And we begin...

Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
US #202 original release/ US #158 1983 remix

All songs by Billy Joel

Side one
1."She's Got a Way" – 2:49 (2:40 Original LP)
2."You Can Make Me Free" – 2:56 (5:40 Original LP)
3."Everybody Loves You Now" – 2:48 (2:40 Original LP)
4."Why Judy Why" – 2:56 (2:46 Original LP)
5."Falling of the Rain" – 2:38 (2:24 Original LP)

Side two
1."Turn Around" – 3:04 (3:20 Original LP)
2."You Look So Good to Me" – 2:27 (2:26 Original LP)
3."Tomorrow Is Today" – 4:40 (4:47 Original LP)
4."Nocturne" – 2:46 (2:37 Original LP)
5."Got to Begin Again" – 2:49 (2:47 Original LP)

As little-known as this album is, there are some truly outstanding songs here. "Everybody Loves You Now" is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs and certainly one of his most exuberant. The music and the lyrics are excellent.
"Falling Of The Rain", "Turn Around" and of course "She's Got A Way" are all first-class songs and "Nocturne" is a beautiful piano piece that is highly underrated.
"You Can Make Me Free" has some excellent jamming on it and "Tomorrow Is Today" has some chilling lyrics dealing with Billy's failed suicide attempt (I didn't realize he drank furniture polish, or that his drummer found him, got him to the hopsital and saved his life).
Of course, the problem here was the album being pressed by the morons at Family Phillips Records at the wrong speed making Billy sound like a chipmunk at times.
Joel's former scumbag label owner Artie Ripp (off) then remixed the album and destroyed many of the musical aspects in 1983 through Columbia which pissed Billy off.
I highly doubt we'll see a deluxe edition of this album in the continuing series!

Ah, here's an artist whose work I know extremely well, probably as well as any artist in my collection (with the exception of his solo piano classical album, which I only heard once). Also, having just listened to The Complete Albums Collection in sequence, they're all fresh for me. I was excited when Cold Spring Harbor was reissued in 1983, and even though the remastering didn't completely fix the original mastering errors, the music really shone through. All the songs IP mentioned in the previous post are solid-to-great. I've never heard the original LP. I should really search the black market for a copy, especially for the extended version of "You Can Make Me Free." I'll be following this thread closely, as I'm looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts on his catalog.

Back in my vinyl days, I picked up an original LP pressing of Cold Springer Harbor, although I'm not sure if it's a pirated copy or not. Looks legit, but there were many knockoff copies floating around.

This one was never on my radar back then. Still don't own it.

Not a great album, but certainly not a terrible one. It's not one of his classics, but it's better than the Atilla stuff I've heard. A few good songs, but the speed thing was a distraction. To be honest, at the moment I can't recall what version I have of this. I'd have to check.

This will be a cool thread - up until about Songs In The Attic for me!

Alan

Did they finally get the pitch/speed issues corrected?

Piano Man (1973)

All songs by Billy Joel.

Side one -
1."Travelin' Prayer" – 4:16
2."Piano Man" – 5:37
3."Ain't No Crime" – 3:20
4."You're My Home" – 3:14
5."The Ballad of Billy the Kid" – 5:35

Side two -
1."Worse Comes to Worst" – 3:28
2."Stop in Nevada" – 3:40
3."If I Only Had the Words (To Tell You)" – 3:35
4."Somewhere Along the Line" – 3:17
5."Captain Jack" – 7:15

US #34 UK #98

I never realized how great this album was until the 2 CD remaster from 2011. There are some truly wonderful songs on here no matter how overplayed they are.
"Piano Man" is still one of my favorite lyrics of all-time. It tells the story and does so in a very clever way so that lsitener can picture each depressing cliche Billy is singing about.
"Captain Jack" is much the same and a total rockin' masterpiece. Still gives me chills when I hear it and I totally agree with Billy's sentiment!
"The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" is cinematic genius and I always thought this showed both an Elton John and Aaron Copeland influence. Both of these songs are kinda Proggy too and have great instrumentation.
Other less-heralded songs like "Somewhere Along The Line", "If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You)" and the minor hit "Travelin' Prayer" and "Ain't No Crime" are all great.
I don't like "Worse Comes To Worst" and "Stop In Nevada" is only OK, but this is a great album and the 2 CD remaster really sounds strong with an accent on bass and nice midrange. The live disc of course is great.

Simply his best.

I'm with you, IP. I love this album. Sure, the title track has been played to death on radio & TV, at bars, etc., but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a great song. Same goes for "Captain Jack." "You're My Home" is one of my favorite Joel ballads, even with the line about "instant pleasure dome." I haven't gotten the 2-disc remaster for two reasons: (1) I like the sound of the remastered disc in the Complete Albums Collection box set (the same remaster, perhaps?) and (2) I already have a bootleg CD of the Sigma radio performance. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they continue with Deluxe Editions for all of his albums, at least through An Innocent Man.

One more thought on Piano Man: I've always been a little creeped out by the album cover. It could easily be turned into a poster for a scary movie.

As a lifelong Long Islander, "Piano Man" is at the top of my list of songs I never have to hear again. And "Captain Jack" comes across as alternately whiny and preachy. On the other hand, I still love "Ballad of Billy the Kid" and "Travelin' Prayer."

Most Long Islanders I know either love or hate Billy Joel. There's no in-between. Same goes for my friends/family in New Jersey & Springsteen. I grew up on the other island (Staten), about equidistant from both places, so I love both artists. Gotta give credit to Billy Joel for possibly the first direct mention of smoking pot & masturbating on a radio hit (FM at least). I guess he started THAT fire.

Forgot to mention the gorgeous "You're My Home" one of my all-time favorite Billy Joel songs. Thanks Rich!
So pretty, and I love how the acoustic guitars and percussion sound on the new remaster. How the shit did I forget to mention this song??? D'oh!

I was surprised to not see it mentioned in your initial post, and I assumed it was an oversight, since the rest of your post is almost exactly what I would've written. "You're My Home" is up there with "Summer, Highland Falls" in the pantheon of great Billy Joel ballads.

I would echo the song choices of Pete and Rich from this album. I remember buying his greatest hits and listening to it on my Walkman constantly during my first summer job in high school. It was the first time I recall hearing "Piano Man", and I could not get over what a vivid picture it painted. Still love that song.

Going back to Cold Spring Harbor for a moment: Thanks to the internet, I was able to find an excellent quality, pitch-corrected version of the original album on MP3, and I'm loving it at the moment. I especially love the extended outro on "You Can Make Me Free." I always loved this album, based on the 1983 reissue, and now I love it even more.

Rich, is there any cd edition with the correct speed? Also did the notes on the mp3 state what percentage they slowed it down by?

I've never seen a CD edition with the correct speed, and the MP3's I downloaded did not have any info other than "de-clicked and pitch-corrected." The files are at 224 kbps, and they sound really good on my computer speakers.

Oh well, thanks! "de-clicked" makes me think the poster took it from vinyl.

When radio first started playing "Piano Man" I remember thinking it sounded like something Harry Chapin might do. This was no insult, as I was a fan of Chapin's storytelling hits like "Taxi." Of course, Joel's subsequent career, not to mention this album, showed that his influences were far and wide.

Regarding the album, I always thought the other standout tracks were "Captain Jack" (which was genuinely shocking) and "Billy The Kid" ( I'm a sucker for anything that smacks of Aaron Copland.)