Billy Preston (album)
album by Billy Preston
Billy Preston (sometimes referred to Do What You Want) is the eleventh studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston, released in 1976 on A&M Records. It includes the singles "I've Got the Spirit" and "Girl", both of which were top 50 hits on Billboard's Soul Singles chart in the US. Preston recorded the album in Malibu, California in March 1976, shortly before joining the Rolling Stones on their two-month European tour.
The song "Do What You Want" is a remake of the 1969 original from Preston's debut album for Apple Records, That's the Way God Planned It. Two other tracks, "Let the Music Play" and "When You Are Mine", are re-recordings of songs that appeared on Preston's 1970 album Encouraging Words. In a 1974 interview for the NME, Preston said that he and George Harrison, his former producer, were "both convinced that some of those Apple cuts were among the best I've ever done and could still have a chance of being hits. They missed out first time around largely because of the internal dissension at Apple."
Track listing
All songs by Billy Preston, except where noted.
“Billy Preston (album)” enters the record as album by Billy Preston. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Billy, Preston and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Billy Preston (album)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Billy, Preston and album provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4913183. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1969, 1970 and 1974.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Billy Preston (album)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Billy Preston (album) primary sources, Billy Preston (album) archive and Billy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Billy Preston (album)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Billy Preston (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.