My Lives - Joel, Billy

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.