1981 Billy Joel – Say Goodbye To Hollywood
Billy Joel initially recorded his fourth studio album (Turnstiles) with what appears on paper to be an amazing setup: Chicago’s producer James William Guercio produced the album, members of Elton John’s band helped with the backing music, and it was recorded at the Caribou Ranch. The net result? Billy hated it.
He returned to New York City and produced a completely new recording of the album himself. The opening track was about leaving California and returning to work in New York. Say Goodbye To Hollywood became the lead track and the first single from the album. Sadly, the 1976 single didn’t reach the charts anywhere except in Australia, and it only reached #45 in the land down under.
The second single also failed to chart, and Billy hired Phil Ramone to produce his next album. The Stranger spawned four platinum singles and finally put Billy’s career on the fast track.
In June and July 1980, Billy recorded a series of live performances of some of his early songs that had not previously been hits. His record company compliled the recordings into the album Songs In The Attic. The first single from the album was a live performance of Say Goodbye To Hollywood. This time, the single did much better, peaking at #17 on the Hot 100 in 1981. It also became the first of Billy’s singles on the Mainstream Rock chart, where it peaked at #11.
He had a second live hit from the album with She’s Got a Way, a new version of a song that appeared on Billy’s very first album in 1971.
That single only reached #23 on the Hot 100, but also climbed up to #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1981.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel_discography#Singles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnstiles_(album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_Goodbye_to_Hollywood
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