Van Halen: Fair Warning - Hybrid UltraDisc UHR SACD, Remastered

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly named album “Fair Warning” don't lie: Songs like “Unchained”, “Mean Street”, “Push Comes To Shove” and “One Foot Out The Door” are good examples of the mood the band conveys on the double platinum-selling album released in 1981 – the nastiest, darkest and wildest album in the group's legendary career. It took Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman less than two weeks to create this sound. The band moved further away from the live-on-the-floor approach of their earlier albums and successfully employed overdubs. The result: a dense, multi-layered architecture that underscores the powerful tenor of the songs and comes across more vividly than ever on this MoFi reference edition – as does the iconic cover artwork, which is based on William Kurelek's haunting painting “The Maze”. The sunnier visual design of Van Halen's earlier album covers gives way here to something eerie and tormented, which is reflected in the music. The band members are not portrayed in glamorous shots, but in serious black-and-white portraits. Hard, aggressive, relentless: “Fair Warning” comes across like a series of bare-knuckle punches to the solar plexus and impresses with fitting lyrics.

Although not a concept album, the concise album revolves around themes such as the hard life on the streets and the struggle to survive amid bleak prospects. Singer David Lee Roth is said to have written many of the early lyrics after traveling to Haiti and witnessing extreme poverty there. The characters and situations in “Fair Warning” reflect despair and danger. “Fair Warning” is definitely not a carefree Californian beach party. Although he was angry and frustrated during the recording sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the powerful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited potential. Backed by a top-notch rhythm section and a fired-up Roth, he plays with an almost incomprehensible combination of punk intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso increasingly clashed with Templeton during the recording sessions, seeking a freedom in the studio that he felt he was being denied. Although “Fair Warning” sold less than Van Halen's previous albums, for many fans it remains the album that most embodies the band's power – Roth's manic energy and tongue-twisting humor, Alex Van Halen's rhythmic heartbeat bombast and Michael Anthony's clear bass lines. The album was released at a time when the new wave movement was just gaining momentum and was a warning shot from a band determined to stay one step ahead and prove that no one could hold a candle to them. More than four decades later, “Fair Warning” is still sounding the alarm.

For Mobile Fidelity's numbered Hybrid SACD in mini LP-style packaging, the original tapes were lovingly remastered at MoFi Studio in California. The result: tremendous realism and thrilling presence with unbridled clarity, dynamics and attention to detail. The MoFi Hybrid SACD of “Fair Warning” offers more rock feeling than ever before – turn up the volume!

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" CD/DVD conditioner for even more sonic improvement.