Japan can't get enough of the Piano Man! Shortly after Sony Music's Japanese division released a newly-compiled collection of live odds and ends by Billy Joel, the label will next put out a deluxe edition of Joel's sophomore album (and first in a long line of albums for Columbia Records), 1973's Piano Man. Billed as a 50th anniversary edition (a few months late) and ostensibly meant to tie into his Japanese tour dates later this month, the 2CD/1DVD set features a few extra features for die-hard collectors.

The original album will be presented on a dual-layer SACD that features a new stereo remaster of the 10-track set as well as a premiere release of the album's original four-channel quadraphonic mix. A bonus disc, pressed on high-quality BluSpec CD2, is drawn from mostly previously released material: demos from 2005's My Lives box set (including two digital-only tracks making their CD debut here) and two live shows - an oft-bootlegged 1972 radio gig issued as part of a Legacy Edition of Piano Man back in 2010, and versions of Piano Man tracks that were heard in a 1975 concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. (This set was included as an exclusive to The Vinyl Collection Vol. 1 box set before getting its own digital and standalone release for Record Store Day last year.) Finally, a DVD includes versions of Piano Man cuts throughout the years, plus both versions of the promo video for the album's title track (a more famous remake from 1985, and the rarely-seen original version) as well as a recently-unearthed promo clip for Cold Spring Harbor track "Everybody Loves You Now." The luxe 7" paper sleeve packaging includes replicas of the original inner album and single sleeves, multiple obis, notes from the 2010 Legacy Edition and even a miniature reprint of Joel's original Columbia press kit.

Following a disastrous attempt at a debut album with 1971's Cold Spring Harbor - released by an independent label and infamously mispressed so Billy's already keening vocal delivery sounded like a chipmunk - Joel retreated from his native New York, moving across the country to Los Angeles. While making ends meet as a pianist at a Wilshire Boulevard bar called The Executive Room (under the pseudonym "Bill Martin"), Joel was amassing an even stronger line-up of songs than what was on Cold Spring Harbor: the gentle love ballad "You're My Home" (written for then-wife and future manager Elizabeth Small when he couldn't afford a birthday gift), the cinematic faux-Western history "The Ballad of Billy The Kid," and of course "Piano Man," a rollicking singalong inspired by the patrons at The Executive Room. Ironically, it was a different song that initially gave Joel some of the exposure he sought: "Captain Jack," a seven-minute epic about the boring nihilism of drug addiction, became a staple of Joel's early live shows and, when played at a studio gig recorded by WMMR-FM in Philadelphia, earned enough buzz to get Joel a contract with Columbia.

Released in the fall of '73, both the single and album Piano Man were only modest chart successes, but gave Billy his first establishment as a pop player that would bear considerable fruit as the decade wore on. Though his last album of pop songs was issued just over three decades ago, it's impossible to imagine any of Joel's sold-out shows without a rousing rendition of "Piano Man," often with the audience at arenas and stadiums carrying that last refrain themselves.

This new pressing of Piano Man will be available in Japan on February 28. Check out the full track list below.

Piano Man (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Columbia/Sony Music SICP-10151 (JP), 2024) (CDJapan)

CD 1: Original album (released as Columbia KC 32544, 1973) with SACD layer including original quadrophonic mix (released as Columbia CQ 32544, 1973)

1. Travelin' Prayer
2. Piano Man
3. Ain't No Crime
4. You're My Home
5. The Ballad of Billy The Kid
6. Worse Comes to Worst
7. Stop in Nevada
8. If I Only Had the Words (to Tell You)
9. Somewhere Along the Line
10. Captain Jack

CD 2: Rare Tracks (Live & Demos) (** previously unreleased on CD)

1. Piano Man (Single Edit)
2. Travelin' Prayer (Live @ Sigma Sound Studios for WMMR-FM, Philadelphia, PA - 4/15/1972)
3. The Ballad of Billy The Kid (Live @ Sigma Sound Studios for WMMR-FM, Philadelphia, PA - 4/15/1972)
4. Captain Jack (Live @ Sigma Sound Studios for WMMR-FM, Philadelphia, PA - 4/15/1972)
5. Josephine (Demo) **
6. Oyster Bay (Demo)
7. Piano Man (Demo)
8. The Siegfried Line (Demo)
9. New Mexico (Demo)
10. Cross to Bear (Demo)
11. So Long, Reverend Ike (Demo) **
12. Somewhere Along the Line (Live @ The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - 6/8/1975) **
13. You're My Home (Live @ The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - 6/8/1975) **
14. Travelin' Prayer (Live @ The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - 6/8/1975) **
15. The Ballad of Billy The Kid (Live @ The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - 6/8/1975) **
16. Ain't No Crime (Live @ The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - 6/8/1975) **

Track 1 released as Columbia single A-side 4-45963, 1973
Tracks 2-4 released on Piano Man (Legacy Edition) - Columbia/Legacy 88697 61901-2, 2010
Tracks 5-11 released on My Lives - Columbia/Legacy C5K 93520, 2005. Tracks 5 and 11 only available on digital version.
Tracks 12-16 released on The Vinyl Collection Vol. 1 - Columbia/Legacy 19075 92552-1, 2021 and Live At The Great American Music Hall, 1975 - Columbia/Legacy 19439 88483-1, 2022

DVD: Rare Videos (* previously unreleased on DVD)

1. Piano Man (1973 promo video) *
2. Piano Man (1985 promo video)
3. Piano Man (Live @ Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London, CT - 12/5/1976) *
4. You're My Home (Live @ Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London, CT - 12/5/1976) *
5. The Ballad of Billy The Kid (Live @ Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London, CT - 12/5/1976) *
6. Captain Jack (Live @ Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London, CT - 12/5/1976) *
7. Ain't No Crime (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test - 3/13/1978)
8. You're My Home (Live @ Sparks, Huntington, NY - July 1981) *
9. Piano Man (Live @ Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY - 12/29/1982) *
10. The Ballad of Billy The Kid (Live @ Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany - 6/18/1994)
11. Everybody Loves You Now (promo video) *

Track 2 released on The Video Album - Volume I - CBS Fox Video 6198, 1986
Tracks 3-6 released on Billy Joel: Tonight - Time Life Video, 1977
Track 7 released on The Stranger (30th Anniversary Legacy Edition) - Columbia/Legacy 88697 30801-2, 2008
Track 9 released on Live from Long Island - CBS Fox Video 6297, 1983
Track 10 from Billy Joel: From the River of Dreams special (The Disney Channel, 1994); released on My Lives - Columbia/Legacy C5K 93520, 2005