Cold Spring Harbor＜完全生産限定盤＞

1971年作品 ビリー・ジョエルが22歳の時に録音した素朴で初々しいソロ・デビュー作『Cold Spring Harbor』を最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売

1971年作品。ザ・ハッスルズ、アッティラと不遇のバンド時代を経た後にビリーは、ロサンゼルスでソロ・アルバムをレコーディングします。ピアノの弾き語りというスタイルをとった今作は、見事なピアノ・ソロや速弾きなど、ピアニストとしての力量とシンガー・ソングライターとしての原型が楽しめる出来上がりになっています。特に、繊細なピアノの音色と叙情性あふれるソングライティングが印象的で、22歳のビリーの素朴で初々しいヴォーカルが魅力を放っています。名曲「シーズ・ガット・ア・ウェイ」と「エヴリバディ・ラヴズ・ユー・ナウ」を収録しており、後にこの2曲はライヴ・アルバム『ソングス・イン・ジ・アティック』で取り上げられました。尚、後にそのライヴ版「シーズ・ガット・ア・ウェイ」はシングル・カットされ、全米23位まで上がるヒットを記録。名曲である事を実証したのです。2021年最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売。

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