MoFi Vinyl - Run D.M.C "King of Rock" (33RPM Supervinyl LP)

180g MFSV1-535

In Audiophile Quality for the First Time: Mobile Fidelity's 180g 33RPM SuperVinyl LP Plays with Visceral Immediacy and Includes New Liner Notes

1/2" / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

Run-D.M.C. leaves no doubt about its intent on King of Rock. The New York trio's hard-hitting sophomore album begins with a statement of purpose ("Rock the House") that serves as a stereophonic primer for the title track, a hybrid warning-anthem-theme song that swarms with justified boasts, heavy metal riffs, booming beats, cowbell accents, and dance-worthy grooves. The back-to-back tunes set the tone for a 1985 record that largely established the blueprint for the hip-hop that would follow for the next two decades — and which helped make rap a mainstream currency via the previously off-limits channels of radio, TV, and the national stage.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and featuring insightful new liner notes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g SuperVinyl 33RPM LP is the definitive-sounding version of this monumental recording. This reissue represents the first time this platinum album has been presented in audiophile quality. Benefitting from the ultra-low noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces of SuperVinyl, King of Rock now plays with a clarity, immediacy, punchiness, and directness on a visceral level that matches the artistry, urgency, and intellect of the trio's material.

Given generous breathing room due the stripped-down settings and judicious placement of instruments, the spare rhythmic core of every track bristles with an energy and intensity equaled only by DMC and Run's commanding tag-team flow. This LP invites you to turn up the volume and experience the dynamic, raw, and invigorating sound that took hip-hop's streetwise aesthetic to the charts without making any compromises. The everlasting genius of Larry Smith's production comes into view as if the music is being broadcast on a giant system in a small club — only more focused, lively, and unlimited. On King of Rock, every detail matters.

Expressed in thick, fluid cadences by plaster-cracking voices that echo amid the sparse arrangements, lyrics balance straight commentary with clever wit. The bravado on cuts like the defiant title track, celebratory "Jam-Master Jammin'," and provocative "Can You Rock It Like This" isn't just spectacle or exaggeration; Run-D.M.C.'s words resonate with undeniable truths. "It's not Michael Jackson/And this is not Thriller," the group broadcasts early on in the record. Truer words — and music recorded with such honesty, pride, rawness, and integrity — have seldom been committed to tape.