Billy Joel - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC TV Centre, London, Britain, 3-13-1978

I've got so many bootleg BBC concerts to post that it's crazy. I keep finding more and more. I'm sure I have over a hundred new ones to post. The thing is, it's often the case that they're both uncommon as bootlegs and have really excellent sound, so they need more attention. Here's a case in point. I already posted a Billy Joel BBC concert, from 1984, but I recently discovered this one from 1978, back when he was just starting to be a big star.

This concert was done for BBC TV show "The Old Grey Whistle Test." Usually, that show would have several different artists for each show, but occasionally they would use the entire show for just one. That's the case here. I was surprised that one of his biggest hits at the time, "Piano Man," wasn't played. But I discovered that he was on that show in 1975, for just two songs, and that was one of them. So I've added those two at the start. Note those two songs don't have any cheering after them, but the rest of them do.

This album is 53 minutes long. The 1978 concert, minus the two 1975 songs at the start, is 43 minutes long.

UPDATE: On December 4, 2023, I updated the cover art to match that of the other two covers in this BBC series.

01 Travelin' Prayer (Billy Joel)
02 Piano Man (Billy Joel)
03 Miami 2017 [Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway] (Billy Joel)
04 talk (Billy Joel)
05 Movin' Out [Anthony's Song] (Billy Joel)
06 talk (Billy Joel)
07 New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)
08 talk (Billy Joel)
09 The Entertainer (Billy Joel)
10 She's Always a Woman (Billy Joel)
11 Root Beer Rag (Billy Joel)
12 talk (Billy Joel)
13 Just the Way You Are (Billy Joel)
14 Souvenir (Billy Joel)
15 Ain't No Crime (Billy Joel)
16 talk (Billy Joel)
17 Only the Good Die Young (Billy Joel)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16020623/BillyJ_1978_BBSessionsVolume1OldGryWhistleTest__3-13-1978_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from this exact concert. The video of it can be seen at YouTube.