An Artful Tumblrful of Odd

ayearofbillyjoel:

Hey that’s not a picture of Billy Joel. Don’t worry. This will all make sense in a minute.
Song: Turn Around
Album: Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
Remastered Version (1983)
Side two of Billy Joel’s “Cold Spring Harbor” starts off on a surprising country rock note. Before today I had never put the words Billy Joel and country rock in the same sentence but Turn Around is a straight up country rock song and a damn good one. Turn Around is probably the best song on the album to this point.
Since I’m not planning on appearing on the upcoming TV show Rock Hoarders I don’t have any FM station playlists from 1971 around my house but if I did, I’m guessing I’d find that this song got some airplay on the same stations who would later play The Eagles to death because this song is better than any of those early Eagles hits.
As much as I like this song, one of the best things about it is not Billy Joel; it’s the contribution of pedal steel guitar player Pete Kleinow better known as Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete was a legendary musician and even if you have never heard his music, you’re probably familiar with his work.
Over the course of his musical career Sneaky Pete Kleinow was a member of The Flying Burrito Brothers and he played with George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Stevie Wonder, The Byrds and many more. Prior to his music career he worked in film and TV as a visual effects artist on shows like The Outer Limits but quit visual effects in 1968 to be a full time musician after connecting with Graham Parsons who invited him to join The Flying Burrito Brothers. For the next decade plus Pete worked exclusively in music, lending his distinct pedal steel sound to dozens of records including Billy Joel’s debut album.
When I initially read the album credits for Cold Spring Harbor I was surprised to see Sneaky Pete listed among the backing musicians. As I mentioned above, I don’t think of Billy Joel when I think of country rock but I was eager to hear his contribution because I’ve had a soft spot for Sneaky Pete ever since I inherited a crate of LP’s from my mom’s second husband, which included a Byrds record that Pete appeared on. I was told that Sneaky Pete was the secret weapon of country rock, which may or may not be true but it sounded cool enough that I wanted it to believe it.
Eventually, Pete returned to visual effects where he had a second, equally successful career. From 1980 onward the former Sneaky Pete, now credited as Peter Kleinow lent his visual effects expertise to a few things you may be familiar with including:
Carl Sagan’s: Cosmos
The Empire Strikes Back
The Winds of War
Terminator (and Terminator 2)
Army of Darkness
So, next time you’re asked to find the connection between Billy Joel and: Darth Vader, Carl Sagan, The Terminator and Ash, you can point to one man, Sneaky Pete Kleinow.

Hey that’s not a picture of Billy Joel. Don’t worry. This will all make sense in a minute.

Song: Turn Around

Album: Cold Spring Harbor (1971)

Remastered Version (1983)

Side two of Billy Joel’s “Cold Spring Harbor” starts off on a surprising country rock note. Before today I had never put the words Billy Joel and country rock in the same sentence but Turn Around is a straight up country rock song and a damn good one. Turn Around is probably the best song on the album to this point.

Since I’m not planning on appearing on the upcoming TV show Rock Hoarders I don’t have any FM station playlists from 1971 around my house but if I did, I’m guessing I’d find that this song got some airplay on the same stations who would later play The Eagles to death because this song is better than any of those early Eagles hits.

As much as I like this song, one of the best things about it is not Billy Joel; it’s the contribution of pedal steel guitar player Pete Kleinow better known as Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete was a legendary musician and even if you have never heard his music, you’re probably familiar with his work.

Over the course of his musical career Sneaky Pete Kleinow was a member of The Flying Burrito Brothers and he played with George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Stevie Wonder, The Byrds and many more. Prior to his music career he worked in film and TV as a visual effects artist on shows like The Outer Limits but quit visual effects in 1968 to be a full time musician after connecting with Graham Parsons who invited him to join The Flying Burrito Brothers. For the next decade plus Pete worked exclusively in music, lending his distinct pedal steel sound to dozens of records including Billy Joel’s debut album.

When I initially read the album credits for Cold Spring Harbor I was surprised to see Sneaky Pete listed among the backing musicians. As I mentioned above, I don’t think of Billy Joel when I think of country rock but I was eager to hear his contribution because I’ve had a soft spot for Sneaky Pete ever since I inherited a crate of LP’s from my mom’s second husband, which included a Byrds record that Pete appeared on. I was told that Sneaky Pete was the secret weapon of country rock, which may or may not be true but it sounded cool enough that I wanted it to believe it.

Eventually, Pete returned to visual effects where he had a second, equally successful career. From 1980 onward the former Sneaky Pete, now credited as Peter Kleinow lent his visual effects expertise to a few things you may be familiar with including:

Carl Sagan’s: Cosmos

The Empire Strikes Back

The Winds of War

Terminator (and Terminator 2)

Army of Darkness

So, next time you’re asked to find the connection between Billy Joel and: Darth Vader, Carl Sagan, The Terminator and Ash, you can point to one man, Sneaky Pete Kleinow.