Joel, Billy

Two new Billy Joel songs in a year! After 14 or so with none, it's a windfall! Problem is this one has two things against it.

• It's not that great of a song.
• Billy doesn't sing it, he just wrote it

I got it because it was being billed as a new Billy Joel song. In an extent, that's true. However, if you search for it in the Billy Joel section of iTunes, you won't find it. You have to search for Joel Fallujah, and it turns up under the artist Cass Dillon. This is a new artist, and Billy more or less (from what I read) "gave" the song to her to record and release.

As "Billy Joel" songs go, it's not the greatest - the All My Life one from earlier this year is way better than that.

I also guess I'm tired of "messages" in my music - I just want my tunes to be entertainment, not lessons. For a Joel hardcore, it's probably worth the buck to buy it from iTunes (the only place you can get it). The proceeds of the song go to a charity to build homes for service members from Iraq who have severe disabilities, so in that regard, it's a worthy song. As a song, I don't feel it is, though.

The last time Billy Joel released anything that was a new rock song was fourteen years before this. His time in between has been live albums, compilations, and his classical music pursuits. Those of us who have grown up with Billy Joel have held out hope he'd do a full album of rock music again.

He still hasn't done that, but in late 2006 he recorded his first "rock" song in ages. This track was actually available exclusively for awhile on the People Magazine website. It came out on Valentine's Day 2007, and was about a week later or so released to iTunes as a single download. Now this isn't high pep stuff like a lot of his older rock tracks. It's a slower love song.

It was written by what I've read for his third wife. What I find amusing about that he wrote songs for his first two wives, too, and they split up. Hopefully this one sticks - it's obvious the song is about her, and that's cool. OK, one down - we just need about ten more, and we can have another album!

I've been a Billy Joel fan since I was about 8 or 9 back in the early/mid 70's. One of the first musical artists I ever listened to. However, his final studio album was in 1993, and since then, he's put out just one more "new" album, that being his classical one in the fall of 2001. He's had some repackages and sets of his music, but since I'd been buying his albums since the 70's, I didn't bother with them. Until now.

My Lives is a 5 disc set comprising his whole career. Disc 1 has some really odd stuff, as it covers his pre solo album days back in the 60's with bands such as The Hassles, The Lost Souls, and Attila. Actually, the one Attila track was quite good (the others not so much so). Wouldn't mind hearing more Attila.

Anyway, the set is comprised of various unreleased demos, alternate tracks, and just a handful of existing studio tracks. There's little here that's already been released, so it's of good value even for folks like me who have bought all of Joel's albums over the years.

The first four discs are audio discs, and the fifth is a DVD with a live concert from 1994 of his. I haven't listened to everything yet, as I got this from my mom for Christmas (and I'm writing this on Dec 27), but I'm sure I'll enjoy this a lot, as I've always enjoyed Billy Joel's albums. Probably not worth it if you're not into Billy Joel. If you're a non Joel fan, you might be better off with this.

This is the most odd release of all. Billy Joel releases (finally) an album of the classical piano music he'd been writing for years. When he stopped writing Rock songs some years ago, he said he was writing classical music that he enjoyed, and we finally get to hear an album of it. I'd wanted to hear what he was working on for a long time myself, and I have to say that now that I've heard it, I'm not that enthused with it. If I'm in the mood for classical music, then it's perfect, but classical is not something I reach for first. Still - it does have it's moments, you just have to be in the mood for them.

I miss Rock & Roll Billy.

A third live Billy Joel album. I wasn't enthused when this came out, but I think I just picked it up out of habit and the fact that I was probably swept up in the "Year 2000" thing. Anyway, it turned out to be by far the best of his 3 live albums - and was definitely worth it. If you get just a single live Billy Joel disc, get this one.

When this came out, I thought, well, I don't really need this, but for completeness' sake, I picked it up. When I want to listen to Billy Joel's more recent stuff, and don't want to listen to any particular album, this is a good choice. It does have three "new" songs on it, but they're all covers, it's nothing original, since Billy said he was giving up writing rock songs after his last studio album in 1993.

Later on, the 1985 Greatest Hits album was packaged with this one, and a fourth disc of additional songs as a box set, but I didn't bother with that.

This was Billy's only studio release in the 1990's, and is most likely his final rock & roll record. This album feels a lot like Glass Houses to me in that it's more guitar oriented than piano oriented, but of course, being 13 years after GH, it "sounds" much better from a production standpoint. The title track really reminds me of a Paul Simon song off of Graceland - it's VERY different from anything he's done before. If this is to be his final rock studio album, then he went out on a high note, in my opinion.

An album that I like and dislike. The dislike part is the last 4 songs - they do nothing for me. However, the first 6 are the opposite - I love 'em! Shameless is a song that Garth Brooks covered a few years later, and the single from this album several Joel fans dislike (although I don't know why) - the song is "We Didn't Start the Fire". Not his greatest, but there's decent enough songs here to make it worthwhile.

In retrospect, I don't know why I bought this. I didn't buy his previous live album (1981's Songs in the Attic) on CD. I suppose I was suckered in by the fact that this was recorded in Russia, which at the time was a big deal thing to do. There is a cover of the Beatles Back in the USSR on here, but that's about the only novel thing here.

I seem to recall reading back when this was new that the reason it's called The Bridge was that it was an attempt to bridge the gap between what Billy's old music was and where he wanted to go with it. It's an underrated album, and has lots of great stuff on here - a solid album from front to back. It also has the only song in Billy Joel history where there's a co-writing credit. Cyndi Lauper co-wrote Code of Silence.

OK, a two CD Greatest Hits package for an artist that I own all of his albums. Doesn't sound like a great thing to get. I think at the time I bought it, I was suckered in by the two new tracks on here - both of which are quite good. The second one (The Night Is Still Young) is a song I picked for the last dance song at my wedding reception, 11 years after it's release.

One of my favorite Billy Joel albums. I call it his "Doo-Wop" album, even if only two songs sounds that way. There isn't a single song on this one I don't like. Looking at the track listing, I'm surprised this album didn't have more hit singles than it did - everything on here is brilliant!

SACD Notes: I have this also on SACD in addition to the standard one. For some reason, most rock albums don't sound a whole lot different to me on SACD then the conventional ones do. When I listened to this on SACD, some bits sounded clearer, but it was hard to tell in most places that this wasn't a conventional CD.

One of my favorite Billy Joel albums. I call it his "Doo-Wop" album, even if only two songs sounds that way. There isn't a single song on this one I don't like. Looking at the track listing, I'm surprised this album didn't have more hit singles than it did - everything on here is brilliant!

Not his strongest album, but some greatness comes from here (Allentown, Pressure, Goodnight Saigon). I saw Billy for the first time live on this tour, and I had third row seats right in front of his main piano. It was spectacular! One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Billy Joel comes into the 80's with his most "Rock & Roll" album. This one seems very far removed from anything he's released before - it seems that the piano is not the main focus here, the electric guitar is. That doesn't mean it's bad - far from it, it's a great album, but it's not as piano oriented as a lot of his music is.

His next album I used to own, but never on CD. "Songs from the Attic" was a live album of songs from his early discs.

How do you follow up such a brilliant album like the Stranger? Well, I'm not sure you really can, so Billy seems to start to head in a different direction, going for a more Rock & Roll album than his previous work (he's pictured on the cover with a different musican instrument than his main piano). 52nd Street's "second side" (an out of date term in the age of CD's) is weaker than the first, but it's still a good album. 52nd Street also has the honor of being the first thing ever to be released on a CD when the format was first invented.

JACKPOT!! This is Billy's best album. The thing is solid from start to finish, and six of the 9 songs ended up on his 1985 Greatest Hits album, anyway. I don't know what more can be said about this album - it's just THAT GOOD. Stop reading this, and click on the cover art and order it. :)

OK, that's what I wrote about this album on the "regular" edition I used to have. Billy Joel's "The Stranger" album was the first Joel album I ever owned. On top of that my memory tells me it was the first "rock" album I ever owned. I don't believe I got it in 1977 (I would have been 12), but it was at some point in the 70's. That detail is lost to the haze of time.

In early 2008, I read where there was going to be a new remix of the album out. There was going to be a couple of editions, a two CD version (what I got), and a larger box version with more live stuff. The one I did get is two discs. Disc 1 is a new remaster (which adds a lot of power and kick to the album), and Disc 2 is a live album recorded in 1977 before the release of the Stranger. That's less of an issue for me, because Billy Joel has released WAY TOO MANY live albums since he stopped making albums in 1993. Anyway, it was worth it for the cleanup. The album was always great, but the new remix makes it sound much clearer. Definitely worth it if you've never bought the album (ack!), or if you're a hardcore. You'll want the upgrade.

It lacks in the usual things you get in these remixes - like alternate tracks, demos, etc. But that's OK, the regular album is that good.

With Turnstiles, Billy's strongly headed towards the "formula" that will serve him well with making rock songs. This album is just a shade below awesome, and I only say that, because not every SINGLE song is a gem. However, it is full of gems. New York State of Mind, Angry Young Man, Miami 2017, & my favorite, James. I wonder who all the people on the cover are.

This is probably my least favorite Billy Joel album. It's not really BAD, it's just nowhere near as interesting as other albums. There are some songs on here I really like (The Entertainer, Root Beer Rag, the title track), but on the whole the album doesn't do much for me. Thing is when I DO listen to it, I don't think it's bad, it's just down near the bottom of the list of Joel CD's when I want to listen to one.

What most people consider to be Billy Joel's first album is really his second. Piano Man is his signature tune, but there's some other all time classics here. Captain Jack is known, and I'm also fond of the Ballad of Billy the Kid. Travelin' Prayer, Ain't No Crime, it keeps going for me on this one. Some of the tunes on here borderline on country in their feel.

I was thinking back to this album and to why I like it so much, and I guess from a personal standpoint and a musical standpoint, it harkens back to a time when things were a lot simpler, and it just feels very enjoyable.

Billy's first album was recorded in 1971, but never actually released until 1983. The story goes something like this.. When it was recorded, Billy was mad at the way the vocals were recorded - too fast. I remember an interview where he said he sounded like a chipmunk. I don't think it's like that, but it was cleaned up in 83 and released finally. I'd heard stories that Billy has disowned this album - I don't know how true that is, but it is by far the most intimate of any Billy Joel album - on a lot of the songs, it's just him and the piano. Some of it almost sounds like folk music - this album is probably only for Joel diehards.

The original (incorrect) 1971 version isn't widely available, most everywhere that sells this has the corrected 1983 version.