Songs In the Attic

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE "ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING" HYBRID SACD FROM MOBILE FIDELITY.Song List...1) Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)2) Summer, Highland Falls3) Streetlife Serenader4) Los Angelenos5) She's Got A Way6) Everybody Loves You Now7) Say Goodbye To Hollywood8) Catain Jack9) You're My Home10) The Ballad Of Billy The Kid11) I've Loved These DaysI think Billy's liner notes pretty much sum it up..."Something was missing on those old records. We liked the songs but the original studio recordings [done mainly with "session players"] didn't have nearly as much energy and joy as the live renditions. The live tapes were in fact much closer to the sound I had hoped to capture originally...Our intention here is to provide a selected sampling of the earlier stuff, played the right way - with honest road muscle...This is the way the band and I want to play these songs..."Some songs were recorded in 20,000-seat arenas while others were recorded in 300-seat clubs. The right ambience was essential in capturing the original spirit of each song.Essentially no dialogue, etc. between songs in order to get as much music on one disc.Mobile Fidelity got this one right, too. Both layers sound great. Booklet includes liner notes from Billy Joel and Phil Ramone; listing of band members, crew, etc. a few photos, and lyrics.

As a life-long fan of Billy Joel,initially drawn to his McCartney looks and piano chops, after a couple studio albums I longed for a live album offering and "Songs In the Attic" seemed hopeful. However, not finding sufficient 'hits' within then I was disappointed by the other unknown live ones. 30 years pass, and I must acquire CD versiions of those early albums and I re-listen those initially disappointing songs. What a difference a few decades make! This CD is both electrifyingly and delightfully enjoyed. This is Joel with all his vocal and piano chops. Also, in my estimate, the producer of this live offering was very shrewd. Because you will find this enjoyable not only for its great production values and variety of musical influences, making it a superb crab jumbo to savor. Listening carefully you will hear Joel's McCartney falsetto, Doo Wop and latin/afro rhythms with vocalizing a la Elton John or Ronni Spector ("Say Goodbye to Hollyood"), to Davey Johnstone guitar wails welding this tight unit backing Joel so mightily. This time around the standout songs are the lesser-known and unreleased ones, punching up the enjoyment of "Captain Jack" and "The Ballad of Billy Kid" enormously. And to hear "She's Got A Way" at the right tempo live, stripped down to lone piano with its full lyrical force is just too good to believe for Joel to be so early in his career. Now, I would contend that this is the album that reveals all that was to come in Billy Joel's 40+ year career. Yes, one delightfully enjoyable 'live' preview. One of the finest live captures in rock history because a producer had that vision. He caught the magic dust here, my friend.

Songs In The Attic is a most unusual live album. Most artists, when releasing a live record, select mostly "hit songs" to put on the collection, resulting in a best-of with crowd noise.Billy Joel chose to use the live-album medium to call attention to some of his lesser known songs, but not simply for the reasons of getting more mileage out of his old albums.For the most part, the studio recordings of the songs on this collection were kinda lackluster. They got the point across, but they often sounded canned, and were usually performed by professional "session musicians" rather than Joel's actual road band.When done live, with what the Piano Man calls "real road muscle", these songs improve tenfold."Captain Jack" is probably the best example. I'm still upset that they use studio version of that one on his Greatest Hits collection, rather than this live one. It really rocks. It has so much more passion, so much more venom! As Joel mentions in the liner notes, when they played this live they were "committing an act of sheer brutality", and it comes through here."Miami 2017", "I've Loved These Days", and "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" are also given a much more bravado treatment here, largely due to the arenas they were taped in.Location plays an equally important factor in other tunes, though. Joel specifically wanted songs like the snide "Everybody Loves You now" and the rocker "Los Angelenos" to retain the intimacy of the small clubs they were recorded in, and it works masterfully. When you listen to "Los Angelenos" on headphones, you actually feel like you just stumbled into a sweaty drunken bar and happened to catch a really great local band on a hot night.Music lovers of all types should be able to find much to appreciate and even cherish on this album. A brilliant artist displaying his works, each on its individually tailored canvas.Genius.

As some great performances often emerge from live recordings in classical music, the same can be said about Billy Joel's live recordings. Most of the songs in this live are performed better than the respective album version. For example, 'She's got a way' is sung with deeper emotional involvement. I love these live version of 'Captain Jack', 'Everybody loves you now' and 'Ballad of Billy the Kid' for the sheer strength of the vocal. Joel's piano playing and the band's performance too have more intensity and excitement. The swelling noise from the audiences never obstructs the music, but rather enhance the sense of exultation.

It's a live album from 1981 and I love it!Been played on a bit of a loop since receiving it - perfect nostalgic listening / a clear but atmospheric album to enjoy after seeing him live.Not a duff song on it, but if I had to choose stand out favourites:Summer, Highland FallsYou're my homeCaptain Jack

Brilliant Album, I have the original version of this on vinyl from 1981, and I have to say that this CD Version is as every bit as good as the Vinyl, I can't believe I just said that !! Most albums when transferred to CD just seem to lose something, But This, This is great.

Thanks for the Billy Joel Songs in the Attic cd - it is excellent!

Excellent- was to replace an old copy of of the contract. Songs never get old