Van Halen

High Quality, 45 Rpm, Limited Edition, Box Set
The song titles on Van Halen’s aptly titled Fair Warning don’t lie. The likes of “Unchained,” “Mean Street,” “Push Comes to Shove,” “One Foot Out the Door,” and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group’s storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious. Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, it revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity’s UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set of this bruising effort plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hardhitting tenor of the songs, which comes alive like never before on this reference reissue. Prepare to sound the alarm.