Marvin Gaye What's Going On #D Ltd Ed 180g 45rpm 2LP Mofi One-Step (Ex)

$

83

Serial #6025
TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal 

  TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the April 2019 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
 
  
  Limited to Just 7500 Numbered Copies!
  MoFi SuperVinyl Pressing!
  TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal 
  Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 6/500! 

  Mastered from the Original Master Tapes and Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl:   What's Going On Mobile Fidelity UD1S 45RPM 2LP Box Set Is the Ultimate Version   of Marvin Gaye's Groundbreaking Album
 
  Lavish Packaging Includes Opulent Box, Foil-Stamped Jackets, and World's First   MoFi SuperVinyl LPs: Deluxe Audiophile Set Strictly Limited to 7,500 Numbered   Copies
 
  Pure Soul Genius That Redefined Pop Music and Motown: Socially Relevant What's   Going On Pulses with Vitality and Urgency, Named the Sixth Greatest Album of All   Time by Rolling Stone
 
  Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most   exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever created. Analog lovers have   never seen (or heard) anything like it. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest   approximation of what the label’s engineers hear in the mastering lab.
 
  Named the 6th best album in music history by Rolling Stone, Marvin Gaye's   staggeringly influential What's Going On is pure soul genius and an ageless   document about urban ills, employment issues, environmental concerns, and social   responsibilities that's as relevant today as it was upon release in 1971. At   once, the singer both revolutionized Motown's cache and upped the ante for his   fellow artists. And now, the song cycle that toes the line between optimism,   dismay, healing, futility, and urgency features sound and packaging that matches   the groundbreaking arrangements, singing, and lyrical content within.
 
  Gaye's definitive statement reaches three-dimensional sonic and emotional   heights never before attained on Mobile Fidelity's opulent UD1S (UltraDisc   One-Step) box set. Strictly limited to 7,500 numbered copies and pressed on   MoFi SuperVinyl featuring the world's quietest surfaces and accurately cut   grooves, this ultra-hi-fi collector's edition literally and figuratively   brings you closer to music that redefined pop. You'll enjoy deep-black   backgrounds, boundless soundstaging, pointillist details, staggering dynamics,   and arguably, the most lifelike tonalities and nuances ever committed to vinyl.   Experienced via UD1S, What's Going On places Gaye and his cadre of session pros   in your listening room. Every note, breath, and movement is reproduced with   exquisite accuracy, wowing clarity, and impeccable balance. Consider this   edition your new go-to reference.
 
  Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most   exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever created. Analog lovers have never   seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely   painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific   areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The   vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light   and see) and produces the world’s quietest surfaces. This high-definition   formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are   indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the   closest approximation of what the label’s engineers hear in the mastering lab.
 
  The lavish packaging, beautiful presentation, and pressing treatment of   Mobile Fidelity's What's Going On UD1S pressing befit its extremely select   status. Housed in a deluxe box, the collectible version contains special   foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the   splendor of the recording. No expense has been spared. Aurally and visually,   this reissue of What's Going On exists a curatorial artifact meant to be   preserved, poured over, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning   listeners that prize sound quality and creativity, and who desire to fully   immerse themselves in the art – and everything involved with the album, from the   images to the textures and liner notes.
 
  Incredibly, the record almost didn't get made. Motown head honcho Barry Gordy   detested the iconic title track but soon realized Gaye's ultimatum to issue it   as a single had merit. After selling 100,000 copies in its first days on the   market, the release allowed Gaye carte blanche to make the remainder of the   album on his terms – and to serve as its producer, effectively signaling his   split from the Detroit label's iron-clad hit-factory approach. The results   forever changed soul, Motown, and Gaye, turning him from a crooner and sex   symbol into someone far more complex, vital, and relatable on a human level.
 
  The societal themes coursing through What's Going On – largely concerning the   American Dream and what it really meant, and if it could still be attained, and   if so, by whom and for what cost – were largely informed by events of the time.   Civil Rights riots, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Kent State   shootings, as well as Gaye's own losses – the death of his duet partner Tammi   Terrell, the unraveling of his marriage, the pressures he faced from the IRS for   unpaid taxes – all prominently figured in the songwriting. Yet no subject   mattered more than the Vietnam war and its returning veterans, one of whom was   his brother. "I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from   Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home," the singer told Rolling   Stone in an interview. "I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me   if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them   to take a look at what was happening in the world."
 
  Gaye matched the scope of his expanded lyrical palette with equally innovative   arrangements steeped in jazz hues. Songs effortlessly flow into one another with   layers of strings, brass, and vocal overdubs laid over the rhythm tracks.   Vocally, Gaye pioneered a new dual-vocal approach by relaxing and taking   inspiration from a Lester Young album, distinguishing the tracks with an   unhurried feel reminiscent of a conversation – albeit one imbued with   of-the-moment urgency. The sessions' vibes, developed in an atmosphere rich with   marijuana smoke, are reflected in tunes such as "Flyin' High (In the Friendly   Sky)." Environmental anxieties and spiritual dramas, meanwhile, form the core of   staples like "What's Happening Brother," "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," and   "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)."
 
  No less of an authority than "Sound Opinions" co-host, longtime Chicago Tribune   critic, and award-winning author Greg Kot smartly observed that with What's   Going On, Gaye "created soul music's first ‘art' album, an inner-city response   to the Celtic mysticism of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, the psychedelic pop of   the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the rewired blues of Bob   Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited." And that's honestly just scratching the surface   of this singular record.
 
  More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
  Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile   Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing   two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for   optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality.   Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC   in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the   record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master   tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create   a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts"   are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that   literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the   additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done   in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP   with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two   steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of   extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard   copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees   that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced   directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl   production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available   today.
 
  "I compared my original RCA mastered and pressed original (Tamla TS310)   with Mobile Fidelity's 2008 1/2 speed mastered reissue (MFSL 1-314) and then   with this "1 Step" version (UD1S 2-008) pressed on the new MoFi "Supervinyl"   manufactured by NEOTECH and it's difficult to believe these are sourced from the   same tape. The "one step" destroys the others by a wide margin."
 
  "The resolution of musical and spatial detail that's smeared on the other   versions is huge. I've heard complaints about there being "too much bass" but I   think that's what's on the tape that's previously been rolled off. This reissue   is a major sonic step forward both for Mobile Fidelity and for vinyl reissues   generally. It would be interesting to compare it to the master tape..." -   Michael Fremer, Analogplanet.com, February 22, 2019
 
  "Kudos to Mobile Fidelity for this extraordinary release of Marvin Gaye's   1971 masterpiece, What's Going On... The latest in MoFi's 1-Step series, this   elaborately packaged and pricey reissue also introduces the company's SuperVinyl   technology. Developed by NEOTECH and RTI to lower the noise floor and enhance   groove definition, it creates, according to MoFi, LPs "indistinguishable from   the original lacquer" and "provides the closest approximation of what we hear in   the mastering lab. My original pressing of the album is edgy and harsh, with   pinched dynamics, a thin bottom end, and flat perspective. Behold, then, this   mind-popping reissue. Gaye's voice is suddenly highly present and integrated   into the whole - as are his own accompanying vocals. The bottom end is deeper,   richer, and it really moves. There's dynamic range and a sense of freedom   to the sound, with a notable sense of air and space. Most importantly, the   music's already powerful emotional impact is that much greater. I couldn't - and   can't - stop playing it." - Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, April   2019 

  Features:
    • Numbered, Limited Edition - Only 7500 Copies
  • First Ever MoFi SuperVinyl Pressing
  • UltraDisc One-Step
  • 45rpm Speed Edition
  • 2LP Box Set
  • Special foil-stamped jackets
  • Housed in an opulent box
  • Faithful to original graphics
  • Production and Mastering by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
 
  Selections:
  1. What's Going On
  2. What's Happening Brother
  3. Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)
  4. Save The Children
  5. God Is Love
  6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
  7. Right On
  8. Wholy Holy
  9. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)