My copy is a German Philips pressing and it's fast. Matrix numbers are: AA6369150 1y 320 Same on side 2 except ending in 2Y. I've only played it once and was trying to like it, just couldnt .
Sorry, I didn't see the tagging (no message received). Anyway, I have now compared your LP to the raw vinyl rip that I have, and they are identical in pitch, which for example means that She's Got Away is about 2% sharp on the LP compared to a perfect G. But you are of course correct when you say that it's not a full half note (about 8%) too sharp which seems to have been the myth. Got To Begin Again is perfect in key on the LP as well as on the remixed CD, no pitch correction is needed.
Try adjusting the speed of your turntable if you can. I used to play at 31.4 rpms and it was very satisfying over all (because the pitch thoughout the lp is inconsistent from track to track). But with the samples that were provided by Andreas, I am now experimenting with 31.5 & 31.6 rpms to see what I like overall. Thanks Andreas ! I do love the lp with an attempt to correct the speed variances.
Searching this forum for Billy Joel Cold Spring Harbor yields a lot of valuable additional information about speed variances and counterfeits & more.
Just picked up 2 more copies that play at correct speed which makes 4 I have now that do. (Just a reminder, ‘correct speed’ in this case means a couple of songs play just a hair fast, and the rest are pretty much dead on, as opposed to copies that play 7-8% fast) That’s 3 1971 pressings and 1 1973 pressing.
I find it interesting that Got To Begin is the (only ?) song that is identical on the LP and on the 1983 CD remix, i.e. same mix and same pitch. It does sound much better on the CD.
As far as pitch goes, on the remix, it starts with she’s got a way being about a semi-tone flat and as the album progresses, the speed increases bit by bit, until by the last song it’s reached pretty close to true pitch. Very strange!! The mix on those two do appear to be very close, but that one is only piano and vocal. I think the mixes are different tho, seems there’s more reverb on the vocals on the original.
Once (if?) we crack the case re: Cold Spring Harbor, I would like to suggest we tackle the 1972 Springsteen demos. Every version I've heard runs noticeably slow... like Bruce is on thorazine. A while back I spent some time trying to correct the speed issues but gave up because (a) there are too damned many tracks & (b) there appears to be no consistency between pitch changes from song to song.
Just scored a Dutch pressing on Philips which sounds very nice! It also plays at correct speed. AGAIN, 'correct speed' for this album means that 'she's got a way' is barely sharp, most of the other cuts play at true pitch, and 'falling of the rain' plays a bit sharp. The copies of this that 'play fast' have some tracks at 7-8% sharp. I now have 4 US pressings that play correct (3 from 1971 and 1 1973 pressing). I might have put up a trade for someone to send me one that plays fast and I'll send them a correct speed one!
I found this thread based on hearing a replay of a 1986 Casey Kasem countdown. During that broadcast, Casey mentioned the story and, in his retelling, stated that most of the affected copies were reclaimed and melted down. That story does not jive with the seemingly abundant supply of authentic "first run" copies out there. Hell, @bigmikerocks himself has 3. That seems statistically improbably if Casey Kasem's version of events were true. Alternatively, if Casey Kasem's version WAS, in fact, true, it would definitely shed some light on why the reality of the speed/pitch offset doesn't match the legend. Perhaps the number of surviving true first run albums is numbered in double (or perhaps single) digits. Not that a 15-year removed story should be taken without a dose of salt, of course.
I don't know if they are identical except for the remastering. But I'm 99% sure all versions from 1984 onward are the 1983 remix; I haven't read anything to the contrary.
I had great luck today, and stumbled upon a VG+ copy of this version of the original pressing in a Toronto record store. Billy Joel – Cold Spring Harbor (1971, Vinyl) Giving it its first spin right now, having given it a fresh scrubbing on my VPI. First of all, this original mix of the album is SO VASTLY SUPERIOR to the 1983 Columbia remix, that I cannot understand why it is currently unavailable. Billy’s voice does seem a bit high, but it’s not egregious. He was only 22 when this album was released, so I don’t doubt that his voice didn’t have the lower register that would appear by the end of the 70s (may gigs, cigarettes, and drunken nights later). Will have to try digitizing it at some point, and playing with the pitch. Very thankful to have had an original pressing literally fall into my lap!
I have the 1971 release too which I got sometime in the 90's. When I played it the first time I thought something happened to my turntable. Eventually I got the 1983 version and thought it was corrected but was surprised that it was playing flat compared to my piano. I did a needle drop of both versions and pitch corrected them both in a wav editor to the correct keys when I got a cd burner later on, so I got used to that instead. I was first aware of the correct keys in the live versions from "Songs In The Attic" and also the short 30 second promo film clip that's somewhere on youtube of "Everybody Loves You Now" where Billy looks like Let it Be era Paul McCartney. Now we also officially have the live WMMR recording to compare too. The real keys of the songs but a more experienced voice, I guess since he's been touring to promote the album. My matrix no.'s are: FPS-2700A-6-RE (NB) 7 Δ16523 FPS-2700B-7-RE 7 Δ16523-X Just curious if anyone has heard the 8-track cartridge version if it's the correct pitch?
This whole thing has me wanting to pull out my original copy of CSH and play along on the piano to see if it's more normal or not...
So... after reading a couple of these threads here, I did a bit of comparison of my own. I've got an original 1971 promo pressing. Though some songs are certainly higher in pitch than the 1980s Columbia re-relase/re-mix (some as much as around half a step, I believe) they are in the same keys as other performances of them that I could find. "She's Got a Way," for instance, is clearly in the same key on my '71 CSH as it is on Songs In the Attic. I've got to wonder if Billy invented the whole speed thing... In the late 70s, it would've been incredibly difficult to fact-check something like that, especially on an album as uncommon as CSH. Maybe he wanted to paint Artie Ripp as absolutely incompetent and so fabricated the whole speed thing. When listening to Billy from '73 on that Philly radio concert, there's no doubt in his mind that his voice was on the way down to settling into the range and tone of most of his 70s and 80s output. It was still pretty high then, though. The re-release of CSH may have been pitch-corrected to make it sound more like current Billy. I also wonder if this is maybe why the original album mixes haven't been re-released? To re-release them would probably end up leading to more people scrutinizing them and if there's actually nothing wrong with the original.......... But by keeping the original off the market aside from just the original pressings still circulating, it keeps discussions like this from becoming mainstream. No idea on any of that speculation - it's just that - but I dunno! The evidence here (and from my own listening) seems to point towards there not actually being a speed issue on this album until it was re-released/re-mixed by Columbia in the 80s... I'm not trying to come up with a conspiracy theory or anything. Rather, I'm curious if this is even a possibility or if there is evidence to the contrary? This has long been one of my favorite Billy Joel albums!
Yeah a fan actually played along with the original pressing to prove a number of the songs have no speed issue. Billy does have a high voice and it was likely higher early on, so it's not shocking that it's high. Maybe he just didn't like how the album turned out and dramatized the speed thing as you said.
I don't own an original LP, but in this needledrop "She's Got A Way" is sharp, not at the correct key of G where he performs it in the Attic version, and just enough to make Billy sound a bit chipmunky/whiny.
This is the 80's remix, sounds to me like it is correct pitch, or maybe a bit under. Runs 13 seconds longer than the other version.
Hmm, interesting. Thanks for posting that needledrop!My original copy of CSH runs just slightly lower in pitch than this needledrop. I'd say it's about halfway between this needle drop and the version from Songs In the Attic. I think that there is a strong possibility that whoever uploaded that needledrop's turntable was running slightly fast. I calibrated mine before recording my needledrop just to be sure. The needledrop you posted is definitely a bit sharp of "G," but it's still not too noticeable. There's always a chance that they tuned everything to Joel's piano, which could have been slightly sharp, too. A lot of albums from that era have slight variations in speed. Joel didn't seem to suggest the problem was slight, though, which even on the needledrop you posted, it is pretty slight. That second version you posted from the Columbia album is pretty far under the Songs In the Attic version. I don't have a piano handy and couldn't find a Gb tone online but I'm betting it's probably in Gb or maybe even lower. There has been speculation here that there were multiple pressings of the album, some that are at the proper speed and some that are not at the proper speed. Interesting that in all of these threads on this album, nobody has been able to find anything from Artie Ripp about the mastering issue. That could really shed some light on things. I wonder what he's been up to?
I bought up at least 2 pressings of each (legitimate) pressing and one Dutch pressing while trying to figure all this out, and they all played at the same speed.
Yes, I recall reading about that. And if my memory is correct, your thought was more or less that they all played at the proper speed? I don't recall you finding any pressings that were wildly fast...
