''Cold Spring Harbor'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American recording artist

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

, released on November 1, 1971, by Family Productions.

Composition and recording

''Cold Spring Harbor'' was named after a hamlet of the same name in the Town of

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

. It is located on Long Island Sound near Joel's hometown. The front cover was photographed at Harbor Road in Cold Spring Harbor. His song "Tomorrow Is Today" drew from his period of depression and hospitalization the year before. Joel later released live versions of "

She's Got a Way "She's Got a Way" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, originally released on his first studio album, '' Cold Spring Harbor'' (1971) and as a single from that album in some countries. It was also featured as a single from the 1981 ...

" and "

Everybody Loves You Now "Everybody Loves You Now" is a song written by Billy Joel. It was first released on his 1971 debut album ''Cold Spring Harbor (album), Cold Spring Harbor'' and was also released as a b-side to his singles "She's Got a Way" and "Tomorrow Is Today. ...

", first included on this album, in his ''

Songs in the Attic ''Songs in the Attic'' is the first live album by Billy Joel, released in 1981. At the time of its release, it was the first widely available appearance of music from his first album, ''Cold Spring Harbor'', released in 1971. History In the lin ...

'' (1981), recorded in live performances. "She's Got a Way" was also released as a single in early 1982, and peaked at No. 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

Production

Mastering

Through an error in the album's mastering, the songs played slightly too fast, causing Joel's voice to sound unnaturally high (one-half of a semitone higher—Joel joked that he sounded more like the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

or one of

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

than himself). According to a long-standing rumor, when Joel first heard the finished product, he "ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw he recorddown the street." Arthur "Artie" Ripp, owner of Family Productions and hence the owner of the original master tapes, was responsible for the production error, and the mistake cost him his friendship with Joel. He had originally signed the 22-year-old Joel to a ten-record contract that stripped Joel of all rights to the original tapes and to the publishing rights to all current and future songs.Bordowitz, Hank. ''Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man.'' Billboard Books, 2006. As part of a deal with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

to release Joel from his contract, Ripp was still able to collect royalties on sales of Joel's records long after Joel's acrimonious departure from Family Productions (up until 1986's ''The Bridge''). Ripp only sold the publishing rights to Joel's song catalog back to Joel reluctantly after intense pressure from CBS/Columbia Records president

Walter Yetnikoff Walter Yetnikoff (August 11, 1933 – August 9, 2021) was an American music industry executive who was the president of CBS Records International from 1971 to 1975 and then president and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, CBS Records from 1975 to 19 ...

, who claimed he had to threaten Ripp to finalize the deal.

Remix

In July–September 1983, Ripp and Larry Elliot

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed ''Cold Spring Harbor'' at Ripp's Fidelity Studios in

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

. The album's pitch was adjusted to correct Joel's vocal tone, and to enhance the album's sound Ripp brought in studio musicians Mike McGee (drums),

Al Campbell Alphonso "Al" Campbell (born 31 August 1954) is a Jamaican reggae singer active since the late 1960s. Biography Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Campbell's singing career began in church, where his father was a preacher, and Al would sing to raise f ...

(synthesizers), and L.D. Dixon (

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

) to overdub new rhythm sections on "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Turn Around." In addition, "You Can Make Me Free" was truncated by nearly three minutes (removing most of the original tail-end, fadeout jam), and the bass, drums, and orchestration on "Tomorrow Is Today" were removed. The remix was released through Columbia Records, without any involvement from Joel. In a 2011 interview with actor

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...

, Joel stated that despite the remix, he believes that the album still does not sound very good.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Joel.

Personnel

Musicians *

– acoustic piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, harmonica, vocals *

Rhys Clark Rhys Edward Clark (born 17 September 1946 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand drummer who, since moving to the United States in 1970, has played with such artists as Hoyt Axton, Freddy Fender and, most notably, Billy Joel. Biograp ...

– drums on "

" (1971 mix), "Falling of the Rain", "Turn Around" (1971 mix), and "Tomorrow Is Today" (1971 mix), cymbals on "

" * Sal DiTroia – guitar * Don Evans – guitar *

Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely Da ...

–

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, conductor *

Sneaky Pete Kleinow Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (August 20, 1934 – January 6, 2007) was an American country-rock musician. He is best known as a member of the band The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician playing pedal steel guitar for such arti ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

on "Turn Around" *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon ...

– bass *

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Artie Ripp Arthur Marcus "Artie" Ripp (born 1940) is an American music industry executive and record producer. Career Early career Ripp began his career as a singer, initially informally harmonizing rock and roll songs with friends from high school. In ...

– arrangements, conductor *

Denny Seiwell Denny Seiwell (born July 10, 1943) is an American drummer and a founding member of Wings. He also drummed for Billy Joel and Liza Minnelli and played in the scores for the films ''Waterworld'', '' Grease II'', and ''Vertical Limit''. His drum ...

– drums on "You Can Make Me Free" and "You Look So Good to Me" * Mike McGee – drums on "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Turn Around" (1983 remixes) *

– keyboards on "Turn Around" (1983 remix) * L. D. Dixon –

on "Turn Around" (1983 remix) Production *

Artie Ripp Arthur Marcus "Artie" Ripp (born 1940) is an American music industry executive and record producer. Career Early career Ripp began his career as a singer, initially informally harmonizing rock and roll songs with friends from high school. In ...

– producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

remixing A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

* Irwin Mazur –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Larry Elliott – engineer, remixing, editing * John Bradley – engineer * Michael D. Stone – second engineer * Gordon Watanabe – assistant engineer * Bob Huges – mastering (LP) * Doug Sax – mastering (1987 CD) * Joseph Palmaccio – remastering (1998 CD) *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– remastering (2011 CD)

Charts

Notes

*A ''Cold Spring Harbor'' peaked at number 202 on the ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under the Top LP's chart in 1972. Accessed from July 8, 2013. The album was then re-issued by Columbia in December 1983. All chart positions listed for ''Cold Spring Harbor'' are for its reissue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cold Spring Harbor (Album) Billy Joel albums 1971 debut albums Columbia Records albums Quality Records albums Philips Records albums Albums conducted by Jimmie Haskell Albums arranged by Jimmie Haskell Albums recorded at Record Plant (Los Angeles)