Era Catalog Due: Last News

Chris Willman Music WriterTo jump, or not to jump? That is the question many Van Halen buffs will be asking themselves as they consider the prospect of the band’s original run of albums becoming available as pricey but very collectible premium vinyl boxed sets later this year.Mobile Fidelity, the standard-bearer for audiophile vinyl, will be issuing the six albums the band originally recorded with David Lee Roth as frontman in double-LP boxes that involve the lossless “one-step” process, pressed across four sides each at 45 rpm, allowing the greatest insurance that even with Michael Anthony’s bass at maximum intensity, the needle will not go ahead and j… er, skip.At $125 each from Music Direct, the only site from which they can currently be preordered, these special editions are not for the casual fan… or the modern vinyl “enthusiast” who buys LPs to display the covers without actually having a turntable hooked up. But as recent experience with MoFi vinyl releases would prove, it’s entirely possible that all 10,000 numbered copies of each could effectively sell out online, or that most retail stores that carry the brand might only get a copy or two in.