Billy Joel Catalog To Be Reissued, New "Hits" Compilation

http://www.billyjoel.com/news/billy-joel-catalog-be-reissued-commemorative-cdsdvds-be-released

 

I'm guessing that Hell will still freeze over before we get an original mix of Cold Spring Harbor, but this could be good.

The Stranger 30th anniversary was a horrible start, but this is looking more and more to be the "post loudness war" era with regard to reissues, so maybe we'll get more of the good (The Elvis Anesini Remasters) and less of the bad (Identical EH masters in the Hendrix sets).

 

Nope & no for me...not after hearing what SH did for the AF remasters. They will not sound anything like those CDs.

 

Isn't it Neil?

Btw, I'll pass on the new CD compilation.

 

I understand "Captain Jack" was just an "FM hit"...but to exclude "Just The Way You Are", "Honesty" and "Uptown Girl" from a Billy Joel Greatest Hits CD is just ridiculous!

 

He really must hate "Just The Way You Are" with a passion. That song was his first big hit (his other songs really came into stronger prominence after it hit #3 in 1978), yet he leaves it off his Hits album.

I can't blame him for choosing the songs he wants to, but he could be costing himself a few sales there.

 

I'll probably pass on all of it, unless we get the 1971 version of Cold Spring Harbor. The 1998s are good enough for me.

 

The Legacy editions might be worth for the extras, I guess...

 

For that matter, what's "Everybody Loves You Now" doing on the hits album? Is he just getting tired of opening his best-of compilations with "Piano Man?"

 

It's hard to compile a one disc Billy Joel hits collection, but it's a shame that Keeping the Faith 45 version has never appeared on CD, to my knowledge.

 

Who cares?! Do you really need to hear this stuff again? and again... and again....

Now we're talkin!! Note to Sony/Columbia: PLEASSSSE do it correctly!

 

I think you're right. Also, he probably wants the song out there. He's been keeping "Everybody Loves You Now" out there for a while now, including playing it on Songs In The Attic, too, where its a standout track on a standout album (all of them live versions of non-hits except "Captain Jack").

It does kind of work as a first track on a hits album, a non-hit song about (as I hear it) the hollowness of living a success-driven life.

 

Right. The box set, for all the cool things it included, was missing about five times as much. Really excited to hear what the bonus tracks are going to be.

 

I'll take the Live At Shea set. Hoped to see it tomorrow night, but NOT driving to Baton Rouge.

 

I was just about to start buying the cheap cds that are out now as I own exactly nothing by Billy Joel. Guess I can wait a few more months.

 

Maybe he wants no definitive comp. Didn't the last multi-disc comp exclude "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant"?

 

How about a legit release of the Sigma concert? It would go perfectly with Piano Man or Cold Spring Harbor, probably Cold Spring more so because it pre-dates PM and is heavier on first album material. It's historically significant for the live "Captain Jack" alone, not to mention some of the priceless off-air banter (at least some of which would no doubt be cut).

 

He was on the Howard Stern Show for an hour this morning and talked about all kinds of things from throughout his career, but did not mention this project, unless I happened to miss it.

 

Which sax solo will be on Hits and the re-re-master of Turnstiles?

 

You couldn't do a one-disc comp with justice, since he has 33 Top 40 hits and another 9 Top 100 singles:

#1 (2 wks.) - "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (5/10/1980)
#1 (2 wks.) - "We Didn't Start the Fire" (9/30/1989)
#1 (1 wk.) - "Tell Her About It" (7/16/1983)
#3 (5 wks.) - "Uptown Girl" (9/10/1983)
#3 (3 wks.) - "My Life" (10/21/1978)
#3 (2 wks.) - "Just the Way You Are" (10/29/1977)
#3 (1 wk.) - "The River of Dreams" (7/17/1993)
#6 (1 wk.) - "I Go to Extremes" (12/30/1989)
#7 (3 wks.) - "You May Be Right" (3/1/1980)
#9 (2 wks.) - "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" (6/29/1985)
#10 (1 wk.) - "An Innocent Man" (12/3/1983)
#10 (1 wk.) - "A Matter of Trust" (7/26/1986)
#10 (1 wk.) - "Modern Woman" (5/24/1986)
#14 (3 wks.) - "The Longest Time" (3/10/1984)
#14 (2 wks.) - "Big Shot" (1/27/1979)
#17 (6 wks.) - "Allentown" (11/13/1982)
#17 (2 wks.) - "She's Always a Woman" (7/29/1978)
#17 (2 wks.) - "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" (3/4/1978)
#17 (1 wk.) - "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (8/29/1981)
#18 (1 wk.) - "Keeping the Faith" (1/12/1985)
#18 (1 wk.) - "This Is the Time" (11/1/1986)
#19 (3 wks.) - "Don't Ask Me Why" (7/19/1980)
#20 (3 wks.) - "Pressure" (9/11/1982)
#23 (2 wks.) - "She's Got a Way" (11/7/1981)
#24 (2 wks.) - "Honesty" (4/7/1979)
#24 (1 wk.) - "Only the Good Die Young" (4/29/1978)
#25 (1 wk.) - "Piano Man" (2/9/1973)
#27 (2 wks.) - "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (6/23/1984)
#29 (2 wks.) - "All About Soul" (10/23/1993)
#34 (2 wks.) - "The Entertainer" (11/16/1974)
#34 (2 wks.) - "The Night Is Still Young" (9/21/1985)
#36 (2 wks.) - "Sometimes a Fantasy" (9/27/1980)
#37 (2 wks.) - "And So It Goes" (7/21/1990)
#50 (3 wks.) - "To Make You Feel My Love" (8/16/1997)
#56 (3 wks.) - "Goodnight Saigon" (3/5/1983)
#57 (1 wk.) - "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" (4/21/1990)
#75 (1 wk.) - "Baby Grand" (3/21/1987)
#77 (2 wks.) - "That's Not Her Style" (7/21/1990)
#77 (1 wk.) - "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" (3/12/1994)
#77 (1 wk.) - "Travelin' Prayer" (8/3/1974)
#80 (1 wk.) - "Worst Comes to Worst" (6/15/1974)
#92 (1 wk.) - "All Shook Up" (8/8/1992)

And that's just the American Billboard Pop singles. It'd be a much longer list if you included the Adult Contemporary singles and FM Rock singles. Those 42 songs are what should've been on the 2-disc Hits package -- preferably the hit single mixes since those are more rare, and the album versions have been reissued many times.

I like quite a few of his songs, but "All About Soul" really knocked me out when it came out back in 1993. Dynamite song, though it proved to be his last Top 40 hit.

 

The original mix of Cold Spring Harbor sounded horrible. His voice was mixed wrong and is pitched much too high. For the morbidly curious, I know there are .mp3s of a few of the songs somewhere on the Internet. One listen is probably enough for most of us.

I don't know if "hate" is too strong a word, but I once saw him on the Today show and Matt Lauer asked what his "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was (Jimmy Buffett is always saying he's sick to death of that one, but plays it at every show anyway because the fans want to hear it), and Joel immediately said it was "Just the Way You Are". Asked to explain why, he explained that he'd written it for his first wife: "'I said I love you, that's forever'...and it lasted about ten years." I guess by that logic "Uptown Girl" shouldn't be there either, but hey, the first cut is the deepest.

 

Sony really needs to get that version back in circulation.

 

I don't know if I would agree that the mix was horrible. It was mastered at the wrong speed; that has nothing to do with the mix. I would love to have the original mix presented at the intended speed.

 

While on with Howard Stern today, he mentioned that he hated "Cold Spring Harbor", even though Howard told him that he loved it. He said it was to self-center and pretentious.

I think it's a great album and like most of the tunes. I'd love to hear a real decent remaster of this title. Oh well, it's funny how fans grow to love stuff, then the artists go and 'poo-poo' the work.

PS - I think I'm up for going to see 'Last Play at Shea' tomorrow night, after hearing him and Howard talking about it.