Billy Joel

1973-97-Complete Hits Collection
$39.98
I have been enjoying the music of Billy Joel for about thirty years. His history has taken me on an amazing musical odyssey. There are these simple stories that so many of us can relate to, whether its Piano Man or Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. And then there's the songs that draw back and smack you right between the eyes, like Goodnight Saigon or Leningrad. High energy songs like Pressure. Quiet, reflective songs like Lullabye(Goodnight My Angel). The guy does it all.

And this collection has a good chunk of Joel's massive body of work. Whatever Billy Joel era you enjoy - and let's face it, its all good - there's something here for you to enjoy.

But to be honest, the real treasure of this inclusive, and reasonably priced, "greatest hits" is the Disc Four lecture. In this recorded college lecture, the Piano Man draws back the curtain and lets us in on his history, his creative process, and so much more. I have had the privilege to see Billy Joel in concert on numerous occasions, including his tour with Elton John, but nothing quite like this. If you are a new fan or a longtime devotee, you'll get a lot of insight on Disc Four. Its a bargain, grab it now.

52nd Street
$7.99
Can't say that I love every one of Billy Joel's albums mainly because I've never heard them all. This is something that I remember,along with Heatwave's Central Heating that I remember listening to a lot as a child on 8-track at our summer camp. Hearing it now for the first time as an adult I am amazed how much my opinion of it has broadened and increased,not that I had a bad one in the first place. That comes from again having only heard a few of his albums and knowing him otherwise from his hits. During the late 70's the world of pop music was changing. Jazz and R&B were ascendant and,for those who were not interested in making disco or heartland rock style records those styles and the pop/rock of the day were beginning to bleed together and it turned out to be a wonderful combination. You could see that quality in records that explored that hybrid from Steely Dan's Aja,Gino Vannelli's Brother to Brother and The Doobie Brothers' Livin' on the Fault Line. This album is part of that same flow and,lucky for Billy Joel his sometimes over-reaching musical ambitions and edgy New York attitude really worked to great affect here. Even though the content of The Stranger was uniformily consistant it did have something of the feeling of a hit parade. At the same time the jazzy funk elements that permeate this album were creeping in even there and opened the door. Even the two big singles here "Big Shot" and "My Life" both have strong pop-jazz flavors in the production. "Zanzibar",featuring a jazz rhythm section in the arrangment featuring a solo by Freddie Hubbard allows Billy to stretch this musical concept out as far as he can take it with one of the best chorded hooks of his catalog next to perhaps "Movin' Out". On "Stiletto" and "Rosalinda's Eyes" the fusion flavor take presidents as the theme of girl watching comes up in various turns,twice. "Half A Mile Away" and "Until The Night" are the more pop/rocky of the tunes presented here but pop/rock with a very strong street funk flavor and also extend on the hopefully obvious Elton John influence in Billy's style. The album is rounded out by the swinging title tune and "Honesty",another of Billy's great ballads he seemed to do so well. Considering that jazz and funk on pop/rock albums can easily end up being gimmicky seeming genre exercises the fact that Billy chose to integrate those musical elements into his own sound is a sign that his often overbearing ambition,which often led to much criticism against his music,could take him to really good places.

The Essential Billy Joel (2CD)
$15.93
Billy Joel has a past, a rock and roll NY garage band secret that is hidden from this so-called "Essential" two CD set. This flip/flop CD set begins with his break out hit "Piano Man", a self-reveralional look at me! Dammit Look at Me! If that didn't make it sure then howabout. "The Entertainer"? or "Say Goodbye to Hollywood"? (At least that song was covered by Ronnie Spector with Bruce Springsteen's E St. Band backing and a terrific 45).

Billy continued to write what he knew," NY State of Mind", etc.., but a songwriter has to have a standard, a song that would be sung by Steve Lawrence, Al Martino, and scored by elevators. "Just the Way You Are" made it and offered a lifetime envelope of bucks.

With that security, Billy hit a stride of top 40 hits "My Life" "She's Got a Way" "You May be Right" Billy was hitting a strong average of .750 and pissed that he wasn't considered hip while Punk and New Wave were all over magazines (not charts tho) and his slam was "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". Like anyone cared.

Realizing that, Billy put out his finest LP/Cass/CD " An Innocent Man".
An amalgam of his love of 50's 60's influences, the 4 Seasons, "Uptown Girl" the Dion/Belmonts "The Longest Time",

Success leads to doing whatever one wants.. Billy made a political polemic "We Didn't Start the Fire" a hit with an update of Reunion's "Life is a Rock (but the Radio Rolled Me), a quick history of baby boomers in rhyme and tempo.

After that, well fine, concerts all over the world, swell, in Hell, and admired. Concerts in tandem with Elton John and piano walkin' the plank.

This 2CD has 36 songs, probably 20 more than anyone needs. No booklet, no history, no pictures of wire-terrior haired Billy, no nothin' extra.

Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol. 3
$7.99
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