MFSL Sinatra boxed set audiophile

	£		213
	$		282

All records in Ex++ condition. Th ebooklet is missing - arrgh and one page stuck to inside but fabulous and rare boxed set. Check out the web - if you want the best then this is it. UK ONLY PLEASE AND NO TIME WASTERS
here's the history

History

[edit]Creation

Recording engineer Brad Miller (1939–1998) created the first recordings on the Mobile Fidelity label during the late 1950s and 1960s. These were highly realistic recordings of environmental and locomotive sounds which drew interest from audiophiles but gained little attention from the public. While located in Burbank California in 1971, the company released a 7" 45rpm single produced by Miller, "Saunders Ferry Lane"/"Early Morning." The record was credited to "Clare" and was sung by British vocalist Clare Torry.

[edit]LP Era - 1977 to 1985

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was common for record labels to press relatively heavy records on virgin vinyl. Through the oil crisis and economic downturn of the 1970s, the cost of record pressing increased. As a result, record labels opted to press light weight vinyl out of recycled material (which contains impurities). This resulted in releases that contained pops, clicks and high levels of surface noise. Additionally, mastering engineers would often compromise the sound of the original tape by apply some equalization, dynamic range compression and grove velocity limitation when cutting a record, in order to ensure that the album was playable even on low grade consumer equipment. Sound quality could also vary based on production run or geographic region, as the stampers were cut from different generation tapes.

In 1977, Mobile Fidelity began offering a line of Original Master Recording LPs - re-issued albums of popular rock and pop acts. These albums were all cut at 1/2 speed from the original tapes, using no compression or velocity limiting (equalization was used, however). The records were then pressed on JVC Supervinyl. Sleeves featured glossy, detailed artwork reproductions on heavy cardboard and plastic liner sleeves.

The company was original based out of Veradale, Washington (a suburb of Spokane). MFSL's first four LPs in this series were pop-orchestral titles performed by the Mystic Moods Orchestra. These albums also made extensive use of natural sound effects. Following this MFSL shifted course, offering mostly well known Rock, Pop, and Jazz titles licensed from major record companies. The first of these was Crime of the Century by Supertramp, originally released by A&M Records in 1974. Another early success was Katy Lied by Steely Dan, licensed from ABC Records. In 1978, MFSL moved to the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 1979 Herbert A. Belkin, a music industry attorney and executive who had previously worked at ABC Records and Capitol Records, bought the company from Miller. MFSL reached greater recognition and acclaim with their release of titles such as George Benson's Breezin', Fleetwood Mac's second eponymous album. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was the label's biggest success in this period when it was re-issued on LP in the Original Master Recording series in 1979.

MFSL's releases received increased publicity in 1981 when they released a box set of The Beatles recordings. This comprised all 13 original British versions of their albums, mastered from the originalAbbey Road Studio master tapes (with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour which was sourced from a copy of the original US Capitol tapes). An album-sized booklet displaying the original album covers was also included. This project was the first and only time The Beatles master tapes ever left Abbey Road studios.

The box set was followed up with similar box sets of Frank Sinatra and The Rolling Stones. In addition to the regular-weight LP releases and box sets, MFSL also released eight UHQR (Ultra High Quality Record) title on LP. Each was a single-record box set limited to 5,000 copies, which were individually numbered. UHQRs LPs were pressed on heavy-weight (200 gram) "virgin" vinyl. These discs (along with previous releases) were pressed at JVC in Japan.