jerry Douglas showcases, and Tyminski's requisite rendition of "Man of Constant Sorrow" are all fine, but they end up feeling like filler. Still, this album can be solidly recommended to modern bluegrass fans in general and to Krauss' many fans in particular".

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has been the undisputed pioneer and leader in audiophile recordings since the company's inception in 1977. Established by dedicated audiophiles, Mobile Fidelity's first and foremost goal was to offer faithfully reproduced high fidelity recordings that would compliment the numerous advances occurring in audio delivery systems. Throughout its history, Mobile Fidelity has remained true to this goal, pioneering state-of-the-art technologies and setting audiophile standards that remain in place today

If you're not familiar with Mobile Fidelity LP's and the painstaking process of making these incredible records, here's some additional information:

"Commercial record companies are in the business of providing a vast amount of music to tremendous numbers of people. In order to do this economically they take as little as an hour to cut a master lacquer disc, which is the first step toward ultimately producing the record you buy in the store.

We require a minimum of three months to make an Original Master Recording available to you. The difference is that we take the time necessary to achieve the kind of sound that not only lets you hear four clarinets, but hear the space between them.

To accomplish this we employ our exclusive "half-speed mastering" method. Normally, master lacquer discs are cut at 33 1/3 rpm (real time), the same speed at which you play a record on your turntable. Our master lacquer discs, however, are cut at half speed, or 16 6/7 rpm, while the master tape also plays at half speed. This allows us twice as much time to get every detail, every nuance of sound out of the stereo master tape and into the groove. It also allows the cutting stylus twice as much time to cut the groove accurately. And we always work from the original stereo master tape, never a second or third generation copy. MFSL's exclusive "half-speed mastering" also allows us to use only one-fourth the power that real time cutting takes. So we never have to push our cutting head amplifiers to their limits. This gives us much more head room for far superior dynamic range, top-end and overall frequency response, along with better stereo separation. And we don't use transformers or employ limiting in our cutting process. Nothing is introduced that will cause distortion or squeeze the life out of an Original Master Recording.

After our master lacquer disc is cut, it is carefully refrigerated and sent abroad, where the metal masters and stampers are made to produce the final pressings. Another long and painstaking process. It takes more than a month before we can hear the results of the metal masters alone.

Then, the pressings are made. And not on just vinyl, but on a material known as Super Vinyl. This, too, must be done abroad, in Japan at JVC. It is the only place in the world where such high quality vinyl is made. Super Vinyl gives us an ultra quiet playing surface. It's a vinyl that is heavier and harder than ordinary vinyl. And it has no "memory"... you can play an Original Master Recording over and over again, without having to let it rest after each play. When an ordinary, soft vinyl record is played repeatedly, the groove walls tend to stretch and distort and the sound deteriorates.

MFSL's exclusive process forces us to restrict the number of pressings we make. Commercial pressings by a top name artist number anywhere from three to ten million. There are never more than 200,000 copies made of an Original Master Recording, so the last pressing is as clear and accurate as the first. With time consuming "half-speed mastering" and our preoccupation with an exact sonic replica of the original master stereo tape, we'll never make all the music in the world. So we just make the best of it. We cut no corners. We make no compromises. What we do make is a record that is as close to handmade as you'll ever find. With us, it's a labor of love. We design every Original Master Recording to challenge your equipment and your listening ability.".

The Vinyl is NEAR MINT - I lietrally played it once!. With Original Anti-Static Inner Sleeves and all inserts. The box is very nice. The issues to report: some very minor edge wear. Solid Corners - Good Luck finding another copy of this Limited Edition Audiophile Box in this condition!!

***Please Note***

All winners pay calculated shipping based their choice of service and location.

All of our packages are shipped via The United States Postal Service [USPS]. Domestic Mail includes delivery confirmation. Customs declaration #'s will be provided for International Packages (upon request).

We will be happy to combine shipping on multiple items purchased from our store, won in our auctions or purchased from our website [BackInTheDayRecords.com]. Just request a total and we will send you an invoice with combined shipping costs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**WE SHIP DAILY**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks For Looking and Good Luck!!