Cold Spring Harbor | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1, 1971 | |||
Recorded | July 1971 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 32:54 (original) 29:53 (reissue) | |||
Label | Family Productions/Columbia | |||
Producer | Artie Ripp | |||
Billy Joel chronology | ||||
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Singles from Cold Spring Harbor | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Tom Hull – on the Web | B [2] |
Cold Spring Harbor is the debut studio album by American recording artist Billy Joel, released on November 1, 1971, by Family Productions. The album sold poorly, receiving attention mainly after 1973's Piano Man and later albums became popular, and was reissued in 1983.
Cold Spring Harbor was named after the hamlet in the town of Huntington, New York, located on Long Island Sound near Joel's hometown. The front cover was photographed at Harbor Road. [3]
The song "Tomorrow Is Today" drew from his period of depression and hospitalization the year before. [4] When it was released as a single, Record World reviewed and said that Joel has "a flair for dramatic, lush orchestral sounds." [5]
Joel later released live versions of "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now", first included on this album, in his Songs in the Attic (1981), recorded in live performances. "She's Got a Way" was also released as a single in early 1982, and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [6]
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 the Bee Gees or 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." [1] 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. [7]
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. [7] [8] [9]
In July–September 1983, Ripp and Larry Elliot remixed Cold Spring Harbor at Ripp's Fidelity Studios in Studio City, California. The album's pitch was adjusted to correct Joel's vocal tone, and to enhance the album's sound Ripp brought in studio musicians Mike McGee (drums), Al Campbell (synthesizers), and L.D. Dixon (Fender Rhodes) to overdub new rhythm sections on "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Turn Around." In addition, "You Can Make Me Free" was truncated by nearly three minutes (removing most of the original tail-end, fadeout jam), and the bass, drums, and orchestration on "Tomorrow Is Today" were removed.
The remix was released through Columbia Records, without any involvement from Joel. In a 2011 interview with actor Alec Baldwin, Joel stated that despite the remix, he believes that the album still does not sound very good.[ citation needed ]
All songs written by Billy Joel.
No. | Title | Length (Original LP) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "She's Got a Way" | 2:47 | 2:50 |
2. | "You Can Make Me Free" | 5:49 | 2:59 |
3. | "Everybody Loves You Now" | 2:46 | 2:49 |
4. | "Why Judy Why" | 2:52 | 2:58 |
5. | "Falling of the Rain" | 2:35 | 2:38 |
No. | Title | Length (Original LP) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Turn Around" | 3:26 | 3:06 |
7. | "You Look So Good to Me" | 2:25 | 2:29 |
8. | "Tomorrow Is Today" | 4:50 | 4:40 |
9. | "Nocturne" | 2:39 | 2:46 |
10. | "Got to Begin Again" | 2:54 | 2:52 |
Musicians
| Production
|
Chart (1984) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [10] | 44 |
UK Albums (OCC) [11] | 95 |
US Billboard 200 [12] [A] | 158 |
William Martin Joel is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature 1973 song of the same name, Joel has had a successful music career as a solo artist since the 1970s.
Piano Man is the second studio album by American recording artist Billy Joel, released on November 14, 1973, by Columbia Records. The album emerged from legal difficulties with Joel's former label, Family Productions, and ultimately became his first breakthrough album.
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"Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. First released as a single in the US on November 2, 1973, it was included on Joel's 1973 album of the same name. The song is sung from Joel's point of view as a piano player at a bar, reminiscing about his experiences there and the people he encountered. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City-based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of the album Cold Spring Harbor. Joel describes various characters, including a bartender named John and a "real estate novelist" named Paul, all based on real-life individuals.
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This is the discography of American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. He has released 13 studio albums, seven live albums, 18 compilation albums, 10 video albums, 61 singles, three promotional singles and 45 music videos. Throughout his career, he has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in history. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Joel has sold 85 million certified albums in the United States, making him the 4th best-selling solo artist of all time. Billboard ranked him as the 9th Greatest male soloist of all time.
"She's Got a Way" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, originally released on his first studio album, Cold Spring Harbor (1971) as the opening track of it and as a single from that album in some countries. It was also featured as a single from the 1981 live album Songs in the Attic, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1982.
"Everybody Loves You Now" is a song written by Billy Joel. It was first released on his 1971 debut album Cold Spring Harbor and was also released as a b-side to his singles "She's Got a Way" and "Tomorrow Is Today." Live versions were included on the albums Songs in the Attic, 12 Gardens Live and Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert.
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