''Streetlife Serenade'' is the third studio album by American recording artist
Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1974 by
Columbia Records.
The album peaked at No. 35 on the US album charts, eventually selling more than one million copies. Joel's live shows in the 1970s frequently featured the instrumental "
Root Beer Rag" and the short song "Souvenir", which was often used as the final encore. Live versions of "Streetlife Serenader" and "
Los Angelenos
"Los Angelenos" is a song written by Billy Joel that was first released on his 1974 album ''Streetlife Serenade''. A live version was released on the 1981 album ''Songs in the Attic''.
Lyrics and music
The Long Island-raised Joel wrote the song ...
" appeared on Joel's first live album, ''
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). A live version of "
The Entertainer" appeared on Joel's 2006 album ''
12 Gardens Live
''12 Gardens Live'' is the fourth live album by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel, recorded during a former record run of 12 sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in early 2006. It was released on June 13, 2006.
Altho ...
''.
Background
It was recorded mostly with session musicians—the last such release until 1993's ''
River of Dreams
''River of Dreams'' is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on August 10, 1993. ''River of Dreams'' presented a more serious tone than found in Joel's previous albums, dealing with issues such as trust and ...
.'' Joel sang and played piano and other keyboards, including his first work with the
Moog synthesizer. Backing musicians included guitarists Don Evans and Al Hertzberg and banjo/pedal steel guitarist Tom Whitehorse.
Joel said that he had been touring in clubs and theatres and opening for big acts such as
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
, thus leaving him little time to write new songs, but he was under pressure to put out a new album after ''
Piano Man''. He also says that he did not have many new songs, hence the inclusion of the instrumentals "Root Beer Rag" and "The Mexican Connection". The back cover features a barefooted Joel sitting in a chair looking cross; Joel says that he had had his
wisdom teeth
A third molar, commonly called wisdom tooth, is one of the three molars per quadrant of the human dentition. It is the most posterior of the three. The age at which wisdom teeth come through ( erupt) is variable, but this generally occurs betw ...
extracted two days before the shoot. The front cover is a painting by Brian Hagiwara of a hotel and café located at 651 South Centre Street in Los Angeles, California.
In a retrospective interview, Joel said of the album: "Interesting musical ideas, but nothing to say lyrically. I was trying to be
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
in the title track — it didn’t work."
Release history
In addition to the usual two-channel
stereo version, the album was also released by Columbia in a four-channel
quadraphonic
Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...
mix on
LP record and
8-track tape
The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, wh ...
in 1974. The quad LP release was encoded in the
SQ matrix system. In 2015, the album was re-issued by Audio Fidelity in the
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format.
The SACD format allows multiple a ...
format containing both the complete stereo and quadraphonic mixes.
Track listing
All tracks written and composed by Billy Joel.
One side (Side one)
#"Streetlife Serenader" – 5:17
#"
Los Angelenos
"Los Angelenos" is a song written by Billy Joel that was first released on his 1974 album ''Streetlife Serenade''. A live version was released on the 1981 album ''Songs in the Attic''.
Lyrics and music
The Long Island-raised Joel wrote the song ...
" – 3:41
#"The Great Suburban Showdown" – 3:44
#"
Root Beer Rag" (
Instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
) – 2:59
#"Roberta" – 4:32
Another side (Side two)
#"
The Entertainer" – 3:48
#"Last of the Big Time Spenders" – 4:34
#"Weekend Song" – 3:29
#"Souvenir" – 2:00
#"The Mexican Connection" (Instrumental) – 3:37
Personnel
* Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, keyboards,
Moog synthesizer, arrangements
*
William "Smitty" Smith
William Daniel "Smitty" Smith (August 30, 1944 – November 28, 1997) was a Canadian keyboardist and session musician. Background
He had been playing together with Steve Kennedy, Eric Mercury, Eric "Mouse" Johnson, Terry Logan and Diane Brooks ...
–
organ
*
Richard Bennett – guitars
*
Gary Dalton
Dalton & Dubarri was an American rock band active in the 1970s, led by Gary Dalton and Kent Dubarri. They mainly played as support acts for artists such as The Beach Boys, Elvin Bishop, The Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Messina, Dave Mason, Boz S ...
– guitars
*
Mike Deasy
Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...
– guitars
* Don Evans – guitars
* Al Hertzberg – guitars
*
Art Munson – guitars
* Raj Rathor – guitars
*
Michael Stewart – guitars, arrangements
* Tom Whitehorse –
banjo,
pedal steel guitar
*
Wilton Felder
Wilton Lewis Felder (August 31, 1940 – September 27, 2015) was an American saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, later known as The Crusaders. Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits "I Want ...
– bass
*
Emory Gordy Jr. – bass
*
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
*
Ron Tutt
Ronald Ellis Tutt (March 12, 1938 – October 16, 2021) was an American drummer who played concerts and recording sessions for Elvis Presley, the Carpenters, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Jerry Garcia.
Early life
Born in Dallas, Texas, United ...
– drums
* Joe Clayton –
congas, percussion
Production
* Michael Stewart – producer
* Ron Malo – engineer
* Joseph M. Palmaccio (erroneously credited to
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
T ...
) – 1998 CD digital remastering
* John Naatjes – tape research
* Ron Coro – art direction, design
* Brian Hagiwara –cover painting
* Peter Cunningham – photography
*
Jim Marshall – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
1974 albums
Billy Joel albums
Columbia Records albums
Albums produced by Michael Stewart (musician)