I liked Innocent Man...the title track, Uptown Girl and This Night were my favorites. I also missed that tour but saw The Bridge Tour. Mark Rivera was with Billy since the Nylon Curtain Tour. I don't think he changed them as much as he added them. Peter Hewlett and some guy named Simms on backing vocals were added.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned:

Billy Joel: The Complete Albums Collection - Limited Edition ($199) is coming out November 8 with brand new remasters of the 14 albums and a bonus CD of 17 rare tracks.

http://www.billyjoel.com/us/news/columb ... ber%202011

Each album has been recently remastered in 24 bit audio for this edition and comes in cardboard jackets replicating the original album covers and sleeves. Included in the box are:

1. Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
2. Piano Man (1973)
3. Streetlife Serenade (1974)
4. Turnstiles (1976)
5. The Stranger (1977)
6. 52nd Street (1978)
7. Glass Houses (1980)
8. Songs In The Attic (1981)
9. The Nylon Curtain (1982)
10. An Innocent Man (1983)
11. The Bridge (1986)
12. Storm Front (1989)
12. River Of Dreams (1993)
14, Fantasies & Delusions (2001)
15. Collected Additional Masters (1985-2007)

In addition to offering brand-new remasters of every Billy Joel studio album, Billy Joel - The Complete Albums Collection includes two lavish 60-page booklets, printed lyrics to every Billy Joel composition, a new Q&A with Billy conducted by noted music journalist Steve Morse, and a bonus disc of 17 rare and non-album recordings including:

"Elvis Presley Boulevard" (B-side of the "Allentown" single, 1982); the live cover version of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead" (B-side of "An Innocent Man," 1983); "House Of Blue Light" (B-side of "We Didn't Start The Fire," 1989); and "You Picked A Real Bad Time" (B-side of "All About Soul," 1993). "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" are outtakes that did not see light of day until 1985.

Several tracks on the bonus disc originated as Billy Joel's contributions to various multi-artist movie soundtracks, notably his covers of the Elvis Presley hits "Heartbreak Hotel" and "All Shook Up," both from 1992's Honeymoon In Vegas. Billy covered Lloyd Price's 1959 hit, "Where Were You On Our Wedding Day," for the 1999 movie, Runaway Bride, and Duke Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood" for A League Of Their Own in 1992. In 1982, Billy Joel contributed his original "Nobody Knows But Me" to In Harmony II, a Columbia LP to benefit Sesame Street/Children's Television Workshop.

Other cover tunes on the bonus disc range from Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" and Leonard Cohen's "Light as the Breeze" to the Gerry Goffin-Carole King standard "Hey Girl" (Freddie Scott, 1963). In 1991, Billy Joel contributed "When You Wish Upon A Star" to Columbia's Disney tribute album, Simply Mad About The Mouse. And in 2001, Billy Joel sang the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" at the Radio City Music Hall All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson concert.

The exclusive bonus disc included on Billy Joel - The Complete Albums Collection closes with "All My Life," a 2007 single (which marked Billy's first newly-written song since 1993's River of Dreams) now making its first appearance on an album.

On a side note, it says Ted Jensen did all of the new 24 bit remasters:

http://theseconddisc.com/2011/09/20/the ... y-edition/

My concern about this is Legacy's plans to make Deluxe Editions of the entire Billy Joel catalogue, which makes me think that they're dumping this box on the market upfront (since all the remastering work has already been completed), but they have every intention of expanding each of the included albums in the future.

Agreed. And my bad, I misread... The Piano Man Deluxe Edition is not included in the Complete Albums Collection. And I believe all of the bonus tracks are on the box set, with the exception of the two GH tracks and All My Life, which was released after the box set. That being said, I've also seen remaster/reissue plans fade away after only a round or two of releases (Rod Stewart's reissue program stalled after only the first wave of deluxe editions).

I'd like to know who did the remastering.

To those who bought the South Korean Legacy, does it say who mastered it, & how does the studio album sound?

No "Easy Money" SDTRK title song from the Rodney Dangerfield movie of the same name.

It's also the lead-off track on An Innocent Man... Easy to forget since most of us probably get our fill of that album from the greatest hits comps.

Ted Jensen mastered it. Frank Fillipetti remixed the WMMR show. I really enjoy the live tracks. Well worth the price of the set.

I haven't listend to the studio album to compare it.

Jamie, does Jensen tend to use much compression/bright eq?

I like his mastering. Others disagree. He mastered the old Billy Joel CDs and the SACDs everybody loves. It's only after he added the limiter in the 90s that the Hoffmanites started disliking his mastering, although the tonality stayed the same over the years. Comparing all my versions of 52nd Street you can hear he kept things well within the same range, especially after hearing the AF CD and finding out how dark and muddy those tapes sound without any mastering.

Jamie, Thanks much for the info!

I'm probably going to get this one.

It was nice to finally hear this live show with good sound quality.

Sorry I couldn't help with the album comparison. I bought the recent Hits CD and wasn't impressed with the new remastering job. The last round of remasters were better, IMHO. On a couple songs it sounded like the new versions were slightly narrowed for some reason. Maybe the '98 CDs were widened and the new ones weren't, or vice-versa. Either way, I preferred the '98 versions.

ah, current mention of the WMMR / Sigma Sounds b'cast fired a few greying neurons related to my misspent youth which included those formative years listening to the earliest 1968 alt-evenings of WMMR

I've collected many available versions of this show, including an.... ummm.... FULBDKTHBDFTBMBSIWRSOHDSBBEM (Formally Uncredited Lineage But Definitively Known To Have Been Dubbed From The Broadcast Master By Someone Inside Who Really Shouldn'ta Oughta Have Done So But Bless 'Em Mucho) which sadly died The Inevitable Death of All Tapes just a few years ago (insert shed tears emoticon here). Really looking forward to this new official and FF-mastered release.

Pardon the following archival repeat... posted some years ago in a Billy Joel appreciation thread over on shf. Thought youse all might enjoy the linked 1998 article about WMMR / history of free-form radio; and the 1972 WMMR airchecks (hours of great listening) which include a few Billy Joel tracks (edited to update both links for current sites):

"all-time favorite has always been, and remains to this day, his 1972 WMMR performance at Sigma Sound, invited audience. (Google is your friend in finding an archival version of the radio broadcast.) This was the event which accellerated WMMR's promotion of BJ and kicked off his career for real.

".....Sigma Sound Studios, where WMMR broadcast a live radio concert featuring Billy Joel in 1972. The singer was basically unknown; he had only recorded one album, Cold Spring Harbor, on Paramount Records. WMMR music director Dennis Wyland liked the album and suggested the station give tickets away to listeners for a small, intimate Billy Joel show. During that concert, Joel did his unreleased, drug-festooned song "Captain Jack." For the next year and a half, the station played the song regularly. Listeners called in, wanting to know what album it was from and how they could buy it. Meanwhile, Columbia Records heard about this guy Billy Joel and his infamous song "Captain Jack"—and eventually, they signed him."

(from http://paul-altobelli.com/2007/03/glory ... -fm-radio/ which is a fun read about the evolution of free-form radio in the late 60s; or, if (like me) you grew up listening to Luke O'Reilley, Michael Tearson, Gene Shay et al WMMR late-60s thru early 70s)

i've had some fun tracking down old WMMR air checks from early-70s, IIRC there's some BJ in there.... remember when radio used to be good?: http://berdom.net/audio/airchecks/wmmr/

One of my favorite pieces of music memorabilia is a scrawled postcard from Billy Joel which he wrote from the road -- I, all of 14, had written him a letter just after the Sigma Sound broadcast, asking worldly questions about his background. He was kind enough to send a thoughtful reply from whatever nameless hotel room he was stuck in...."


enjoy,

chuck

Put me in the camp with those who didn't care for Ted Jensen's 98 remasters. I bought 2 or 3 via yourmusic.com, just to get a taste of them...and found that I kept turning them down. My wife was anxious to hear them also - and she complained about how loud they were also. That said, I haven't listened in awhile - maybe I should give them another chance. Also, as we all know, mastering engineers (most of them) are often given "marching orders" about how artists, producers & labels execs want their CDs to sound.

This is an interesting release...in that Mobile Fidelity has it out also. This may be a case where some will want the MoFi for the album & the Sony for the live disc....although that's a lot of money to spend on one title. This will be a continuing story I think.

I don't have the new Hits CD....but if the Amazon samples are any judge (& you never know there), I wasn't impressed with how they sound.

If you didn't like the '89 CDs you definitely won't dig these new ones. They're more remastered-er.

I don't think there's a thread for the BIlly Joel "Complete Albums Collection" box set, but it was mentioned in this thread a few times, so instead of starting a new one I wanted to post this here. I just got a copy of the box and I wanted to comment on the packaging, which is excellent. All 15 CDs come in LP replica sleeves with inner sleeves (and Songs In The Attic replicates the gatefold sleeve). I was very pleased to see the inner sleeves matching the original LPs, and since in many cases that meant really small text (lyrics, credits, etc), one of the two booklets included here has full lyrics & credits, all legible. The other booklet has a long interview with BJ and lots of photos. The only album missing is the live one from Russia (Концерт), but I won't miss it. When I get a chance to listen to these I'll let you know how they sound. I hated the few 90s remasters I heard, since the original CD pressings sounded more like the vinyl, so I'm hoping these new remasters are a revelation.

To answer caruso65's question above, I read last year that the plan was to reissue each album in Deluxe Editions. I haven't gotten the Piano Man DE yet because I have the Sigma radio broadcast on a bootleg CD. I'm hoping the other DE's have some full concerts from each tour, as well as demos & outtakes. I have a bunch of them on boots & there's a lot of worthy material.

Now down to 14.88 on Amazon.com-act fast!

Had an interesting experience on ebay with this:

A seller had it new @ $13.99. I asked if it was a USA edition or Korean. He copped a major 'tude. Lost my sale...............

I like the idea of the rarities CD in the box set, but where is "Christmas In Fallujah"?

Well, they have to leave something off for the inevitable Deluxe Edition of the box set.

Seriously, though, I guess by calling it "The Complete Albums Collection," anything beyond the original albums should be considered a bonus. Haven't listened to the bonus disc yet, but there are some items I didn't already own so I'm really glad to have it.

Wasn't that song sung by someone else, though penned by Billy? I think that would be why. (I think the song is terrible, but that's another story).

Billy Joel did record "Christmas in Fallujah." It was only released in Australia as a 1-track CD single. No copies currently available at Amazon.