News 21 Sep 2011

Billy Joel / The Complete Albums Collection + Piano Man 2-disc Legacy

By Paul Sinclair

Billy Joel’s 40-year career as a solo recording artist is celebrated on November 8 with a pair of releases – a limited edition Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection boxed set and a two-disc Legacy Edition of 1973’s Piano Man album (featuring a long-lost fabled radio concert from 1972).

Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection brings together for the first time, the artist’s complete catalog of 14 titles, from 1971’s Cold Spring Harbor through 1979’s Grammy-winning Album of The Year 52nd Street and 1981’s live Songs In The Attic to 2001’s Fantasies & Delusions, the first album of Billy’s classical compositions.

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.

The track listing for the bonus CD is as follows:

1. Elvis Presley Boulevard (B-side of the “Allentown” single, 1982)
2. I’ll Cry Instead (Live Beatles’ cover that was the B-side of “An Innocent Man,” 1983)
3. House Of Blue Light (B-side of “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” 1989)
4. You Picked A Real Bad Time (B-side of “All About Soul,” 1993)
5. You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” – outtake
6. The Night Is Still Young – outtake
7. Heartbreak Hotel (from 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas)
8. All Shook Up (from 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas)
9. Where Were You On Our Wedding Day (from the 1999 film, Runaway Bride)
10. In A Sentimental Mood (from A League Of Their Own in 1992).
11. Nobody Knows But Me (from In Harmony II, an LP to benefit Children’s Television Workshop).
12. To Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
13 Light as the Breeze (Leonard Cohen cover)
14. Hey Girl (the Gerry Goffin-Carole King standard ).
15. When You Wish Upon A Star (from Disney tribute album, Simply Mad About The Mouse)
16. Don’t Worry Baby (Beach Boys cover from the Radio City Music Hall All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson concert.
17. All My Life the 2007 single

Piano Man / 2-disc Legacy Edition

The forthcoming Legacy Edition of Piano Man, Billy Joel’s 1973 debut album on Columbia Records, includes the 10-song original album in its entirety, remastered for this release in addition to a second disc containing the first-ever release of Joel’s performance at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studio on April 15, 1972 (a year prior to his signing with Columbia).

The live set is re-mixed from the original studio recording. The concert includes three Billy Joel songs–“Long, Long Time,” “Josephine,” and “Rosalinda”–which do not appear on any other albums by the artist. This live performance on disc 2 is available exclusively on the new Legacy Edition of Piano Man (and is not included on The Complete Albums Collection).

DISC ONE:

The Original Album

1. Travelin’ Prayer
2. Piano Man
3. Ain’t No Crime
4. You’re My Home
5. The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
6. Worse Comes To Worse
7. Stop In Nevada
8. If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You)
9. Somewhere Along The Line
10. Captain Jack

DISC TWO:

The Sigma Sound Studios Performance
Introduction
Falling
Travelin’ Prayer
The Ballad of Billy the Kid
She’s Got A Way
Everybody Loves You Now
Nocturne
Turnaround
Long, Long Time
Captain Jack
Josephine
Rosalind
Tomorrow is Today

Recorded live in April 1972 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, PA

Previously unreleased

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