More Billy Joel
- Boasting two superb Double Plus (A++) sides, this vintage Columbia pressing was giving us the sound we were looking for on Joel’s sophomore release
- The vocals are full-bodied and breathy, the bottom end is clean and punchy, and there’s more richness than on most other copies we played
- It’s cleaner, clearer and more open, with the kind of vocal presence needed to make the title track come to life
- 4 stars: “Piano Man makes it clear that [Joel’s] skills as a melodist can dazzle.”
We’ve been trying to find great copies of this one for ages, but it is tough. So many copies we played were thin, dry and grainy — sonic issues that really get in the way of enjoying this music.
The Piano Is Key
On the better copies of the album, the sound of the piano is solid, full-bodied, with both weight and warmth, just like the real thing. The copies of the album with a piano that sounded lean or hard always ended up having problems with the other instruments as well. (This should not be surprising; the piano was designed to be the single instrument most capable of reproducing the sound of an entire orchestra.)
This vintage Columbia pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.
What The Best Sides Of Piano Man Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1973
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
What We’re Listening For On Piano Man
This copy has the kind of sound we look for in a top quality Billy Joel record:
Immediacy in the vocals (so many copies are veiled and distant); natural tonal balance (most copies are either bright or dark; ones with the right balance are the exception, not the rule); good solid weight (so the piano and drums sound full and powerful); spaciousness (the best copies have lovely studio ambience); and last but not least, tranparency, the effect of being able to see INTO the soundfield all the way to the back, where there is plenty going on in this sophisticated studio recording from 1973.
To Be Clear
No copy of Piano Man will ever be a true Demo Disc, but this is one of the few copies we’ve heard in all these years that brings the music to life and presents it properly. If you’ve been waiting to hear what a serious copy of this album can do, I’m sure you’ll find this one very enjoyable.
Side One
Travelin’ Prayer
Piano Man
Ain’t No Crime
You’re My Home
The Ballad of Billy the Kid
Side Two
Worse Comes to Worst
Stop in Nevada
If I Only Had the Words (To Tell You)
Somewhere Along the Line
Captain Jack
AMG Review
Clearly inspired by Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection, not only musically but lyrically, as well as James Taylor, Joel expands the vision and sound of Cold Spring Harbor, abandoning introspective numbers (apart from “You’re My Home,” a love letter to his wife) for character sketches and epics. Even the title track, a breakthrough hit based on his weeks as a saloon singer, focuses on the colorful patrons, not the singer…Piano Man makes it clear that his skills as a melodicist can dazzle.