In October 1975, Billy Joel was in between albums. A year after he had introduced himself to radio with his 1973 release, Piano Man, and its popular title track, he and his label, Columbia Records, had hoped to build on its success with Streetlife Serenade. That November 1974 follow-up, which included the pleasing “The Entertainer,” fared less well on the Billboard albums chart, peaking at just #35, with its single stalling at #34 on the Hot 100.
So when the 26-year-old Joel appeared in The Midnight Special studio in Burbank, Calif., he was still seven months away from releasing his somewhat overlooked 1976 album, Turnstiles, and a full two years before his true breakthrough LP, The Stranger.
Instead, Joel reached back to ’73’s Piano Man to present to the audience of the TV musical program a showcase of his considerable prowess as a musician. For the October 10, 1975 appearance, he chose to perform “Travelin’ Prayer” and “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” both of which had been released as singles from that album.
Joel wrote the lively “Travelin’ Prayer” roughly two years before it was included on Piano Man. The uptempo recording features banjo by Eric Weissberg and is notable for Joel’s rapid-fire vocal. At the time of its release as a single, Columbia Records touted the album’s leadoff track—”The cut that started it all”—as “probably the most obvious single on the star-making album.” Top 40 disagreed as the song stalled at just #77 on the Hot 100.
Joel’s fictional rendition of the outlaw “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” was the fourth single released from Piano Man, though the rousing song failed to chart.
Seven months later, Joel released Turnstiles and with no hit single, his career appeared to be taking a step backwards, as the album peaked at just #122. Upon closer look, its lack of acceptance by the public is a surprise given that it contains two of Joel’s best-loved songs—”New York State of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”—among its eight tracks.
That all changed 16 months later with September 1977’s The Stranger which included his first Top 5 single, “Just the Way You Are.” Each of the album’s four singles went Platinum and the album itself is his biggest studio release, with Diamond certification, representing U.S. sales of more than 10 million copies.
Related: Looking back at Joel’s historic MSG residency and surprise guests
Tickets to see Billy Joel in concert are available here and here.
Piano Man is available to order here. Recent vinyl box sets of Joel’s catalog are available here and here.
2 Comments
Columbia was ready to drop him after “Turnstiles”, and I think that’s when the decision was made to bring in a new producer and see how that worked out. So Phil Ramone came in. And it worked out pretty well.
Wow, that was a great performance of Billy the Kid which to me is one of his best songs. The band was fantastic as well …….bravo.