Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor

The story of Billy Joel’s acrimonious departure from his contract with Artie Ripp’s Family Productions label is one of the oddest - and woeful - in rock music.

Billy Joel signed with Family Productions in 1970. To his considerable annoyance, the record label mastered his debut album at the wrong speed.  From the first few notes, his voice sounded thin and sharp – as if he was wearing a clothes peg on his nose. The mistake with the mastering went uncorrected, the record sold only moderately.

After the errors in producing his album, combined with what he considered to be to be an oppressive recording contract, Joel wanted to be free of Family Productions.  As part of the ensuing settlement, Artie Ripp negotiated a share (some say 20%) of all of Joel’s future royalties with whichever label he signed with next.  Which is why, on the covers and labels of all Billy Joel albums issued up until 1986, you’ll see the Family Productions logo sitting prominently next to that of CBS/Columbia.

The final insult was yet to come.  Between July and September 1983 Artie Ripp and engineer Larry Elliott re-mixed Cold Spring Harbor, in the process attempting to correct the speed error.  In addition, several of the backing tracks were re-recorded with different session musicians, and certain songs – notably You Can Make Me Free, Turn Around and Tomorrow Is Today were truncated in length.  Billy Joel was not involved in the remix nor remastering of the album.  The new issue appeared in late 1983 on Columbia/CBS; the front cover picture was slightly cropped from the original and appeared quite grainy, as if it had been taken from a photocopy.

Now here’s the most important part – the pitch and speed of the tracks on both the original and reissued versions of the album are all over the place.  That is to say, a musician who attempts to play along to either version of the record will discover that their instrument is seriously out of tune with their turntable/CD machine.  

And the speed error and subsequent correction applied by Messrs. Elliott and Ripp is not constant – it would appear that all they have done in this department is to slow each individual song down to how they think that they should sound, without using a concert-tuned instrument (i.e. grand piano or even a tuning fork) for reference.  So, the remastered version is still at the wrong pitch. For example, She’s Got A Way is written in the key of G.  Billy plays it this way on the live album, Songs In The Attic. The remastered version from the 1983 Cold Spring Harbor is noticeably flat, halfway between F# and G.  The version on the original pressing is approaching A♭.  Most of the tracks on the 1983 version are between semitones.  

Unless you are in possession of a turntable with speed adjustment, an original copy of this record and a tuning fork, piano or organ (or perfect pitch), it is unlikely that you have ever heard the album how it was supposed to sound. Here then is a rip taken from a mint original copy of the European release of the LP on the Philips label.  Each song has been carefully analysed and returned to the correct speed and key.

Not forgetting that Cold Spring Harbor is a truly excellent album.  There’s not a bad song on here - it can sit with the best of his recorded output. One can only imagine Billy Joel’s frustration and anger at hearing the original (squeaky fast) finished product.

For the first time – Billy Joel’s 1971 album Cold Spring Harbor, as it was recorded. 

 

Get it here 

Track listing

1.     She’s Got A Way

2.     You Can Make Me Free

3.     Everybody Loves You Now

4.     Why Judy Why

5.     Falling Of The Rain

6.     Turn Around

7.     You Look So Good To Me

8.     Tomorrow Is Today

9.     Nocturne

10.  Got To Begin Again

Players

Keys – Billy Joel

Drums – Rhys Clark / Denny Siewell

Guitars – Don Evans / Sal DeTroia

Bass – Joe Osborn / Larry Knetchel

Steel guitar – Sneaky Pete

Philips 6369 150 (1971)