Eagles – Hotel California – MoFi One Step – Vinyl Review
Vinyl surface noise: 5+
Dynamic Range: 5-
Stereo Imaging: 5
Image depth/perspective: 4+
Frequency response: 5-
Track List:
- Side 1:
- Hotel California
- New Kid in Town
- Side 2:
- Life in the Fast Lane
- Wasted Time
- Side 3:
- Wasted Time (reprise)
- Victim of Love
- Pretty Maids All in a Row
- Side 4:
- Try and Love Again
- The Last Resort
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 and were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America. Founding members were; Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals). Originally a backing group for Linda Ronstadt they eventually ventured out on their own on David Geffen’s Asylum Records label.
Hotel California is the fifth studio album by the Eagles. Released on December 8, 1976, by Asylum Records, Hotel California was recorded by Bill Szymczyk at the Criteria and Record Plant studios between March and October 1976. It was the band’s first album with guitarist Joe Walsh, who had replaced founding member Bernie Leadon and the last album to feature founding bassist Randy Meisner.
Hotel California topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. At the 20th Grammy Awards, the title track won Record of the Year, and “New Kid in Town” won Best Arrangement for Voices. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year. Three singles were released from the album, with the title track and “New Kid in Town” topping the Billboard Hot 100 and “Life in the Fast Lane” reaching No. 11.
Hotel California is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been certified 26× Platinum in the US and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it the band’s second best-selling album after Their Greatest hits (1971-1975). It has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003 and 2012, it was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.
Mobile Fidelity has re-mastered this latest release from the original analog master tapes and had it pressed at RTI on 180gram SuperVinyl, a new vinyl formulation developed by NEOTECH and RTI providing significant improvements in both noise floor and groove definition.
This 2 disc, 180gram, 45RPM, SuperVinyl, Numbered Edition (MFSL45UD1S-028) was released by Mobile Fidelity in October 2023. A numbered SACD (UDSACD2233) was also released earlier that year. Both were created from the original 1/4″ / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master tape, mastered to DSD 256 then to the analog console and lathe for the vinyl. This current release has been limited to 17,500 numbered copies.
Mine is number 005099.
Musicians:
- Don Felder – backing vocals, guitars, pedal steel guitar on “The Last Resort”
- Glenn Frey – harmony and backing vocals, guitars, piano, clavinet, synthesizer, keyboards, lead vocals on “New Kid In Town”
- Don Henley – lead vocals, harmony and backing vocals, drums, percussion, synthesizer on “The Last Resort”
- Randy Meisner – harmony and backing vocals, bass, lead vocals on “Try and Love Again,” guitarrón on “New Kid in Town”
- Joe Walsh – harmony and backing vocals, guitars, slide guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, keyboards, lead vocals on “Pretty Maids All in a Row”
Reviewed using a Hana SL, MC cartridge, Entre Lentek head amp and MX-VYNL pre-amp.
See here for my vinyl review playback hardware.
The moment the instantly recognizable intertwined guitar passage on the title track to the Eagles’ Hotel California begins, the record’s genius becomes obvious all over again. Certified by RIAA as the third best-selling LP in history and considered the foundation on which the Golden State’s mid-‘70s music scene was built, this 1976 landmark is a music staple immune to shifts in trends, eras, and styles.
This is a truly outstanding pressing with exceptionally low surface noise. The discs are ruler flat, perfectly concentric and were pristine pressings, all shine. In my eagerness to hear this album I forwent cleaning it with my Nitty Gritty prior to its first play. As soon as the stylus hit the vinyl I just new this was going to be a memorable experience. The vinyl was dead silent and I mean CD silent on all four sides. I have never heard any vinyl so quiet and devoid of any discernible surface noise. Nor where there ANY pops or clicks on any side.
OK, yes, I am an Eagles fan boy, but it’s not because I am from the same golden age. The Eagles are excellent musicians and together with their engineers, producers and mastering houses produced some terrific albums. This is a testament to one of them.
Now remember, this album was never created to be an audiophile recording being mastered to 1/4″ tape at 15 ips with Dolby A noise reduction. I also own an original 1976 vinyl copy (Asylum 6E-103) and 2001 5.1 DVDA (Elektra – 7559-60509-9) so I had an excellent idea just how good this album can sound.
Original 1976 Vinyl – Asylum 6E-103)
DVDA 2021 Elektra – 7559-60509-9
Well, MoFi knocked this one “out of the park”. I was truly impressed with what they managed to extract from the old analog master and cut into the vinyl. My comments are based upon having worked in professional music recording studios and relative to my other (MoFi) albums on my system.
The disc is very well, nay excellently mastered and with only two or three tracks per side, the cutting head managed to extract all the dynamic and frequency range that was probably available from the master tape.
All tracks are a real delight to listen to and make for easy listening, providing well detailed and balanced sonics with tight clean bass, warm mids and clear highs, all with either light reverb or short studio decay. Lead vocals provide moderate presence, occasionally coming across as just a little “brittle”. There are no hard edges to any instruments, with orchestral strings coming across smooth and silky and guitars and keyboards clean and bright. The overall sound is very open with good separation and detail, providing good stereo imaging but with a limited depth perspective, even for the kit, orchestral and backing parts. The top end is extended and detailed but not over bright, I found the bass lines solid and clean, supported by a kick drum that occasionally dug quite deep. The kick drum having a solid punch with occasional beater sound, the snare, toms and cymbals sounding very natural, having good detail and impact. Orchestral parts were pleasingly broad and set slightly back along with some of the guitar parts, creating an image with limited depth. Guitars, piano, synth and organ providing natural and well defined accompaniments on all tracks, the guitars in particular providing excellent string and fret fingering detail.
I have to re-iterate that the total lack of vinyl surface noise was quite exceptional, with reverb tailing out to silence levels that virtually matched my DVDA, causing the momentary pause in playing on S1T1 to be quite startling, even on the third listening! Clearly, significant care and attention was given to the mastering, cutting and pressing processes. The final result being an excellent rendition of the original master tape, providing both good dynamics and frequency response. All rounded off by some terrific musicianship.
Obviously the opening two tracks on side 1 and Life In The Fast lane (S2T1) are world renown, but all tracks have something to give from excellent vocals, outstanding guitar and keyboard work to solid drum accompaniments…. Take your pick.
So how does this UD1S cut compare to the original stereo Asylum vinyl and the later Elektra 5.1 24bit/196KHz LPCM DVDA? See my marks below:
MoFi 2.0 Asylum 2.0 Electra 5.1
Vinyl surface noise: 5+ 4+ N/A (5+)
Dynamic Range: 5- 4+ 5
Stereo Imaging: 5 5- 5
Image depth/perspective: 4+ 4+ 5-
Frequency response: 5- 4+ 5
Clearly the MoFi UD1S vinyl version is a significant improvement on the original Asylum stereo release. However, the bad/good news is that the Electra 5.1 release sounds better in all categories, including “surface noise”. What was notable was the improved extended bass, kick drum impact and vocal presence from a warmer and fuller mid-range. HF detail, guitars, keyboards and the entire kit were all very similar to the UD1S, as was overall transparency and imaging. What I also preferred was the “immersive” surround sound that sat you in the middle of the mix. The album was played over Denon Link3 using my Denon A100 and HDMI using my Oppo 205. The 205 providing a little more extended bass, slightly warmer mid-range and a more refined HF.
With that said, this UD1S album is probably as good as Hotel California will ever sound on vinyl and is without doubt a rock masterpiece and outstanding audiophile pressing. If this is your style of music then you must own it.
Available on SACD and vinyl from; Elusive Disc, Acoustic Sounds, Mo-Fi and MusicDirect. As of 9/25/2023, most vendors are currently showing pre-order or coming October 2023.
For more details on Mo-Fi technologies click here.
