Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, have released Billy Joel – The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 on November 3, 2023, continuing an ongoing celebration of the legendary artist’s 50-plus years of musical magic, on-stage and in-the-studio.
The 11-LP deluxe box set completes the definitive Joel 12″ vinyl album project which began with The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1, a 9-LP set released in November 2021 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Cold Spring Harbor (his debut solo studio album, originally released November 1, 1971).
Vol. 2 is being released near the 50th anniversary of “Piano Man,” Joel’s first signature song, released as a single on November 2, 1973, with the Piano Man album arriving a week later (November 9, 1973). It can be ordered here or via the Amazon links below.
From the Sept. 13 announcement: With Vol. 1 chronicling Joel’s evolution as a songwriter, performer and recording artist during his rise from obscurity to international superstardom in the 1970s, The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 focuses on the surprising next phase of his extraordinary career. Joel became a household name in the MTV era with some of his biggest chart-smashing hits and most all-time beloved songs including “Allentown,” “Uptown Girl,” “A Matter of Trust,” “Baby Grand” (his duet with Ray Charles), plus his three Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping hits “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Tell Her About It,” and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.”
In addition to bringing together the classic rock legend’s monumentally successful 1980s albums — Glass Houses (1980), The Nylon Curtain (1982), An Innocent Man (1983), The Bridge (1986) and Storm Front (1989) — alongside 1993’s River of Dreams, his final studio album of newly written pop songs, The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 presents, for the first time on vinyl, an exclusive 2-LP pressing of 2001’s Fantasies & Delusions, an instrumental album showcasing classical piano compositions by Joel, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Album chart.
As a special bonus, The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 presents the first-ever audio edition on 3-LPs of Billy Joel – Live from Long Island, the celebratory homecoming concert/party Billy and his band threw for fans at the Nassau Coliseum on December 29, 1982. A broadcast edit of the legendary show originally aired on HBO in 1983 while a longer version of the show was a massively popular VHS title. This performance is highly regarded as one of his best of the era and one of the few to be professionally filmed and recorded.
All titles in The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 have been sourced from the original album masters (analog and digital) and carefully prepared for this release by Ted Jensen with lacquers cut by Joe Nino Hernes at the legendary Sterling Sound in Nashville, Tenn. The box set includes a 60+ page booklet featuring Joel’s revelatory personal observations and insights about each album, an informative essay by Rob Tannenbaum, rare photos and memorabilia from the era and more.
Joel will wrap up his historic monthly residency at Madison Square Garden in July 2024. Tickets are available here and here.
2 Comments
For us collectors, it would have been nice for Sony to at least give us “rarities” such as the 45 version of “Sometimes a Fantasy” (“I got blisters on my blisters!”) and the extended “Big Man on Mulberry Street” from Moonlighting.
I really wish that “Live From Long Island” was available as a standalone CD, especially packaged with a DVD (the performance has only ever been officially available on VHS). I could see it coming out as a two-disc set with additional footage on the DVD (or Blu-Ray, based on your preference), similar to the previous releases, “A Matter of Trust” and “Live at Yankee Stadium”. Naturally, there’d also be a booklet included. It’s frustrating that, after all this time, this performance is only available on VHS with absolutely no other audio release besides this box set. Obviously, this was done to lure people into buying it, but I couldn’t care less about a vinyl release of this show. Vinyl is still way too expensive, and it’s much easier to listen to a full concert on CD instead of over four LPs.