Cold Spring Harbor (album)

Cold Spring Harbor

Artwork from the original 1971 release
Studio album by Billy Joel
Released November 1, 1971
Recorded July 1971 at Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, CA and
Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY;
July–September 1983 at
Fidelity Studios in Studio City,
(Los Angeles), CA (remix, overdubs)
Genre Soft rock
Length 33:07 (original)
29:53 (reissue)
Label Family Productions U.S. (1971)
Quality Records Canada (1971)
Philips U.K. (1971)
Columbia (1983)
Producer Artie Ripp
Billy Joel chronology
Cold Spring Harbor
(1971)		 Piano Man
(1973)
Reissue cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Cold Spring Harbor is the first studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on November 1, 1971. He had already released two albums as a member of the bands The Hassles (1967, 1969) and Attila (1970).

Composition and recording

Cold Spring Harbor was named after a hamlet of the same name in the town of Huntington, New York, a seaside community near Joel's hometown.

Joel would release live versions of "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" on the album Songs in the Attic in 1981. The first song was released as a single in early 1982, and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[2]

Production notes

Mastering

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 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] 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 then-unknown 22-year-old Joel to a 10-record contract that stripped Joel of all rights to the original tapes and to the publishing rights to all current and future songs.[3]

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.[3][4][5]

Remix

In July–September 1983, Ripp and Larry Elliot re-mixed Cold Spring Harbor at Ripp's Fidelity Studios in Studio City, California. The album's pitch was adjusted in order to make Joel's vocal tone more mature. In order 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 re-mix, he believes that the album still does not sound very good.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Joel.

No. Title Length
1. "She's Got a Way" (3:00 Original LP) 2:51
2. "You Can Make Me Free" (6:05 Original LP) 2:59
3. "Everybody Loves You Now" (3:00 Original LP) 2:49
4. "Why Judy Why" (3:05 Original LP) 2:58
5. "Falling of the Rain" (2:46 Original LP) 2:38
6. "Turn Around" (3:49 Original LP) 3:06
7. "You Look So Good to Me" (2:42 Original LP) 2:29
8. "Tomorrow Is Today" (5:20 Original LP) 4:40
9. "Nocturne" (2:48 Original LP) 2:46
10. "Got to Begin Again" (3:04 Original LP) 2:52

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Artie Ripp – producer, engineer, remixing, editing, director
  • Irwin Mazur – executive producer, art direction
  • Larry Elliott – engineer, remixing, editing
  • John Bradley – engineer
  • Michael Stone – second engineer
  • Gordon Watanabe – assistant engineer
  • Bob Huges – mastering (LP)
  • Doug Sax – mastering (1998 CD)
  • Joseph Palmaccio – remastering (2008 CD)
  • Ted Jensen – remastering (2011 CD)

Chart positions

Year (1984) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[6] 44
UK Albums (OCC)[7] 95
US Billboard 200[8][A] 158

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Cold Spring Harbor - Billy Joel". Allmusic. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  3. 1 2 Bordowitz, Hank. Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man. Billboard Books, 2006.
  4. ↑ Interview with Yetnikoff. The Last Play at Shea (documentary film). 2010.
  5. ↑ Last Play at Shea (2010). The New York Times. October 28, 2010.
  6. ↑ Okamoto, Satoshi (2011). Single Chart Book: Complete Edition 1968-2010 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. ISBN 4871310884.
  7. ↑ "Billy Joel | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Cold Spring Harbor - Billy Joel: Awards". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Bubbling Under the Top LP's". Billboard. No. April 8, 1972. p. 45. Accessed from July 8, 2013.
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