Billy Joel - The Discography - The Audiophile Reviews

[audioguy3107]

We'll continue in alphabetical order by moving along to the piano man himself Billy Joel. This thread will be fairly interesting as we get further into his catalog since most of his albums have been remastered on Mobile Fidelity 45 RPM vinyl and sound generally fantastic. The other thing to keep in mind is keeping an eye out for original pressings which can be inexpensive and most sound very very good. We'll start off the thread with his debut album Cold Spring Harbor, not his most well know album by any stretch but does contain the classic, She's Got A Way. Let's see if there are any audiophile tracks to really pay attention to on this one.

Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor, 1971, Columbia Records
Review version - 1971 original Columbia Vinyl, mastered by Doug Sax @ The Mastering Lab.



From Wikipedia, an interesting tidbit on the mastering of this album: Through an error in the album's mastering, the songs played slightly too fast, causing Joel's voice to sound unnaturally high (one-half of a semitone higher—Joel joked that he sounded more like one of Alvin and the Chipmunks than himself). According to a long-standing rumor, when Joel first heard the finished product, he "ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw [the record] down the street." Arthur "Artie" Ripp, owner of Family Productions and hence the owner of the original master tapes, was responsible for the production error, and the mistake cost him his friendship with Joel. He had originally signed the 22-year-old Joel to a ten-record contract that stripped Joel of all rights to the original tapes and to the publishing rights to all current and future songs. As part of a deal with Columbia Records to release Joel from his contract, Ripp was still able to collect royalties on sales of Joel's records long after Joel's acrimonious departure from Family Productions (up until 1986's The Bridge). Ripp only sold the publishing rights to Joel's song catalog back to Joel reluctantly after intense pressure from CBS/Columbia Records president Walter Yetnikoff, who claimed he had to threaten Ripp to finalize the deal.

From Ultimate Classic Rock.com: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/billy...spring-harbor/

1. She's Got A Way [DEMO] - It's really a joy to hear Joel's voice when he was younger, you can really tell......it's very smooth and natural and centered perfectly against the backdrop of the piano. This is also a good track to demo the "size" of the voice. Joel's voice is properly proportioned as if he was singing into a microphone in your room, it's not too big and not too small. Very good vocal track to start off with. I like this as a vocal demo even though it's not the classic female vocal etc. It's very "quiet" song and you can really hear the singer, the piano without any other ambient information.

3. Everybody Loves You Now - This is a really cool uptempo rocker (for Billy Joel that is! )....you can hear the foundation for what his music was to become later on in his career. His piano shines on this song although it's a little muted for lack of better words. Overall a fun song.

4. Why Judy Why - Joel's voice doesn't sound quite as clear and natural on this song as it does in She's Got A Way. Towards the end of the song it brings in a nice acoustic guitar solo but it doesn't really sound that great, it sounds like there is a slight veil over the music.

5. Falling Of The Rain - Billy Joe's piano sparkles quite a bit more on this song than the last couple, but it still seems to be in the background of the music instead of being a highlight like on some of his later material. This song like the others so far seem to lack quite a bit of dynamics that could otherwise really bring this album to life.

7. You Look So Good To Me - You actually get a little bit of bass on this song that has been pretty much absent from the first 6 songs on the album. The subwoofers actually kick in here, but that's about it, nothing else really shines through on this song. Fun song though.

8. Tomorrow Is Today [DEMO] - This is another vocal highlight (for this album) where his voice really shines through against the backdrop of the piano. You can hear just a bit of air and shimmer around his vocals, especially in the higher registers. The piano sounds very nice and full. Midway through the song, he transitions from his higher smooth vocals into his more "rocker" sound, it actually sounds really cool, especially if you turn up the volume. The piano is much more front and center on this song as well and just sound better. So far, this is the best song to demo on this album, everything is well laid out in space and the piano sound big, bold and full. For an early 70's debut album, I really like the piano the best on this song so far out of all the other songs, even She's Got A Way.

9. Nocturne - This is a solo piano track, very pretty but if you're going to do a piano demo, there of course are better choices.

10. Got To Begin Again - Kind of a boring but pleasant song to close out the album.....Joel's voice sounds a bit more harsh than the other songs on the album but the piano sounds nice. Nothing too special here to listen for.

So overall it's a nice debut, pleasant sounding but a bit on the flat side, you don't hear a whole lot of air around the vocals and in most of the songs, the piano sounds a bit muted. When it does come through it shines fairly nicely. "Tomorrow Is Today" is the best sounding track on the album, but not as pretty of a song as She's Got A Way. You'll get more variety from Joel's singing on "Tomorrow" as well. It's a nice pleasant listen, but you probably won't be blown away by anything sonically on the album......I found it a bit difficult to describe what I was hearing but that's probably because it wasn't the most exciting album.... but again, "Tomorrow Is Today" is probably the hidden gem on the record.

Audiophile Rating: 4/10 (overall sonics)
Demo Rating: 20% 2/10 (number of cool demo tracks/tracks on album)

[audioguy3107]

Any love for the piano man out there? Looking forward to some of his better MOFI recordings.

- Buck

[PHC1]

Thanks for the write-up. I actually pulled up and streamed a few albums today after reading your post. To be honest I forgot all about him! Brought back memories and I enjoyed the few albums playing.

[Weirdcuba]

I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the mofi recordings. He was a masterful songwriter and had some big fall outs in his life (with band members AND Christie Brinkley)

[krustycat]

Yes, I have all his SACD's and Gold CD's.