AOTW #24 - Songs in the Attic

Billy Joel is another one of those artists I grew up with. He was one of the first musicians I learned to recognize by ear, and I still enjoy his music today. He's a magnificent performer and musician, although I think he peaked early, with Glass Houses being his last truly great studio album. The album I want to discuss here is his first live album/compilation, Songs in the Attic. Released a year after the aforementioned Glass Houses, it caps off this era of his career not by capturing live performances of his greatest hits, but by his overlooked gems. No "Piano Man" or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" here, and I think that makes the overall album much deeper. We all know the hits, but here's some songs that perhaps under different circumstances, would have been. 

Listen to this album here!

All of the songs were recorded at live performances in June and July of 1980, and according to Joel's liner notes, was meant to appeal to new fans who discovered Joel on his 1977 critical and commercial success, The Stranger. Consequently, all of the songs are from Joel's first four LPs. On those albums, Joel was always backed by session musicians, but by the 1980 tour Joel had a consistent backing band featuring saxophonist Richie Cannata, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and one of my favorite rock drummers, Liberty DeVitto. 

The album opens with the machine whir of "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)," which was the final track on the 1976 album Turnstiles. The song depicts the dismantling of New York City after either a major disaster or the rest of the country decided to give up on saving the city, making it an ironic closing to an album that celebrated Joel's return to his favorite city. This version is almost twice as powerful as the studio version, the band sounding much stronger and Joel's vocals much more impassioned in front of the live crowd. After the events of September 11, 2001, the song began to take on new meaning to both Joel and his fans. Performing at a benefit concert that October, Joel ended the song thusly: "I wrote that song 25 years ago. I thought it was going to be a science fiction song; I never thought it would happen. But unlike the end of that song, we ain't going anywhere!"

"Summer, Highland Falls" is a hidden gem in Joel's songwriting, and it is the lyrics that take center stage here. In fact, this would be one of those times where I would pull out a choice bit of lyric and quote it, but I just can't. It's easily one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, and perhaps more tellingly, it is a song in which the older I get, the more it resonates with me. In fact, besides the link above, here is a video of Joel performing it live (on C-SPAN?) from last November:

"Streetlife Serenader" and "Los Angelenos" are both from Joel's 1974 album Streelife Serenade," the first of his 'California' albums, and both of them depicted the loneliness and detachment Joel was feeling towards L.A. both as an artist and resident. "Los Angelenos," in particular, commented on the phenomenon of LA transplants, with Joel seemingly feeling as though Los Angeles doesn't have any real natives. 

"She's Got a Way" is from Joel's first LP, Cold Spring Harbor, and the ballad was one of two singles from this live album. I think it's Joel best true love song, and honestly, one of his few. Again, the lyrics are the real draw, as this is a simple piano ballad. It's tone also makes it perhaps the one of only two Joel recordingz that should ever be played at a wedding (the other also appears on this live album). The next track "Everybody Loves You Now" was also rescued from obscurity from that first LP, and this 'full band' version is superior in every way. Liberty DeVitto's drumming really makes this the rollicking romp it was seemingly always meant to be.

The opening song from Turnstiles, "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" follows, and is as advertised: a song in which Billy Joel sums up his feelings leaving California to return to his native New York. "So many faces in and out of my life/Some will last,/Some will just be now and then." Moving on to a new venture, you leave people and places behind, sometimes for good, but in the end, you do what you have to in order to keep yourself sane, sometimes at the cost of friendships or stability. 

"Captain Jack" has a special place in my heart, as it should for every Philadelphian. This live version was recorded in our soon-to-be-departed Spectrum in July of 1980, one of the great music venues in the city. However, more importantly, it was a 1972 live recording of this song for local radio station WMMR that resulted in Joel being signed to Columbia Records. In the liner notes to this release, Joel writes: "'Captain Jack' plays with much more power and conviction when a roaring Philadelphia audience sets off a kind of internal explosion and the adrenaline screams through our veins ... When we play 'Captain Jack', we are actually committing an act of pure brutality." The song is also very Dylanesque in its scene-by-scene exploration of suburban life, the stagnation, boredom, loserdom, and drugs. Easily one of my favorite recordings ever. 

The other wedding-apropos song that I was referring to earlier is "You're My Home." (In fact, my aunt and uncle danced to it at their wedding as their first dance. Then they moved to Germany, so I guess it was very apropos for them.) The song was written as a Valentine's Day gift for his then-wife because he couldn't afford a gift. It's a cute song, corny but yet touching, making it perfect for weddings and sappy mix tapes alike. 

Following that is "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," which is a fun song, but absolutely off the mark on anything concerning history. While traveling to the West Coast, Joel was inspired to write a "Western" song, and this was the result. Billy the Kid was not from West Virginia (he was actually born in New York and raised in Indianapolis) nor did he rob banks or was hanged. Nonetheless, like I said fun song. 

"I've Loved These Days" is the penultimate track on Turnstiles, but closes out this release. It's a ballad for sure, and the lyrics provide a fitting coda to the pre-Stranger era of Joel's work. As he sings, "A few more times that I can say...

I've loved these days." And I think he really means it. 

An essential album for anyone who likes Billy Joel, and one of my favorite ever live recordings. This album speficially has a special place in my heart as I remember a particular camping trip with the Boy Scouts to Annapolis, MD where I think we may have worn out the cassette. 

Where to buy:

[Amazon mp3]

[iTunes]

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Knowhere. Each week Ryan discusses an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant.