SKU: 47924891674

2LP - Van Halen - Fair Warning (Ultradisc)

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2LP - Van Halen - Fair Warning (Ultradisc)1981 Record Sounds Unrelenting on Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Set: Strictly Limited to 5,000 Copies, Audiophile Reissue Is Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl 1 4" 30 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate

1981 Record Sounds Unrelenting on Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Set: Strictly Limited to 5,000 Copies, Audiophile Reissue Is Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl

1/4" / 30 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious. 

Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence. 

Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds. 

The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze." 

Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets. 

Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.

Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.

Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.

No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard. 

Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way? 

Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered. 

More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm. 

["A] fair warning that the listener will experience the most prestigious version of this album which topples any variant that's come before it."  
—Goldmine

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called “converts”) are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound devised. Expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces ultra-quiet surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of clean grooves that are virtually indistinguishable from the original lacquer.


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Sariah
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★★★★★ 5
This is SO helpful for Dyshidrotic Dermantitis
Size: 6.76 Ounce (Pack of 1)
I have dyshidrotic dermatitis and this helps me with the dryness and itchy feet. It is pretty greasy but I have to keep socks on so I don't care. It works the best if you use it twice a day but still works well once a day.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2026
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Mimi D.
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
A rich moisturizer that doesn’t feel heavy!
Size: 13.5 Ounce (Pack of 1)
I bought this because the skin on my face is very reactive and has also been very dry and I wanted to try something that was a little more rich than the moisturizer I was using. I liked that this is for face and body so it comes in a bigger size than typical face moisturizers come in. I have been using it for about a week and have noticed a reduction in flakiness and my sensitive skin does not get irritated by it. It absorbs really well and doesn’t feel heavy or make my skin feel sticky. I definitely feel it is worth the price since you get so much in the bottle and it will last a very long time!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2026
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Los Angeles, US
★★★★★ 5
The best eczema cream I’ve used !!!
Size: 6.76 Ounce (Pack of 1)
I will give 10 stars if it were available!! Used most of the eczema creams out there, including prescribed ointments, but given the fact you can’t avoid using water on your hands throughout the day, the eczema was only getting worse for the past couple of months! I am glad I didn’t give up and found this cream!!! The second I put this cream on my hands, it immediately moisturized the itching and flaking skin without drying or being greasy unlike other creams I’ve used before. It’s very calming, soothing, and deeply moisturizing! So I had to write this review for those who are suffering the similar symptoms. This may help you as much as it is helping me as I speak!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2026
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Megan
Battle Creek, US
★★★★★ 4
Seems to work for damaged barrier (accidental damage as well as eczema and rosacea).
Size: 6.76 Ounce (Pack of 1)
SO I am currently tryign to repair a damaged skin barrier. I have both rosacea and eczema so it's nearly impossible to find a product that makes both conditions happy. I started out using the cream version of this but my face always felt dry with it. I decided to try this since a balm usually helps keep in moisture much better. I am only using a gentle cleanser and this, planning on adding in a toner at some point. At first I thought I was sent the cream again because this comes out like their cream version but as you rub it to spread, you can tell it has a thicker feel to it. It spreads easily and doesn't tug at my skin. Seems to sink in pretty quickly but it does leave a sticky film until it completely absorbs. I can feel my eyelids stick while waiting. Not sure how long it takes to fully absorb because once it does on my eyelids, I forget. But the stickiness does go away and leaves a soft texture behind. I do find some itching in places I normally get when my skin dislikes an ingredient. But I'm not sure if it's my normal or current damaged barrier. It helps with the dry feeling and I would say I only feel a slight tightness. But so far, the best moisturizer I have used. And I love that there is NO NIACINAMIDE, NO HYALURONIC ACID, no oat, no shea butter, and no cica/centella asiatica. These ingredients wreak havoc on my skin and everybody is adding this to everything. It's been so hard to find a moisturizer.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2025
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GAIL SUTHERLAND
Belleville, US
★★★★★ 5
Works quickly to calm itch
Size: 6.76 Ounce (Pack of 1)
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