| Attila | |
| Origin: | New York City |
| Genre: | Progressive rock, hard rock, heavy metal, psychedelic rock, acid rock |
| Years Active: | – |
| Label: | Epic |
| Associated Acts: | The Hassles, Billy Joel |
| Past Members: | Billy Joel Jon Small |
Attila was an American rock duo from New York City, most notable for having featured a young Billy Joel.[1]
Billy Joel and Jon Small broke away from their band the Hassles and formed Attila in 1969.[2] The instrumentation was organ and drums,[2] with Joel also handling the bass lines with a keyboard, similar to the Doors' Ray Manzarek.[3] Their creative partnership ended in 1970 when Joel ran off with Small's wife, Elizabeth, whom he later married,[4] although this did not end their collaborations, as Small produced Joel's 1987 Концерт video and the 2011 Live at Shea Stadium performance. Small became a famed music video director for artists such as Run DMC, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and Travis Tritt.
| Attila | |
| Artist: | Attila |
| Cover: | Attila 1970 album.jpg |
| Type: | studio |
| Released: | July 27, 1970 |
| Label: | Epic |
| Length: | 39:50 |
Their only album, Attila, was released on July 27, 1970. No singles were released from the album and it did not chart. Joel himself has described the album as "psychedelic bullshit".
The track "Amplifier Fire, Part 1 (Godzilla)" would later appear on Joel's 2005 box set My Lives.[5]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "Attila undoubtedly is the worst album released in the history of rock & roll — hell, the history of recorded music itself. There have been many bad ideas in rock, but none match the colossal stupidity of Attila."
Julian Cope described the album as "an extremely entertaining joke that Billy wasn't in on. But I've gotta say, I dug his trip, and the record still puts me in a good mood every time."[6]
All tracks written by Billy Joel and Jonathan Small.