Album

Cold Spring Harbor

Billy Joel

1971 · Rock, Pop

17 collectors on Gatefold own this

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Cold Spring Harbor by Billy Joel

Cold Spring Harbor is a Rock album by Billy Joel, originally released in 1971. On Gatefold: 93 pressings tracked, owned by 17 collectors.

About

At the tender age of 22, on his revealing debut album, Billy Joel laid the building blocks for his impressive career as a consummate storyteller and pianist. Beautiful ballad “She’s Got a Way,” with its deliciously descending chords and McCartney-esque melody, was the first of many unabashedly romantic declarations to come. The piano sounds like a carnival on the barreling “Everybody Loves You Now,” and he shines a light on his impeccable keyboard skills with “Nocturne,” a delicate, haunting instrumental.

via Apple Music

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Tracklist

Side A

  1. A1She's Got A Way2:40
  2. A2You Can Make Me Free5:40
  3. A3Everybody Loves You Now2:40
  4. A4Why Judy Why3:46
  5. A5Falling Of The Rain2:24

Side B

  1. B1Turn Around3:20
  2. B2You Look So Good To Me2:26
  3. B3Tomorrow Is Today4:47
  4. B4Nocturne2:37
  5. B5Got To Begin Again2:47

Sound DNA

  • Rock
  • Soft Rock
  • warm
  • earnest
  • confessional

Album notes

Discogs page for these notes (opens in a new tab)

Joel's debut album, released in November of 1971. Joel recorded this album primarily to showcase his abilities as a songwriter, intending to market his songs to other artists: as a result the production on this album is in the vein of other singer-songwriter/soft rock acts of the period. Four singles appear to have been released from this album: "She's Got A Way", "Tomorrow Is Today (US 1972) (opens in a new tab)", "Why Judy Why (Australia 1972) (opens in a new tab)", and "Nocturne (Netherlands 1972) (opens in a new tab)". Neither the album nor any of its singles were successful, although "She's Got A Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were re-recorded for Joel's 1981 live album Songs In The Attic: the live version of "She's Got A Way" became a hit, and a live music video was created for "Everybody Loves You Now", elevating its status in Joel's catalog. An earlier music video for the song contemporaneous with the album later emerged.
Two different versions of this album exist. The 1971 Family Productions recordings were mastered at the wrong speed, causing the pitch of the entire album to be a semi-tone too high. In 1983, Columbia Records, which had released all of Joel's subsequent albums, permitted the producer to re-edit and remix the album, also correcting the speed. The most drastic changes were made to "You Can Make Me Free", which had its running time cut by more than half, both "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Turn Around", for which the producer added additional overdubs, and "Tomorrow is Today" which had its orchestral accompaniment removed. Joel had no involvement with the remixed album, which was released with a slightly different (cropped) cover.
Along with the rest of Joel's catalogue, the 1983 version of the album was remastered and re-released in 1998, including a multimedia component that included a music video for "Everybody Loves You Now". The original 1971 version of the album has not been released on CD, except for isolated songs appearing on budget and semi-official compilations.
Note: The 1983 remix (and subsequent versions) are "slowed down" from the original, but most of the tracks are still "too fast" by ~2.5%.

Credits

The people behind it.

Performers

17 collectors on Gatefold own this · 93 pressings tracked on Gatefold

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