Live on WMMR Sigma Sound Studios (1972)

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Summary
Songs & Lyrics
Audio & Video
Reviews
Credits

Sony's Legacy Records division released a special 2-disc legacy edition of Piano Man in November 2011; the second disc was the famous mini-concert from 1972 at Sigma Sound Studios which first aired on Philadelphia radio station WMMR. Although bootlegs of the WMMR concert had been floating around for decades, the re-mastered Live on WMMR Sigma Sound Studios concert was a welcome addition to Billy Joel fans' collections.

As most Billy Joel fans know, back in 1972 disc jockey Ed Sciaky had played a copy of "Captain Jack" taken from the show for over a year, making it the most requested song in that stations' history -- beating out "Free Bird," "Stairway to Heaven," and "Hey Jude." This helped to build Billy's popularity and recognition in Philadelphia and other Eastern cities.

This is a good Rolling Stone article about the WMMR concert.

The WMMR session is very informal. In between songs, Billy banters with the audience and his band. The audience apparently included people he knew though it was in Philadelphia. Since then every time Billy played in Philadelphia "Captain Jack" was always a highlight of his concerts.

In addition to "Captain Jack," the radio broadcast included three songs ("Long, Long Time", "Josephine" and "Rosalinda") that were never previously released on any of Billy Joel's other albums, not even on his 2005 collection of B-sides and rarities, My Lives.

Two weeks prior to the WMMR concert Billy and his band had played at the Mar Y Sol Festival in Puerto Rico and gave a three-encore performance including a version of the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash" and Joe Cocker's "The Letter."  Billy's performance at the Mar Y Sol Festival is chronicled here.

The Mar Y Sol performance and the live version of "Captain Jack" played by Sciaky on WMMR piqued Columbia Records' interest and they sought to sign Billy. Columbia Records personnel eventually tracked Billy down in Los Angeles where he was doing a temporary gig playing piano at The Executive Lounge on Wilshire Boulevard as "Bill Martin." They quickly signed him to a record deal after working out a compromise with Artie Ripp and Family Productions.

Billy went on to record Piano Man on Columbia Records and eventually became one of the top-selling solo recording artists of all time.

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Three members of Billy's original touring band, Larry Russell (bass), Rhys Clark (drums), and Don Evans (guitar on Cold Spring Harbor and Streetlife Serenade) (the guitarist on the WMMR session was Al Hertzberg) reunited in 2013-2014 as Long, Long Time and played a mini-concert of the songs from the famous WMMR session. They were joined by Elio Pace and David Clark on piano and vocals, and sold out The Bitter End. See a video of their performance.

The Live on WMMR recording is the second disc on the Legacy Edition of Piano Man (2011

Disc jockey Ed Sciaky with Bruce Springsteen, Janis Ian and Billy Joel (1974). Credit: From the collection of Ed Sciaky. Click photo for link.

Billy's touring band in 1972, with Al Hertzberg (guitar), Larry Russell (bass) and Rhys Clark (drums). Click on photo.

Songlist (lick on links for lyrics)

Download Amazon iTunes

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Amazon.com Widgets

1.   Falling of the Rain (live) (2:33)
2.   Travelin' Prayer (live) (3:11)
3. The Ballad of Billy The Kid (live) (5:36)
4.   She's Got A Way (live) (3:08)
5.   Everybody Loves You Now (live) (2:56)
6.   Nocturne (live) (2:46)
7.   Turn Around (live)(3:26)
8.   Long, Long Time (live) (4:46)
9.   Captain Jack (live) (6:56)
10. Josephine (live) (3:23)
11. Rosalinda (live) (3:03)
12. Tomorrow Is Today (live) (5:11)
[Note: The Amazon MP3 version has the spoken intro to each song listed as a separate MP3).

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Audio CD (w/MP3s)

MP3s only

MP3s (AAC) only

CD or MP3s

Lyrics (coming soon)

The first several songs on the Spotify player above are from Piano Man (Legacy Edition), and then the Live on WMMR Concert begins.

Full Album (Audio) - Live at WMMR Sigma Sound Studios

This is a YouTube playlist (audio only) of the Live on WMMR concert at Sigma Sound Studios in 1972. Click on the three-line icon to see the list of clips.

YouTube

Spotify (scroll down for Live on WMMR songs)

Other Early Concerts

Live at Ultrasonic Studios (Nov. 9, 1971) (audio only), Hempstead, New York, plus some extra songs.

Click icon on upper right corner for playlist.

Live at The Boarding House (Jan. 2, 1972) (audio only), San Francisco, California, plus some extra songs.

Click icon on upper right corner for playlist.

May Y Sol Festival (April 2, 1972) (audio only). Read about Billy and the band's performance and see photos here, by bassist Larry Russell. Billy's setlist at Mar Y Sol:

1. Travelin' Prayer
2. Josephine
3. The Ballad of Billy The Kid
4. Captain Jack
5. Tomorrow Is Today
6. The Letter
7. Jumpin' Jack Flash

Click icon on upper right corner for playlist.

Review & Articles
Rolling Stone
The Second Disc

"After years as a bootleg, on off-the-air cassettes and CDs often coated in static, the entire WMMR gig is officially out, in knockout fidelity, as the second disc in a new reissue of Piano Man (Columbia/Legacy). It is a rare example of the bonus material eclipsing the original classic. . . .

But the 1972 radio concert caught Joel months away from signing to Columbia, in a giddy, fighting mood at the piano and his microphone. The former teenage boxer was punching his way out of the mess of his career to date, rescuing the country-flavored “Turn Around” and the ballad “She’s Got a Way” from the ruin of that first album and previewing his future in Piano Man‘s “Travelin’ Prayer” and the Long Island-outlaw story, “The Ballad of Billy the Kid.” There is a soft moving song for his mother, “Rosalinda” – an early glimpse of the gentle touch in “Just the Way You Are” – and hot flashes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino in “Josephine.”"

-- David Fricke, Rolling Stone

Track List

Credits
Keyboards, Piano – Billy Joel
Bass – Larry Russell
Drums – Rhys Clark
Guitar – Al Hertzberg

A&R, Supervised By – Bruce Dickinson
Art Direction, Design – Edward ODowd
Design – Beverly Parker
Engineer [Live Sound Engineer] – Brian Ruggles
Illustration – Bill Imhofe
Liner Notes – Jonathan Takiff
Mastered By – Ted Jensen
Mixed By – Frank Filipetti
Other [Marketing Director] – Mandy Eidgah
Other [Project Director] – John Jackson
Photography By – Art Maillet, Don Hunstein, Steve Weitzman
Producer – Dennis Wilen
Research [Billy Joel Archivist] – Jeff Schock
Voice [WMMR Broadcast Announcer] – Ed Sciaky

Billy Joel, Al Hertzberg, Larry Russell, and Rhys Clark play a mini-concert at a soundstage at Southern Illinois University in 1972 for the university television program "The Session." They drove through a snowstorm to get there, and by that time the audience had left, but the crew was fortunately still there and taped the footage. The video was formerly on YouTube.

Ed Sciaky, Billy Joel, and Judy Sciaky (circa 1974)

Station wagon tour (1972). Credit: Rhys Clark

Larry Russell and Rhys Clark at Schaeffer Music Festival (1972) from High Seas Music Facebook page.

Billy at Schaeffer Music Festival (1972). Credit: Rhys Clark

Comments

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