Son of Schmilsson at 45 RPM – How Can It Possibly Sound This Bad?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Harry Nilsson Available Now

Alternately titled: Forty Five, Schmorty Five.

Recently someone loaned us a copy of the Mobile Fidelity pressing of this album, the one they put out in 2021 on two discs cut at 45 RPM, remastered by that notorious hack, Krieg Wunderlich.

Our last shootout took place all the way back in 2021. Although I listen to this title regularly,  unfortunately it does not sell all that well, so we haven’t been making the effort we should to find copies in order to offer the best of them to our customers.

Why the album is not more popular is a question we ask about a number of titles on our site. We love the music and we love the sound, as can be seen from what we (with the help of Allmusic) had to say about a very good sounding pressing back then:

  • This is one of Nilsson’s best albums, sonically and musically. (With Ken Scott at the board at Trident Studios the sound just has to be good, doesn’t it?)
  • Son of Schmilsson has more than half a dozen of the best songs Nilsson ever wrote, and should make it a Must Own for every right thinking audiophile with sophisticated tastes in popular music (we hope this means you)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… this is all married to a fantastic set of songs that illustrate what a skilled, versatile songsmith Nilsson was. No, it may not be the easiest album to warm to — and it’s just about the weirdest record to reach number 12 and go gold — but if you appreciate Nilsson’s musicality and weirdo humor, he never got any better.”

So true!

The MoFi, however, is a joke next to a properly-mastered and properly-pressed RCA vintage release. Our notes for it read:

  • Big but flat
  • Voice is recessed and lacks richness
  • Rock songs, track one in particular work OK but
  • Ballads lose all the magic

What good is a Harry Nilsson record where the voice lacks presence and richness?

Or one in which the ballads don’t sound good?

Or one that sounds flat?

That’s three strikes and you’re out as far as we’re concerned.

This one struck out before we had finished playing the first disc and there were three more to go! Of course we gave up after playing the first one. How deaf do you have to be to sit through sound this wrong?

My CD sounds better.

So does my cassette.

Naturally a record this awful belongs in the Mobile Fidelity hall of shame, where it will find plenty of their other titles (60+ as of 2026) to keep it company. MoFi has been making bad sounding records for a very long time, and to this day we cannot understand how they are still in business.

The Sordid Details

Mastered by Krieg Wunderlich, assisted by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab ®, Sebastopol, CA on the GAIN 2 ULTRA ANALOG SYSTEM ™
1/4″ / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256
Specially plated and pressed on 180g high-definition vinyl
Production by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab®

From inside gatefold:
Any sonic artefacts present are a product of the original master tape. Attempts to eliminate them would have negatively impacted the integrity of the presentation.

Further Reading

If you are still buying these remastered pressings, making the same mistakes that I was making before I knew better, take the advice of some of our customers and stop throwing your money away on Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered LPs.

At the very least let us send you a Hot Stamper pressing — of any album you choose — that can show you what is lacking on your copy of the album.

And if for some reason you disagree with us that our record sounds better than yours, we will happily give you all your money back and wish you the very best.

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