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In November 2021, Columbia Records and Legacy Records released a special vinyl box set, Billy Joel: The Vinyl Collection, Volume 1. The collection consisted of the first six Billy Joel studio albums on vinyl (Cold Spring Harbor through 52nd Street), Songs In The Attic, and one very special treat: a previously unreleased concert album, Live at the Great American Music Hall from 1975. The concert album was later released as a vinyl double-LP on Record Store Day in April 2023.
The concert was recorded on June 8, 1975 at San Francisco's storied Great American Music Hall where acts like The Grateful Dead frequently played, though some reports indicate that the album consisted of songs from a few concerts. In any event, the album is an interesting glimpse into Billy's live performances with his band from that time: Doug Stegmeyer, Rhys Clark. Don Evans, and Johnny Almond. Billy and his bandmates give energetic and passionate performances of rare gems like "Somewhere Along The Line" and "Weekend Song," as well as a lightning fast version of "Root Beer Rag." |
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The San Francisco audience is surprisingly familiar with Billy's songs, and roars in appreciation. Billy engages the audience, and as was typical of his early concerts, tell several jokes and does spot-on imitations of popular musicians of the day including Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. He also does early versions of songs that would later appear on Turnstiles, namely, "James" and "New York State of Mind."
According to the 2014 Fred Schuers' biography, Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography, the concerts were recorded in part because Billy's band members were getting restless and anxious about recording a record, so they did some live recordings at the concert(s). But those sessions were scrapped, and the band's frustration increased. See pages 111-112 of the book. |
Billy and his band on The Midnight Special in October 1975. Rhys Clark is on the drum (far left), Doug Stegmeyer on bass (red shirt), Johnny Almond on the saxophone, but I am not sure who the guitarist and banjo player are.
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According to this 2021 article from Ultimate Classic Rock (by Alison Rapp), Brian Ruggles, Billy's longtime sound engineer and live sound producer, stated that the recording truck was owned by the drummer of Creedence Clearwater Revival (Doug Clifford), "and it was parked outside the Great American Music Hall. It was old-school recording, but we were able to put together a pretty good recording for this special release. It stands up really well after almost 46 years or so.” But a fan on the Billy Joel Facebook page posted in 2021 stating: "I was at that one of those shows at the GAMH - remember the Wally Heider truck out front. Magic show, absolutely magic!! Please release it as a single lp/cd - I already have all the others!!" Heider was a well-known recording engineer and studio owner who "refined and advanced the art of studio and remoted recording and was instrumental in recording the San Francisoc Sound in the late 1960s and early 1970s" (from Wikipedia). Maybe they are both right because it has been reported that it was actually a few concerts, not just one.
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Brian Ruggles (center) with Liberty Devitto, Billy Joel and Richie Cannata (likely from 1976).
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By Mark Smotroff from HighResAudio.com ( this may be originally from publicity/press kits from 2021):
"Billy Joel Live at The Great American Music Hall" was recorded at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, June 1975. The live gig from the Streetlife Serenade tour introduces the earliest available recordings of future Turnstiles classics ‘James’ and ‘New York State Of Mind’ into Billy’s catalog, and includes examples of Billy’s loving imitations of Joe Cocker, Elton John and Leon Russell — a staple of his early concerts. |
"We were all living in California in 1974-75," Brian Ruggles, who was then [and still is] Joel’s engineer and live sound producer, told Rolling Stone. "Billy was in Malibu and I was living in Hollywood. He’d been in California for a few years and was really homesick for New York. He wanted to get back there. His roots are in New York and he missed it a lot.
"He came up with the idea for the song as he rode — on the Hudson River Line, actually — to his house in Highland Falls, New York," Ruggles added. "He wrote the song down when he got home. This was months before we recorded Turnstiles.”
"Billy’s comfort with the audience and stage humor is evident as he banters with the crowd. And as he sometimes would do live, he pepper’s the show with comic covers. This round he pulls off a particularly great spoof of Joe Cocker’s take on “You Are So Beautiful” which was topping the charts around that time . . . ."
"He came up with the idea for the song as he rode — on the Hudson River Line, actually — to his house in Highland Falls, New York," Ruggles added. "He wrote the song down when he got home. This was months before we recorded Turnstiles.”
"Billy’s comfort with the audience and stage humor is evident as he banters with the crowd. And as he sometimes would do live, he pepper’s the show with comic covers. This round he pulls off a particularly great spoof of Joe Cocker’s take on “You Are So Beautiful” which was topping the charts around that time . . . ."
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Brian Ruggles has been Billy's sound engineer/live sound producer since the early days. He also owned the Sparks club where the music videos for Songs In The Attic were recorded. This is a good article by Andy Gensler in Pollstar (2019) about how it all started:
“One day I went to the beach in Oyster Bay and he [Billy] was just sitting there on log,” Ruggles recalls. “I said, ‘Hey, Billy” and pulled over. He said, “Hey, Brian. How you been?” I said, “What are you up to these days?” He goes, “Oh, I’m putting together my solo album.” I said, “Really? That’s cool.” He goes, “Yeah, you want to come over and listen to some stuff?” So, we went to his apartment, which was just around the block and he played me stuff that wasn’t recorded yet and we started hanging out again. We’d sit around and play different songs and harmonize and play whatever songs were popular. Then it was time for him to go for real into the studio and then on the road. He says, “Hey, would you like to go on the road with me?” I said, “Yeah, why not.” I was just going to go to school for graphic arts. I said, “Well, I’m still young. I can take a left turn for a minute and try it out.'"
That was a good left turn.
“One day I went to the beach in Oyster Bay and he [Billy] was just sitting there on log,” Ruggles recalls. “I said, ‘Hey, Billy” and pulled over. He said, “Hey, Brian. How you been?” I said, “What are you up to these days?” He goes, “Oh, I’m putting together my solo album.” I said, “Really? That’s cool.” He goes, “Yeah, you want to come over and listen to some stuff?” So, we went to his apartment, which was just around the block and he played me stuff that wasn’t recorded yet and we started hanging out again. We’d sit around and play different songs and harmonize and play whatever songs were popular. Then it was time for him to go for real into the studio and then on the road. He says, “Hey, would you like to go on the road with me?” I said, “Yeah, why not.” I was just going to go to school for graphic arts. I said, “Well, I’m still young. I can take a left turn for a minute and try it out.'"
That was a good left turn.
Songs
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Spotify
Lyrics
(coming later)
(coming later)
Live at The Great American Music Hall (1975)
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The first video is the entire concert album, followed by individual clips. All are audio only.
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Billy Joel - The Vinyl Collection, Volume 1
Promotional video for Billy Joel - The Vinyl Collection, Volume 1, released in November 2021.
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Stream
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Reviews
Listening Report: Billy Joel’s Vinyl Collection Boxed Set – The Live Concert https://audiophilereview.com/vinyl/listening-report-billy-joels-vinyl-collection-boxed-set-the-live-concert/ |
Billy’s comfort with the audience and stage humor is evident as he banters with the crowd. And as he sometimes would do live, he pepper’s the show with comic covers. This round he pulls off a particularly great spoof of Joe Cocker’s take on “You Are So Beautiful” which was topping the charts around that time…
Beyond the performance, what gets me is the quality of this recording. Billy Joel Live At The Great American Music Hall 1975 sounds terrific! The vinyl pressing is excellent and very quiet which is so important in this show which has many hushed points including bits of near silence between Billy’s stage banter -- Mark Smotroff
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Tracks
– Opening –
“Somewhere Along The Line”
“Roberta”
“The Mexican Connection”
“Root Beer Rag”
“James”
– intro of band members –
“You’re My Home”
“Cocker Imitation/You Are So Beautiful (Interlude)”
“Everybody Loves You Now”
“New York State Of Mind”
“Benny & The Jets (Interlude)”
“Travelin' Prayer”
“Delta Lady (Interlude)”
“The Entertainer”
“The Ballad Of Billy The Kid”
“Ain’t No Crime”
“Weekend Song”
– Opening –
“Somewhere Along The Line”
“Roberta”
“The Mexican Connection”
“Root Beer Rag”
“James”
– intro of band members –
“You’re My Home”
“Cocker Imitation/You Are So Beautiful (Interlude)”
“Everybody Loves You Now”
“New York State Of Mind”
“Benny & The Jets (Interlude)”
“Travelin' Prayer”
“Delta Lady (Interlude)”
“The Entertainer”
“The Ballad Of Billy The Kid”
“Ain’t No Crime”
“Weekend Song”
