Coming Soon Stevie Nicks Rock a Little 180g 45RPM 2LP Mobile Fidelity Release

Stevie Nicks Sings for the Things Money Can’t Buy on Rock a Little: Platinum Album Features Extravagant Production, Includes the Hits “Talk to Me” and “I Can’t Wait”

Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Presents the 1985 Record in Audiophile Sound for the First Time: Strictly Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies, 40th Anniversary Reissue Plays with Exceptional Balance and Clarity 

1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analog copy to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.

Pre-order - Mobile Fidelity

Looking back on her career in the early 90s, Stevie Nicks described the first track of Rock a Little as “the most exciting song that I had ever heard.” This coming from a superstar who was already closely affiliated with several bajillion-selling Fleetwood Mac albums  —  to say nothing of her own benchmark solo debut. Her remarks attest to the enthusiasm and effort she invested in her third record, a 1985 work that quickly furthered Nicks’ profile and cemented itself as a piece of 80s pop lore.

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents Rock a Little in audiophile sound for its 40th anniversary. Helmed by a cadre of producers and engineers, and recorded for a reported one million dollars, the platinum-certified album teems with a head-spinning array of colors, tones, dreamscapes, and accents. This reference-grade reissue marks the first time they are all brought to light and conveyed with proper balance, dimensionality, and positioning. 

Though Rock a Little doubtlessly has period characteristics of a mid-80s LP, Nicks and company spare no expense when it comes to distinguishing the music with expansive sonics distinguished with lush melodies, high-tech percussion, echoing vocals, sampled keyboards, and layers of sophisticated accents. The degrees of spaciousness, headroom, and dynamics are nothing less than inspiring, while the newly enhanced detail, texture, and clarity make the songs sing like never before. As for Nicks’ voice? Wait ’til you experience the transparency and depth. 

Those advantages extend, of course, to the aforementioned “I Can’t Wait,” a statement-making opener shot through with modulating synthesizers, splashy drums, metallic guitars, and serious drama. Holed up in a massive studio, Nicks required just one take to nail her part, which she called “magic and simply not able to beat.” The singer-songwriter also distilled the reverberating emotional essence of the Top 20 tune, stating “when I hear it on the radio, this incredible feeling comes over me, like something really incredible is about to happen.”

The same can be said for nearly all of Rock a Little. Crafted by the likes of Songwriters Hall of Fame multi-instrumentalist/producer Rick Nowels, Heartbreakers organist Benmont Tench, bassist Bob Glaub, jack-of-all-trades Greg Phillinganes, and session-pro guitarists Waddy Watchel, Les Dudek, and Danny Kortchmar — along with another two dozen or so participants — the record spills with diverse ideas, shapes, and moods. Everything is in the right place, as evidenced by the swirling glide and sensual undertow of the slightly funky title track to the snapping rhythmic pace and big hooks of “Imperial Hotel,” one of Nicks’ standout moments. 

“What was it she wanted?” Nicks queries on “No Spoken Word,” continuing a theme of contemplation that runs through the narratives. Nicks never lands on a definite answer, but hearing her explore loneliness, love, and the secrets we keep to ourselves proves continuously rewarding. Take her passionate performance on a cover of Chas Sanford’s “Talk to Me,” a Top 5 smash furthered by tasteful saxophone lines and understated folk elements. Immersive yourself in the grand sonic corridors of “If I Were You,” laden with Nicks’ signature mysticism. 

Moreover, surrender to the gravitas of the closing “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You,” a piano ballad composed about the death of Joe Walsh’s three-year-old daughter. As Nicks asserts earlier on the album, she sings for things money can’t buy. 

So, rock a little, yes, but dare to feel even more. 

TRACKLIST

Side One:

1. I Can’t Wait
2. Rock a Little (Go Ahead Lily)

Side Two:

1. Sister Honey
2. I Sing for the Things
3. Imperial Hotel

Side Three:Some Become Strangers

1. Talk to Me
2. The Nightmare

Side Four:

1. If I Were You
2. No Spoken Word
3. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You

Also Available to pre-order

Mobile Fidelity’s Hybrid SACD

Mobile Fidelity’s Hybrid SACD Presents the 1985 Record in Audiophile Sound: Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies, 40th Anniversary Reissue Plays with Exceptional Balance and Clarity 

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, and housed in mini-LP-style gatefold packaging, Mobile Fidelity’s hybrid SACD presents Rock a Little in audiophile sound for its 40th anniversary.

Pre-order - Mobile Fidelity

Coming Soon Fleetwood Mac Limited Edition UltraDisc One-Step 45RPM Vinyl 2LP Boxset

 

Fleetwood Mac Comes into Its Own with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks: Self-Titled Record Ranked 182nd Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone, Includes “Landslide” and “Rhiannon”

Hear the 1975 Blockbuster in Reference Sound: Mobile Fidelity’s UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Box Set Is Strictly Limited to 7,500 Numbered Copies and Features Extraordinary Definition.

 1/4” / 30 IPS Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.

Release date: TBA

Pre-order at Mobility Fidelity

Also available at a numbered Hybrid SACD

A veteran band with waning prospects, personnel churn, and management issues. A largely unknown duo whose eponymous debut flopped. An impromptu meeting in a supermarket that led to a fact-finding trip to Sound City Studios. The backstory behind Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album is nearly as incredible as the music on the 1975 recording — a blockbuster that altered pop-rock history, and found newcomers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks permanently changing the profile and popularity of the British ensemble.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and strictly limited to 7,500 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP box set of the nine-times-platinum effort plays with reference-level transparency, dynamics, and detail. Benefitting from stellar groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the California studio with arresting presence, tube-like warmth, and sumptuous tonality.

Honoring the striking elements that make Fleetwood Mac a generations-spanning favorite, the industry-leading presentation of this UD1S version confirms the reissue's definitive standing. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase, it features premium foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. This keepsake is for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the recognizable cover art positioning Mick Fleetwood and John McVie before a doorway — as well as a crystal ball showing their reflection. The hand-drawn script depicting the band's name is now inextricably associated with the quintet’s “White Album” and identity.

Shepherded by producer Keith Olsen, Fleetwood Mac used its studio time to cultivate and establish intra-band roles. The innate chemistry among the five musicians can be heard here in stunning clarity, the taut albeit flexible rhythms distinguished with palpable grip, the blended vocals and airy harmonies benefitting from seemingly unlimited frequency extension. The thrilling results speak to the band’s bond as well as healthy tension that led to recordings that more than five decades later remain revered for their exceptional realism, openness, textures, imaging, and soundstaging. And that says nothing about the freshness of the songs themselves.

Six of those tunes were written or co-written by Buckingham or Nicks, who lent the band — reeling from the departure of guitarist Bob Welch — a diversity, soulfulness, and breadth it lacked in the past. Then again, the romantically involved partners weren’t exactly burning up the charts on their own. Their Buckingham Nicks LP was largely ignored upon release and found the twosome questioning their futures. But fate has a weird way of operating, and rather than recruiting another six-string blues virtuoso into the mix, Fleetwood Mac called an audible. 

Prompted to visit Sound City Studios after telling someone in a grocery store he needed a place to record Fleetwood Mac’s tenth album, Fleetwood heard Buckingham Nicks played back by Olsen as a demonstration of the studio’s capabilities. Unable to forget what he heard, the drummer soon invited Buckingham to join his band. Displaying his now-famous reluctance to cede any creative control, Buckingham initially hedged before accepting on one condition: He and Nicks came as a package. 

That agreement stands as one of the most significant career-altering moves any band ever made. Suffice it to say Nicks’ Plan B — “we can always quit,” she reasoned to Buckingham — stayed on the backburner. After rehearsing together for just ten days and sussing out potential roles, the new iteration of Fleetwood Mac entered Sound City in January 1975 and laid down the tracks for the showstopper Rolling Stone ranks as the 182nd Greatest Album of All Time.

In many ways, Fleetwood Mac got far more than they bargained for in taking on the American duo. Buckingham and Nicks arrived loaded for bear. “Monday Morning,” “Rhiannon,” and “I’m So Afraid” had already been workshopped and penciled in for a second Buckingham-Nicks record. “Crystal” was re-purposed and re-imagined after its original inclusion of Buckingham Nicks. 

Nicks also brought another recently penned song to the sessions, a beautiful gem none other than “Landslide.” McVie later admitted that the quality of material triggered a competitive spirit within her and inspired her to take her own songwriting to another level. “Warm Ways,” “Say You Love Me,” and “Over My Head” underscore that determination. Ditto her collaboration with Buckingham on “World Turning.” 

Constituting the old Fleetwood Mac in name only, Fleetwood Mac is the sound and style of an entirely new entity, a rebirth, and a reward for perseverance and a little bit of chance fortune. Above all, however, the album — which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard more than a year after its street date — towers as a testament to then-novel combinations of hook-laden power pop, mystical folk, cool R&B, melodic rock ‘n’ roll and a wondrous balance of perfection and pragmatism, delicate and deliberate, mellow and maverick.

Indeed, from the ocean-swept breeziness of the opening “Monday Morning” through the optimistic vibes of the building “Over My Head” to the stacked structure of the closing “I’m So Afraid,” Fleetwood Mac contains not a single dull moment or wasted note. In short order, the band would attain even greater commercial success with the subsequent Rumours. Yet the restless energy, innovative spirit, breath-of-fresh-air newness, and across-the-board fantastic performances of Fleetwood Mac would never be surpassed. 

Coming Soon Limited Edition Stevie Nicks Bella Donna Mobile Fidelity’s UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Box Set

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna

(45RPM 2LP Box Set) $125.00

Pre-Order
Availability TBA

Stevie Nicks Breaks Out as a Solo Force on Bella Donna: 1981 Album Features Extraordinary Vocal Performances and Four Hits, Including “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”

Experience the Record’s Spontaneous Feel and Raw Emotions in Definitive Sound on Mobile Fidelity’s UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Box Set: Strictly Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies

1/4” / 30 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

Stevie Nicks had much to prove when she stepped out on her own for the first time and crafted Bella Donna. Despite attaining superstar success with Fleetwood Mac, the singer often took a back seat to the band’s other members — and, due to the group’s approach, faced limitations in getting her songs on an album. Along with Nicks’ status as a significant artistic force in her own right, that all changed with the timeless Bella Donna.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP box set of the 1981 benchmark plays with superb transparency, dynamics, and detail. Benefitting from extraordinary groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and extremely quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and presence.

Spotlighting the striking visual elements that further make Bella Donna immediately identifiable, the gorgeous presentation of this UD1S version confirms the reissue's definitive standing. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features premium foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. This keepsake is for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the celebrated cover art depicting a gowned Nicks staring at the camera, holding a perched cockatoo, and standing beside a tambourine adorned with roses. The hypnotic color scheme — dark blues, deep violets, creamy whites, golden yellows — mirrors the spirit, mysticism, strength, and contrasts of the music within.

Teaming with simpatico producer Jimmy Iovine and fellow rock ’n’ roll icon Tom Petty, Nicks asserted control over the creative process for the first time in her career. She allowed the material to develop spontaneously — a characteristic you readily experience via the natural, balanced sonics and raw emotionalism. Nicks’ organic methods owed to both her desire to collaborate with the studio musicians as well as necessity.

Because the personnel who played on the record had demanding schedules, no one had time to sit around and get take after take in pursuit of perfectionist goals or technical aims. The warm, extended, tonally rich soundscapes you hear — instrumentation that feels live, vocals that float and yet sound altogether innate, synergy between the players that places them in the same room together — remain as integral to Bella Donna as its personalized songs.

About those songs. Nicks recorded 16 tracks and picked from material she wrote as far back as a decade prior. Though she deemed Bella Donna a “sort of chronology of [her] life,” she felt proudest about its songs’ ability to speak to issues to which everyone could relate. Her intuition proved prophetic. The public embraced her solo debut en masse, sending the album to No. 1 on its way to selling more than four million copies — numbers that make Bella Donna more successful in the U.S. than any Fleetwood Mac effort apart from Rumours.

The enthusiastic commercial and critical reception was well deserved. From a musical perspective, the playing on Bella Donna alone warrants the highest praise. The makeshift band on a majority of the fare consists of guitarist Waddy Watchel, drummer Russ Kunkel, organist Benmont Tench, bassist Bob Glaub, percussionist Bobbye Hall, and guitarist Davey Johnstone — all of whom claim sterling resumes and tackle their parts with utmost professionalism, restraint, and chemistry. Nicks also wrangled E Street Band pianist Roy Bittan to sit in on five songs, and started the beginning of a long relationship with backing vocalists Sharon Celani and Lori Perry.

For the first single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Nicks duetted with its author, Tom Petty, and nearly all the Heartbreakers, with legendary bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn filling in for Ron Blair. The sweeping, sassy tune reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts and captures the fiercely independent mood Nicks embraces throughout the record. She, Petty, and the Heartbreakers hit upon similar aural gold on the shivering “Outside the Rain,” which echoes toughness, sinew, and determination.

On the follow-up single, “Leather and Lace,” Nicks turns to another famous luminary in the form of Eagles vocalist-drummer and former romantic interest, Don Henley. Filled with disparate images, the acoustic-based ballad climbed to No. 6 and remains notable for its lack of embellishment. Reflective, conversational, and pure, the song blooms with heartfelt emotion and honesty. When Nicks sings, “I am stronger than you know,” it doubles as the mantra for Bella Donna.

Indeed, Nicks’ gritty and glam-kissed vocals on this set rank among the finest performances of her career. She invests in every word, summons her trademark rasp on cue, and explores a wide range with seeming effortlessness. Nicks weaves magical spells and haunting breathiness amid ghostly webs of notes on “Kind of Woman”; conveys heavy caution, contemplation, and consequence on the slow-building title track; and throws herself with abandon into “After the Glitter Fades,” a Top 40 lamentation framed by piano motifs, pedal-steel fills, and country accents.

As for the record’s signature moment, the contagious favorite Rolling Stone ranks the 217th Greatest Song of All Time? Nicks finds rare air on “Edge of Seventeen,” its helicopter-chop riffs and chugging rhythms corresponding with her ascending and descending vocal flights, call-and-response harmonies, and throaty timbre. The definition of cool, she remains poised throughout, probing grief in an inimitable fashion that sounds more pertinent now than four decades ago.

Long may that white dove soar.

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called “converts”) are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

Why Isn’t This UD1S Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl?

Bella Donna is among the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UltraDisc One-Step sets released since the advent of MoFi SuperVinyl that is pressed on 180g black vinyl rather than MoFi SuperVinyl. Why? Quite simply, it sounds better on 180g black vinyl. After closely auditioning Bella Donna on several different vinyl profiles — a time-consuming and expensive endeavor no other label pursues — MoFi’s expert engineers determined the music on this 1981 album translates with superior definition, clarity, presence, dynamics, and balance on this format. The opening of MoFi’s sister plant, Fidelity Record Pressing — and its peerless ability to press dead-quiet 180g black vinyl — means the label’s engineers now have more options when it comes to high-quality vinyl. All of which benefits the original artists and their intent, and you, the listener.

Side One:

1. Bella Donna
2. Kind of Woman

Side Two:

1. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
2. Think About It
3. After the Glitter Fades

Side Three:

1. Edge of Seventeen
2. How Still My Love

Side Four:

1. Leather and Lace
2. Outside the Rain
3. The Highwayman

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna
(Hybrid SACD) $34.99

Pre-Order
Availbility TBA

Experience the Record’s Spontaneous Feel, Raw Emotions, and Organic Arrangements in Transparent Sound on Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD

Sourced from the original analog master tapes and housed in mini-LP-style gatefold packaging, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition hybrid SACD