Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers.

These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a “convert.” Delicate “converts” are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST reached #6 in April 1980 and shows a band progressing towards their eventual peak. ”And The Cradle Will Rock” is one of the album’s two radio staples, along with ”Everybody Wants Some”. These two anthems set the stage for one hell of a rock & roll party album. ”Fools”, a relatively obscure VH tune, features thumping rhythm, the piercing background vocals of bassist Michael Anthony and some David Lee Roth scatting at the end. Roth declares ”I’m takin’ whiskey to the party tonight and I’m lookin’ for somebody to squeeze” in ”Romeo Delight”. Preferring sneaky licks and heavy riffs, Eddie Van Halen does fit some excellent acoustic work into ”Could This Be Magic” and ”In A Simple Rhyme”. WACF shows a hungry, talented rock band delivering the goods. Longtime producer Ted Templeman helps the band achieve their signature sound, producing a fantastic album.