Billy Joel's "Cold Spring Harbor" — fan restoration

This is fantastic.

 

Great stuff, thanks for posting. It really is a fine album.

 

I've long wondered why there has never been an official attempt to restore the original version of Cold Spring Harbor, but I suspect it's because Billy just doesn't care much for the album in the first place. He's been vocal over the years about his disdain for both versions.

 

You're probably right. Many artists are embarrassed by their earliest work. I recall during one of his lecture shows he poked fun at his hippyish lyrics on this album, something like "who did I think I was, Led Zeppelin?" Add to that all the bad blood with the mastering fiasco and the contractual nightmare with Family Productions, and I'm sure he's more than happy never to think of this album again.

 

The person who did this did a fantastic job. I've always loved this album but I've only ever had the remastered cd.

 

Love to find a full rez version of this! Great job

 

There's a link to it on youtube

 

THANKS!!!

 

It does sound great, but as Billy has said, even the newest versions still have him sounding like a chipmunk. If the speed mistakes of the original have been fixed, and the pitch is correct, perhaps he just sounded like that??

 

I don't think the pitch of Billy's voice on Cold Spring Harbor is any higher than it is on his next two albums.

 

Did puberty hit just before Turnstiles?

 

The long ending of "You Can Make Me Free" cracks me up.

 

Very "Hey Judian." I'm not sure why the 1983 team removed it, but I'm also not sure why they removed most of the instruments from the entire album.

 

The version linked in the OP sounds in tune to me, so I guess that is how he sounded. Here is "You Can Make Me Free" from another "fixed" version, which I think is a little too slow.

 

I'd tried my hand at a restoration of this, but this takes it to whole 'nother level! Great job!

 

I'm not a fan at all, but interested in this thread.

Even this apparently corrected version sounds insanely quick for me as an outsider and someone who's never heard the album before. It's almost comical.

 

For comparison's sake, a 1971 live performance on the radio:



BTW, the drums on the original 1971 mix of "Everybody Loves You Now" are indeed erase-worthy!

 

I never claimed that the 1971 Cold Spring Harbor backing band were prodigies, but it's still a shame the original song arrangements aren't officially available — especially "You Can Make Me Free" and "Tomorrow Is Today."

 

I've seen Audiophile vinyl copies of this - is it a slowed down version or the original chipmunk version?

 

It seems to be the same speed and pitch as the 1983 remix, but with the original 1971 arrangements.

 

Wow...Really nice. I've been waiting for four decades for a reissue of this album, speed corrected, in full fidelity. Clearly, Joel has no intention of facilitating that. But this is excellent. SO much better than that aberration that was reissued in the early '80s...

 

Interesting - so a hybrid approach? Is this version available on CD

 

There's a link to a FLAC download in the YouTube description.

 

Many thanks!