Billy Joel – Cold Spring Harbor (1971/2014) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel – Cold Spring Harbor (1971/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:24 minutes |  615 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Front cover  | © Columbia Records
Recorded in July 1971 at Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, CA and Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY.

Cold Spring Harbor was Billy Joel’s first solo album, released on November 1, 1971. Joel had previously released three albums as a member of the bands The Hassles and Attila. Cold Spring Harbor was released byFamily Productions, but after a production error by the owner of the label, Joel ended his relationship with them and would eventually sign with Columbia Records. The album contains several songs on later albums, including “She’s Got a Way” and “Everybody Loves You Now.”

A few short months after abandoning the heavy organ-and-drums duo Attila — partially because their sole record flopped, partially because he stole the drummer’s wife — Billy Joel reinvented himself as a sensitive singer/songwriter. He had shown signs of McCartney-esque songcraft on Hour of the Wolf, the last Hassles album, but his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, is where these talents blossomed. The record was uneven but very charming, boasting two of his finest songs — the lovely “She’s Got a Way” and the bitterly cynical “Everybody Loves You Now” — and a score of flawed but nicely crafted songs that illustrated Joel’s gift for melody, as well as his pretensions (the mock-gospel in “Tomorrow Is Today,” a classical stab entitled “Nocturne”). In its own way, Cold Spring Harbor was a minor gem of the sensitive singer/songwriter era; Joel may have been in his formative stages as a craftsman, but his talents are apparent, and he never made an album as intimate and vulnerable ever again. Ironically, it didn’t sound right upon its original release. Through a bizarre mastering error, the tapes were sped up — legend has it that upon hearing the completed album, he ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw it down the street. It wasn’t until 1983 that Columbia released a corrected reissue. The speed wasn’t the only thing changed — some songs were edited drastically (“You Can Make Me Free,” one of the standouts, was chopped by nearly five minutes) and instruments and backing vocals were stripped away from numerous tracks. It may be a bastardization of the original release, but it’s an acceptable one, since these changes only accentuate the intimacy and vulnerability of the recording. -Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:
1 She’s Got A Way 2:55
2 You Can Make Me Free 2:58
3 Everybody Loves You Now 2:49
4 Why Judy Why 2:56
5 Falling Of The Rain 2:42
6 Turn Around 3:07
7 You Look So Good To Me 2:28
8 Tomorrow Is Today 4:40
9 Nocturne 2:52
10 Got To Begin Again 2:53

Personnel:
Billy Joel – organ, harmonica, piano, harpsichord, keyboards, Hammond organ, vocals
Richard Bennett – guitar
Rhys Clark – drums
Sal De Troia – guitar
Don Evans – guitar
Emory Gordy, Jr. – bass
Jimmie Haskell – arranger, conductor
Sneaky Pete Kleinow – steel guitar on “Turn Around”
Larry Knechtel – bass
Joe Osborn – bass
Artie Ripp – arranger, conductor
Denny Seiwell – drums on “You Can Make Me Free” and “You Look So Good to Me”

Download:

mqs.link_BillyJelCldSpringHarbr19719624.rar