I received my copy of Piano Man today and it's terrific. The live set sounds great.

I hope they do this with Glass Houses. That's my guilty pleasure record when it comes to BJ. I know that there's at least one radio broadcast from that tour; I have a copy but it sounds very muffled. I would love to have a clean copy.

No such thing as a guilty pleasure when it comes to BJ, Smiff.

Wait, what are we talking about again?

Got my "Piano Man(Legacy Edition)" today. I just played the radio concert disc. Sounds great. This is a tremendous improvement over the bootleg edition that I've got(it is called "Sigma", and is an off-the-air cassette recording which ran slow).

Whatever the problems were that stopped the Japan & U.S.A. releases, it's better to release this only in South Korea, than not release it at all. A great addition to my Billy Joel collection.

This is out Nov. 8-not sure why anyone thought it wasn't coming out here, but it is. Price is nice right now-$16.47 at Amazon.com and may come down.

Disc: 1
1. Travelin' Prayer
2. Piano Man
3. Ain't No Crime
4. You're My Home
5. The Ballad of Billy The Kid
6. Worse Comes To Worst
7. Stop In Nevada
8. If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You)
9. Somewhere Along the Line
10. Captain Jack
Disc: 2
1. Introduction By Ed Sciaky
2. Falling Of The Rain
3. Intro To Travelin' Prayer
4. Travelin' Prayer
5. Intro To Billy The Kid
6. The Ballad of Billy The Kid
7. Intro To She's Got A Way
8. She's Got A Way
9. Intro To Everybody Loves You Now
10. Everybody Loves You Now
11. Intro To Nocturne
12. Nocturne
13. Station ID and Intro To Turn Around
14. Turn Around
15. Intro To Long, Long Time
16. Long, Long Time
17. Intro To Captain Jack
18. Captain Jack
19. Intro To Josephine
20. Josephine
21. Intro To Rosalinda
22. Rosalinda
23. Tomorrow Is Today

In late 1973 Columbia Records released Piano Man, its first album by Billy Joel. A New York-bred singer- songwriter-keyboardist, the artist would have a profound impact on popular music for years to come. The album's title track single, "Piano Man" took its time before debuting on the Hot 100 in February 1974, where it eventually rose to #25. The album went on to sell more than 4-times RIAA platinum to date, and is one of the corner-stones of Billy Joel's Columbia catalog of nearly 20 studio and live albums.
Almost four decades later, Piano Man (Legacy Edition) puts the groundbreaking 10-song album back in the spotlight. The new package includes a bonus CD of an entire previously unreleased 1972 live radio concert (predating Joel's Columbia signing by a year), a crucial stepping-stone in his career. Early support for Joel came from Philadelphia, specifically the top-rated FM station WMMR, which programmed a live concert series taped in the intimate Sigma Sound Studios. Billy recorded a concert for the series on April 15, 1972. Three of the 12 songs that he performed were destined for inclusion on his next album (more than a year and a half away) Piano Man: "Travelin Prayer," the Aaron Copland-esque "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid," and the notorious "Captain Jack." Tapes of the 'MMR concert made the rounds, with "Captain Jack" turning into an "underground" FM favorite. Some of those listeners happened to work for Columbia Records, and soon the groundwork was being laid for Billy Joel to come to New York and audition for the label. The rest, of course, is history but without the Philadelphia radio concert, that history might have taken a different direction indeed.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FNGAD8/?tag=imwan-20

With a decent price (under $15) I'm in.

Couldn't the include any studio out-takes? B-Sides ?

California Flash

Very odd that the set was released in South Korea last year, but nowhere else.

I'm in...I'm glad I waited. You knew it was just "a matter of time."

Phil, how would you describe the mastering on this disc? Who is credited? I'm not a fan of the remasters that Ted Jensen did a number of years ago - they are too loud for my taste. I prefer my original Columbia CD. But for this price, I'd consider rebuying. The live material, while certainly interesting from a historical perspective, is not something that would make me buy - but the mastering would.

Please forgive me if I'm missing something. But as far as B-Sides go, The B-Side to "Piano Man" was "You're My Home" ... "Worst Comes To Worst"'s B-Side was "Somewhere Along The Line"...and the B-Side to "Travelin' Prayer" was "Ain't No Crime". All of which were on the album.

Out-takes - OK - that might be nice, but it seems like they decided to go with the live show because of it's historical importance in getting him signed.

Sounds fine to me, though I don't have instruments/programs to analyze it.

But, let's put it this way: my ears are good enough that I can detect the maximising(brickwalling) & harsh E.Q. of "The Stranger" in the 2-CD + DVD deluxe set, so I held onto my(much more natural sounding) 1980's (pressed in Japan by CBS/Sony) U.S.A. CD.

Ted Jensen did the mastering of "Piano Man"(Legacy Edition), and Frank Filipetti did the remix(from 16-track) of the radio concert. Filipetti fixed a bad drumming mistake on the first chorus of Captain Jack"(with ProTools, he flew in a few beats from another chorus) and he tuned down a sharp Dobro on one song.

Glad to hear it. I also kept an older Stranger for the same reason, the box is painfully bright.

I would love to see his entire catalog get this type of treatment. Knowing that it won't...maybe Turnstiles, Glass Houses and Nylon Curtain will get it.

The whole catalogue is being done. The 3 you mentioned (as well as 52nd Street) are really the only albums I like, and I really like those 4, but I'll get them all most likely.

Agreed Pete...I forgot about 52nd Street...I love the song Until The Night.

I've always felt that when a catalog is being redone, just a straight remaster with no bonus features is a case of a lost opportunity. Even a few bonus items on a single CD is great to have. Depending on what the Billy Joel catalog offers on the new remasters, I might stick with what I have. For sure, I'll be getting this Piano Man version.

I've probably said this in other Joel threads, but my entire appreciation is Piano Man through Stranger (includes Streetlife Serenader & Turnstiles). After that, to me it's sugar coated pop ick. Ironically, when I met & interviewed Joel on the Turnstiles tour he ranted about CBS wanting "Return of the Piano Man", & that he didn't want to keep writing pop hits.

He's actually one of the few artists in which I appreciate his entire output. Did he stop at the right time??? Who knows...

I'll likely be in through "Nylon Curtain", possibly "An Innocent Man".

And I'm with Mark - I love "Until The Night" (and "Stiletto") from "52nd Street". UTN might just be my favorite Billy Joel song of all time, although I really like a few of the album tracks from "Glass Houses" and "Nylon Curtain".

Alan

Ah, "Until The Night". That song gives me chills-so fantastic! Beginning with An Innocent Man in 1983, I despised everything he did. It was total cheese aimed at the dentist office/supermarket/elevator crowd but it was certainly hugely successful and well executed. Stormfront is the only latter day album I can stand and parts of River Of Dreams maybe.
My girlfriend in college loved him so I saw the River Of Dreams tour in 1993 and it was so phoned in-Billy looked like he hated most of it but put on a brave face.
It was awesome to see him break out the gems on his 2006 tour and play not just for the crowd but himself and the diehard fans as well.

I've also loved The Night is Still Young and You're Only Human. I'm hoping those make it on as bonus material on one of the albums.

"An Innocent Man" kind of wore out on me. I liked it a lot at first, then gradually less and less and haven't listened to it in years. Some of it is no doubt fatigue from some of the stuff being overplayed. But that was pretty much the end of the line for me. I saw the tour after that, or possibly the next one, and was more interested in the World Series game being shown on the TVs in the luxury boxes. Billy had changed some members of his band around that time, and I really didn't care for the newer guys (Mark Rivera was one, I believe).

Alan