Joel Pimentel

Billy Joel was born on May 9, 1949 in the Bronx and shortly after moved to the Levittown section of Hicksville, Long Island, New York where he started playing piano at the age of 4. In 1964, inspired by the Beatles, he formed his first band "The Echoes", which became "The Lost Souls" in 1965 and then "The Emerald Lords" in 1966. In 1967 he joined "The Hassles" and recorded two albums, which were not successful…

Billy Joel - Piano Man (1973). Embittered by legal disputes with his label and an endless tour to support a debut that was dead in the water, Billy Joel hunkered down in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, spending six months as a lounge singer at a club. He didn't abandon his dreams - he continued to write songs, including "Piano Man," a fictionalized account of his weeks as a lounge singer. Through a combination of touring and constant hustling, he landed a contract with Columbia and recorded his second album in 1973. Clearly inspired by Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, not only musically but lyrically, as well as James Taylor, Joel expands the vision and sound of Cold Spring Harbor, abandoning introspective numbers (apart from "You're My Home," a love letter to his wife) for character sketches and epics. Even the title track, a breakthrough hit based on his weeks as a saloon singer, focuses on the colorful patrons, not the singer…

Varese's original soundtrack to Psycho finds Joel McNeely conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra through Bernard Herrmann's classic original score. This album is the first time the entire score has been recorded for an album and its remarkable how eerie and evocative the music is, even when its separated from the film. Psycho stands as one of Herrmann's finest moments, and even if many collectors and film buffs would prefer the original soundtrack recording, this version is essential for fans of the composer, since it is the clearest, cleanest edition of score yet produced.

The 40th anniversary edition of "The Stranger" from Billy Joel is out on December 26, 2018. This product features SACD Hybrid format with 5.1ch surround on SACD layer produced by Phil Ramone. 2ch voice track features 2011 digital remastering by Ted Jensen. CD layer includes five bonus tracks taken from a concert held at Nassau coliseum in 1977. Disc 2 includes live tracks taken from a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1977, which is included in "The Stranger" 30th anniversary edition, and this disc features Blu-spec CD2 format for this release.