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Simon and Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" MOFI UD1S

I’ve had my copies for awhile now and have had a chance to listen to it several times. This is the newest Mobile Fidelity "One-Step", (UD1S) that was just finally released.

While this is on par with the first three UD1S reissues, it just falls a little short. I think maybe I was expecting too much?

It’s a fantastic recording and sounds superb, but it left me puzzled. The first side is excellent, very quiet and dynamic. Side 2 with the song "Cecilia" is just SUPERB! It’s hard to say that the track "Cecilia" alone is worth the price of admission, well, because $100 for one song is kinda silly, but WOW, this track is really, really good. Side three is kinda weird and seems to vary from song to song. This can be said to a much lesser degree for the whole album, but side three is inconsistent. This could just be the way the tapes are now, many years later.

I did compare this to my US first pressing and my UK first pressing and this UD1S is better in every way. Quieter, more dynamic, deeper bass, cleaner vocals and way more open sounding.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a WONDERFUL album and recording and I highly recommended it, but not as highly as the first three...
128x128mofimadness
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I know you're commenting on records but what you are saying is also true on  the cd . I have one of the first issued cd's of BOTW. I also bought this album when it came out in the early 70's it had the same inconsistency as well.   I think it has always been a limitation of the master tapes of this album. 
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,677 posts
 
I heard two of my vynil  of this album, As much as I want to buy it...I waited for , to read some comment like was post here...My friend received his copy, Iam eager to see if it’s worth $100
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,835 posts
 
The problem with BOTW is that the master tape leaves a lot to be desired. As such, any reissue is IMO going to suffer in the SQ department. Pity that this is the case, as the music is superb. Music Direct picked this tile for its obvious appeal and ability to sell well...but they could have picked any number of better sounding albums that have excellent master tape sound quality. As a lot of guys are finding out, the One Step is only going to be as great as the original master tape...and that is the major limiting factor here.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,420 posts
 
I’ve always found Mobile Fidelity’s choices of titles to redo inexplicable. They always do a great job, I just can’t discern what the rational is in those choices. It doesn’t seem to be the sound quality of the original master tapes, as that varies widely. And it doesn’t seem to be a universal critical approval of the music. So what is it? I could name some Mobile Fidelity titles that I can’t see any justification for redoing, but I don’t want to offend anyone who may love one of them ;-).
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness OP
4,935 posts
 
MOFI uses ONLY the original analog tapes, (usually). A lot of these either aren’t around anymore, are pretty much wasted or very expensive.

Kinda narrows down the choices.

You’d be surprised at how many test pressings, (or titles that never even made it that far) were never reissued because the original tapes were awful.

I agree that some of their choices are strange...
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