Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Bob Dylan

Desire

c. 2015 (reissue; pressed no earlier than 2015 per the side 1 label's own copyright date)  ·  Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL), under license from Columbia MFSL 2-416  ·  Stereo  ·  US  ·  2xLP, 12", gatefold · 45 RPM

Bob Dylan - Desire: Front Cover
Back Cover Other Side 1 Label Side 1 Vinyl Side 2 Label Side 2 Vinyl Side 3 Label Side 3 Vinyl Side 4 Label Side 4 Vinyl Side 1 Matrix Runout A1 Side 1 Matrix Runout A2 Side 1 Matrix Runout A3 Side 2 Matrix Runout B1 Side 2 Matrix Runout B2 Side 2 Matrix Runout B3 Side 3 Matrix Runout C1 Side 3 Matrix Runout C2 Side 3 Matrix Runout C3 Side 4 Matrix Runout D1 Side 4 Matrix Runout D2 Side 4 Matrix Runout D3

Pressing details

LabelMobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL), under license from Columbia
Catalogue numberMFSL 2-416
Yearc. 2015 (reissue; pressed no earlier than 2015 per the side 1 label's own copyright date)
Mono / StereoStereo
CountryUS
Format2xLP, 12", gatefold
Speed45 RPM
GenreRock - Folk Rock
ProducerDon DeVito
MusiciansBob Dylan (vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, piano on some tracks), Scarlet Rivera (violin), Rob Stoner (bass, backing vocals), Howard Wyeth (drums), Dom Cortese (accordion, mandolin), Vincent Bell (bouzouki, electric guitar), Emmylou Harris (harmony vocals), Ronee Blakley (harmony vocals), Steven Soles (guitar, harmony vocals), Luther Rix (congas), Sheena Seidenberg (percussion)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  MFSL2-416A2 KW@MOFI 22264.1(3)
Side B:  MFSL2-416B2 KW@MOFI 22120.2(3)
Side C:  MFSL2-416C1 KW@MOFI 22120.3(3)
Side D:  MFSL2-416D1 KW@MOFI 22120.4(3)

Condition

Cover
NM
Vinyl
NM

Variant chronology

1976 - US Columbia PC 33893 stereo original pressing
2013-2014 - Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-416 GAIN 2 Ultra Analog 45 RPM numbered reissue, earliest copyright line
c. 2015 - Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-416 GAIN 2 Ultra Analog 45 RPM numbered reissue, 2015-dated side one label  <- this copy
2020 - Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-416 SuperVinyl 45 RPM numbered reissue

This Pressing

Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2 Ultra Analog 45rpm numbered reissue of the 1976 Columbia original, identified by its own catalogue number MFSL 2-416 and a side one label dated 1976/2015; it ranks behind the 1976 Columbia original and behind the 2020 numbered SuperVinyl edition sharing the same catalogue number.

The Album

Desire grew out of a burst of collaborative songwriting between Bob Dylan and playwright Jacques Levy in mid-1975, producing a set of sprawling, cinematic story-songs unlike anything in Dylan's catalogue to that point. The sessions, cut largely live in New York with a loose, improvisational cast of musicians, were famously chaotic, with Dylan spotting violinist Scarlet Rivera on a Greenwich Village street and bringing her straight into the studio, where her haunting lines became the album's signature texture. Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakley added spontaneous, often first-take harmony vocals, while bassist Rob Stoner and drummer Howard Wyeth anchored the band that would soon back Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue. The album opens with

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Hurricane
2. Isis

Side 2

1. Mozambique
2. One More Cup Of Coffee
3. Oh, Sister

Side 3

1. Joey
2. Romance In Durango

Side 4

1. Black Diamond Bay
2. Sara

The Label

The side 1 label carries a 1976/2015 copyright line and a 10022-5211 address, while sides 2-4 carry a 1976/2013 copyright line and a 10022-3211 address; each side reproduces a deep-groove-style pressed ring as part of the reissue's fidelity to the period Columbia label it imitates, not as a marker of an original pressing. Mobile Fidelity issued this catalogue number as a 45rpm GAIN 2 Ultra Analog numbered reissue from around 2013, continuing production in later years before replacing it with a numbered SuperVinyl/45rpm edition in 2020; the 2015 date on the side 1 label places this copy among the later prints of the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog run, identified by its own catalogue number, barcode and copyright year rather than by any groove feature it shares with the original Columbia pressing.

Fidelity

Mastered by Krieg Wunderlich at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab from the analog master tapes and cut at 45rpm across two LPs for wider dynamic range and lower surface noise, pressed on heavyweight vinyl. Collectors rate the Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2 cut of Desire highly for its openness and quiet backgrounds compared with the standard-speed Columbia vinyl and CD editions. Mobile Fidelity's own later SuperVinyl/DSD256 remaster of the same catalogue number is regarded by collectors as a further refinement, ranking just above this GAIN 2 cut, with the 1976 Columbia original prized separately for its own analog mastering character.

Notes

This is a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissue of the 1976 Columbia original, not an original pressing. The side 1 label carries a 1976/2015 copyright line and a 10022-5211 address, a later print than the 1976/2013 copyright and 10022-3211 address on sides 2-4, so the copy as a whole cannot predate 2015. It is a 45rpm GAIN 2 Ultra Analog cut (catalogue MFSL 2-416), individually numbered 000572 on the back cover, and is distinct from the 2020 numbered SuperVinyl 45rpm edition carrying the same catalogue number, whose runout stamper suffixes and barcode differ from this copy's.

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