Songs in the Attic

About Songs in the Attic

Songs in the Attic is the first live album by Billy Joel, released in 1981. At the time of its release, it was the first widely available appearance of music from his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, originally released in 1971. In the liner notes, Joel writes that Songs in the Attic introduced his earlier work to fans who had come to know his work after The Stranger. In that earlier work, most of the instruments were played by session musicians while Joel himself sang and played piano, keyboards, and harmonica. But by the late 1970s, Joel had a fairly consistent touring/recording band and wanted to showcase his songs as played by his band. The single-releases included: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "She's Got a Way", which made the top 25, and "You're My Home". In Japan, "Los Angelenos" was also available in 1981. A series of promotional music videos were filmed. Though the concert filming may have been staged for the occasion, the audio versions are nonetheless different from the live recordings featuring on the live album. A total of five promo videos were filmed: four of them recorded at Sparks and one in a recording studio. At least two of them were not released as worldwide official singles.  more »