Billy Joel C/D?

"The Stranger" was among the better AOR albums.

I think you speak for all of us.

You do know he played piano on "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" now don't you?

"Do you know who Billy Joel is?" Yes. "Good."

Oh no, dear Amateurist. I've had well over twenty years to build up to that one. ;-)

When you're forced to listen to something that much eventually you have to develop a relationship with it a little more complicated that pure antipathy.

Truly OTM. Ned may have built nothing but hostility toward the man over the years, but most of us have had to also admit his good points at one time or another. And that creates confusion. He sucks. mostly, but not in some opressive, ubiquitous, meat-headed Phil Collins way. I'll admit, much of The Stranger still charms me, especially "Vienna" and "Movin' Out." They're little New Jersey symphonies, for all that's worth, which is admittedly not much. But at leat Billy Joel doesn't distance himself from his material -- he always honestly comes off as exactly the schlub that he is. And that's kind of admirable, though again, not much.

I think that's "Scenes from An Italian Restaurant" from The Stranger. But that's not why I'm responding to this. I think all Billy Joel songs should from here on be referred to as BJ songs. That's hilarious.

I'm coming in late to this thread, and rading it in pieces, so forgive if my responses are out of order of importance.

Did he really say that? When? Because that's perfect. If he can sum himself up in such an astute way, my respect for him has just jumped three notches.

He said it on Tuesday night's episode of American Idol, for which he provided the "music" (ie, they all just sang his songs). I thought it was a pretty honest self-assessment, actually. I still don't like him tho.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. And as for that quote, it says nothing. I don't care if he's competent, for fuck's sake, I care if he (or anybody) does something that interests me, and he interests me only in the sense that I wouldn't mind browbeating him for all his albums-worth o' crap.

And "Uptown Girl" has this Nazi-step march ham-fisted oppression that top none other. I had his greatest hits I & II when I was in 7th grade, but just because I learned to play "She's got a way" for this girl I had a crush on. He is a miserable sod, on top of everything. He must hate life. He has his few, few moments, but on the whole, the most abhorrent artist I can bring to mind. Sorry.

see: Elvis Costello

Anyone seen "Movin' Out" yet?

WTF? Have you ever heard Elvis Costello?

Joel's addiction to WINE is also a bit sad. I mean, Christie won't even let him near the kids.

And that song "River Of Dreams"?

>quiver<

i've own all those "great" records he's made and really really tried to like him. really. i tried. i failed.

Maybe BJ can help me out here:

I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross

indeed.

I have a soft spot in my heart for "Pressure," "It's Still Rock n' Roll...," and the ultimate (wait for it)...

..."It's My Life." How can a guy who's song was used as the theme for "Bosom Buddies" be a dud?

I wish I had it. W!nterb3rg has like two copies, the bastard.

Ask Joey Scarbury.

hey d!390, we could always ask ol' W. if we could burn a copy...

Agree 100%. Hate Costello w/ a passion. He makes my skin crawl.

Naming your greatest hits collection, which was only ever released as a single package, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 - Classic or Dud?

Lonesome, lonesome men always inspire devotion, silly.

Mr.Diamond will be glad to know that since the first message of his that caught my attention was him posting several of his album covers in the smuggest covers ever thread, my mental image of him is Elvis Costello.

Until fairly recently, I took a pretty hard line against Billy Joel, but I have to admit that I like some of his songs. I also hate an awful lot of them, certainly more of them than I like. I find his persona a big problem much of the time. I don't trust him, and I'm certainly not interested in his advice. Most of his talen is wasted. "Just the Way You Are" and "Honesty" are two other songs I like. Maybe because I heard it shortly before I transformed into an adolescent music snob, but I think I wouldn't mind hearing 52nd Street occasionally, or at least maybe half of it. I wouldn't want to defend it, but I kind of like "She's Always a Woman."

But the songs that annoy me, annoy me overwhelmingly and unequivocally.

Good Billy Joel songs: "Allentown"

Good Cure songs: all of them except "Push", "A Thousand Hours", "Closedown", "Return" and "Mint Car"

Anyway, yes, the song about the high school sweethearts is Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, which is a great song for the bizarre oopmah music middle bit about his sweet romantic teenage nights. The fast part is reminiscent of certain Ben Folds songs, take as you will.

The best Billy Joel song is Only The Good Die Young.

Strange but true!

See now, I consider this song to be full of threatening spite and anger. A perfect example of why Joel really rubs me the wrong way. On the surface is this snappin' beat, but closer examination reveals a real sinister meanness.

I mean look at these lyrics:

"The demon in your mind will rape you in your bed at night?"
"The moon is red and bleeding?"
"All the evil seem to live forever?"
"Only the good die young?"

waitaminit, that's iron maiden... here we go:

"don't let me wait"
"locked you away"
"Only the good die young"
"I run with a dangerous crowd"
"Only the good die young"
"You didn't count on me"
"they say there's a heaven"
"Some say it's better but I say it ain't"
"The sinners are much more fun"
"Don't let me wait"

I mean, it's this threat, really, couched in this kind of Greaser back-story vernacular. Liek West Side Story, on via some long-island wino. Like "Uptown Girl," which for me is the most henious of his songs.

Obviously, I have little bit of a complex with this. And I'm intentionally going over the top. But even "Always A Woman" makes me uncomfortable now, that stereotypically "fragile" song about women "changing their minds," gives me the chills just thinking about it.

I'd have to call Dud on BJ, with the possible exception of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood."

Three times now "Uptown Girl" has come up on my weekly walking-on-bus-or-at-computer-lab mixtape within five minutes of being on this thread. The power!

I can. Because I hate the bastard thing too. Take "Just Like Heaven" and "Friday I'm in Love" and squeeze all the joy and/or intriguing angst out of them and leave a limp sucked orange wedge. Then stick it in the trash. Behold! "Mint Car."

"The Perfect Girl" has that fantastic synth riff plus the ultra-euphoric "I THINK I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU" part; it's easily the best song on side 4 of _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_.

"Friday I'm In Love" has that killer guitar riff and one the best bridges The Cure ever produced, mixed in with OTM observations about the prosiac magic of love ("It's such a gorgeous sight/To see you eat in the middle of the night").

"Mint Car" has a god-awful rinky-dink guitar riff fluttering around some DEEPLY tenuous screeching that can't even be saved by blatant Daan-pandering in the shape of egregious double entendres (aka the third verse). Also, it's too slow.

"The Lovecats" is still their best twee song, anyway. ("A Chain Of Flowers" might be their best melancholy twee song.)

I believe I should end this post with a Geir-like :)

Cure album tracks kick major ass. BOW BEFORE THE GENIUS OF "World War", "Another Day", "Secrets", "The Figurehead", "Siamese Twins", "Faith", "All Cats Are Grey", "At Night", "Piggy In The Mirror", "Dressing Up", "Shake Dog Shake", "The Top", "Kyoto Song", "The Blood", "The Kiss", "All I Want", "How Beautiful You Are...", "One More Time", "The Snakepit", "Like Cockatoos", "The Perfect Girl", "Last Dance", "The Same Deep Water As You", "Prayers For Rain", "Open", "End", "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea", "Want", "Treasure", "Bare", "Out Of This World", "The Loudest Song" and "The Last Day Of Summer"!

the upthread billy joel-frank zappa comparison, on the other hand, is very much off-the-mark (their mutual love for doo-wop and perfectionism notwithstanding). george gershwin and paul whitehead =/= edgard varese and eric dolphy. and zappa's "smugness" isn't as pointless as joel's.

I will give him one dud mark for his Guido/Italian Moolie dialect at the end of "Big Shot". And dud anything after An Innocent Man.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0416/catucci.php

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0416/eddy.php

I don't detest Costello, but he really hasn't ever done much for me. Unlike Joel, I can only name ONE Costello song I ever really liked, and the title won't come to me now. There's black female backup singers in the video. Maybe someone can help me here so I don't have to leave ilx to figure out the name of that damn thing.

Disintegration, on the other hand IS perfect.

I mean, where else are you going to find these sounds all done by the same artist?

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0606,wood,72051,22.html

I'd also like to note that Billy Joel claimed to be a Suede fan in a Rolling Stone article.
-- Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 16 April 2003

WOW! good man. where can i read the article in question i wonder?

i like the use of the word 'claimed'. as if saying you like a particular band still leaves room for a jury's verdict :)

All For Leyna and Sleeping With the Television On are eternal classics.

I live happily without Piano Man and Just the Way You Are, which are about MOR songwriting skills. But the horny, nerdy teen on side two of Glass Houses (I was 14 at the time) . . . that's the real truth about Billy, me, and a lot of other Queens/Long Island boys who'd rather not admit it!

I apparently have never weighed in, so since the opportunity arises: Why such a hatred for songcraft and production values?

(Me in Hongro mode)

If recording enough standards to make for an extremely solid Greastet Hits Vol I & II (that woulda been even solider with a few substitutions) is enough for classic status, then Classic it is.

(Not to mention fucking ATTILA!)

I, always being in Hongro mode, have to say that in terms of songcraft and production values, Billy Joel is only average. He has a long way to go compared to, say, Crowded House or 10cc.

He has a long way to go compared to, say, Crowded House or 10cc.

Or ABBA or KISS or Andy Gibb or INXS or Biz Markie.

he's no elton john either, to take the most obvious example.

be that as it may, here are arguments in favor of billy joel's songwriting craft:

travelin' prayer
new york state of mind
scenes from an italian restaurant
root beer rag (assuming instrumental craft counts as craft)
sometimes a fantasy
sleeping with the television on
don't ask me why
all for leyna
the longest time
tell her about it
a matter of trust
river of dreams
all about soul

and arguments against:

there are a lot.

but, come on, the dude could write and sing songs.

I, always being in Hongro mode,

quote of the day!

I like "Movin' Out" when it plays on the soft rock station!

such thick fingers

the dude could write and sing songs.

Sure, sure. Look, I could add to your list of songs that show off Joel as a good, sometimes inspired songwriter, e.g., Pressure, Allentown, She's Right on Time, among others.

But, as you imply, much of the time he's just coasting or operating on formula. Billy Joel is like the NBA player who almost exclusively takes very high-percentage shots: He has a good shooting percentage, it makes him a desirable player, but not a superstar among other players? Or, to draw another analogy, he's like a director who makes reliable action, hack-ish action movies but is capable of occassionally -- when the mood strikes him -- making a real highbrow film.

But Spoon apparently likes Billy Joel a lot, so maybe he isn't as big a dud as I thought.

Whoa, my grammer was terrible! Posting and parenting apparently don't mix. Off to parenting.

Posting and parenting apparently don't mix
Probably not, but that's how I got my start.

when i hear billy joel, particularly the 80s stuff, it always transports me back to my childhood. "Allentown," "Innocent Man," and "Uptown Girl" are, for that reason, classic.

Even though I know he's kind of schlocky, I have to echo the sentiment that I'm not sure why he is the brunt of so much hatred. He's not great, and he's probably a prick, but that applies to just about everyone in the music industry.

Billy Joel is hard for me to listen to, and though I agree that he's a good technical songwriter and probably a good performer (I've never seen him live), he just seems like a big cornflake to me. He's like the really hard working jingle writer who keeps pushing the importance of melody and a songs that are "timeless" or whatever because he knows that persistence pays off, and even though he's famous and all, I can't help but think of him as kind of a runtish, underdog guy. It's really not a fair criticism, I know, and I'm still not totally sure what it is I hate about him. I don't mind forumla, I just hate the hammy, headfirst dives into such pleasant, middlebrow material. He's a throwback to "classic" songwriting in the worst possible way, the way that reminds me why songwriting didn't stay like that forever.

that said, I like the background harmonies in "It's My Life"

haha I started this thread?!?

lol that people supposedly hate Billy Joel for his songcraft and professionalism, like what else is there to hate?

drunken assholishness?

the list is endless...

playing guitar?

i can say i like a few of his songs, when he kept it simple: "it's still rock'n'roll", "you may be right", "don't ask me why" are pretty good pop tunes, imo.

neither classic nor dud

"rocking out"?

haha I started this thread?!?
Apparently. More importantly, you started the "Billy Joel is the American Elvis Costello" meme

I, always being in Hongro mode,

quote of the day!
Now I'm picturing a sci-fi book called I, Hongro, but I can't work out the Three Laws of Hongrobotics.

I hate the whole Everyman know-it-all persona, but I don't hate across the board like I used to. Also, there are specific songs of his that I associate with particular assholes I've known in the past, or with particular unpleasant experiences, so there's a fair amount of negative associational freight that goes along with hearing his music.

RS OTM

I think he might be easier to appreciate from the midwest, or even the west coast, but here in the Northeast he typifies a sensibility that for lots of us it's hard not to be conflicted about.

His interviews, however, are hilarious.

amuse us and post some

Or ABBA or KISS or Andy Gibb or INXS or Biz Markie.

Billy Joel's songcraft is way better than INXS'. INXS was mostly about way too much repetition.

that said, I like the background harmonies in "It's My Life"

PETER CETERA

amuse us and post some

I recall one in which he was unconvincingly defending himself before a journalist who suggested that Joel was unable to make music that actually rocked. He was heard to say: "I-I-I don't have a soft cock. I have a hard cock."

waht

I guess he was trying to says that just because he churns out ballads doesn't mean he is cursed with a flaccid penis.

Maybe he's got a flaccid penis but likes to bottom.

I saw him on a PBS special or something where he was talking about writing "Only the Good Die Young" and he showed how it started out as a Reggae song- he started clanking out piano chords on the offbeat and singing in a vaguely Jamaican accent. But the guys in the band hated Reggae, so they re-arranged it.

I can identify four things in the preceding 'graph that make me dislike him. And yeah, the personification of a Northeast type that's really annoying.

classic.

someone told me that hard rock atilla band he was in was kinda tight. i haven't ever heard it.

attila sounds like late-period spinal tap with a hammond organ. and not in the good way either. but i'm probably not the right person to ask. the liner notes to the original album are hilarious.

for early billy joel psychedelic hilarity, i much prefer the second album by the hassles, hour of the wolf, which was his band before attila. attila is billy pretending to drop acid and lose his brain. the hassles is billy pretending to drop acid but still write pop songs, sort of. (or maybe he actually took acid, who knows?)

going backwards, the first hassles album, self-titled i think, is straight-up white soul garage rock pre-acid billy trying to be a long island version of the spencer davis group.

dude lived a full and varied life before he got to the pop charts!

Anyone want to comment on his Shea stadium performances? In the footage of it I saw on the news he looked like a sun-starved, bearded sea lion fresh from Coney Island. Ooh, close-ups of his hands on 50 foot video screens as he plays the runs from 'Billy the Kid!'

Pretty mean profile of him in last weekend's NY Times.

I really love the Nylon Curtain album...

Glass Houses, Nylon Curtain, Stranger = classics.

Some everything else pre-1990 or so, is pretty good.

Almost everything after then = dud.
Recent stuff aside, I LOVE this guy. Even the earliest stuff is harmonically interesting (see Cold Spring Harbour album and "She's Always a Woman to Me").

I still say "dud," but that NYT article makes Billy Joel seem . . . nice.

I'm predisposed to say 'dud,' but after reading this entire thread and seeing all of his 'hit songs' listed in one place, I must admit I don't actively hate a single one (except maybe "Piano Man," but hey c'mon that's a given - it's the poor man's "After The Goldrsh") and actually really like a few - "She's Always A Woman," "Big Shot," "Scenes From An Italian Restaraunt," even "New York State of Mind" - so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 'competent.' I don't change the station when his songs come on.

When indie rock inevitably "re-assesses" BJ, it's gonna be a hilarious and sad few months

While Bruce Springsteen has stalled the aging process through blessed genes or some Faustian bargain, Mr. Joel looks like every heartbreak, bad review, car crash and attendant tabloid dig has exacted a physical toll...

OTM.

When indie rock inevitably "re-assesses" BJ, it's gonna be a hilarious and sad few months.

See, e.g., Spoon, The Underdog (Summer 2007).

While Bruce Springsteen has stalled the aging process through blessed genes or some Faustian bargain

and, um, perhaps a hair transplant?

"Billy Joel's daughter took pills in NYC"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6755157.html

"Summer, Highland Falls" is fuckin awesome
― TB, Thursday, April 17, 2003 2:15 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The version on "Songs in the Attic" especially. That's my favorite Billy Joel album, actually. Even the bad songs ("Los Angelenos," anyone?) re perfectly framed in their most appropriate setting -- small club when necessary, big stadium when necessary. And "Everybody Loves You Now" draws real blood.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, April 17, 2003 2:20 AM (6 years ago)

otm

Not a Billy Joel fan, but v. sorry to read the story about his daughter. Hope she gets the help she needs.

As Brutt said, Songs in the Attic is excellent, as are Turnstiles, parts of The Stranger, and some singles after that..the rest is mindbendingly bad

also, the production and Phil Woods solo on Just the Way You Are (obviously the sentiment and lyrics are cringeworthy) are great

I don't think the sentiment is cringeworthy.

yeah songs in the attic is really great

Moving Out is a massive tune.

nylon curtain is my jam

"Pressure" is a truly awesome song.

"Rosalinda's Eyes" is my favourite, that outro with the drums and percussion just fading out into reverb is classic.

Glass Houses is great start to finish. I will fight all comers who say otherwise.

Also Y on "Pressure" and I'll even stan for "Allentown" if I'm in a good mood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNfT3ExqXLo

Go nuts:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/all_of_billy_joels_greatest_hits_played_at_once/

thx u

Hey, I don't hear "Allentown" or "My Life" in there. WTF

lol BRAD LANER

I love the part where John Cale's organ rises in a beautiful swell over "TOO BUSY SUCKIN ON A DING DONG"

I like we got a slight repeating motif with the "ack-ack-ack-ack/you oughta know by now" bit. Had to turn it off when it got down to just "Captain Jack" and "Piano Man" though.

"goodnight saigon" would have helped solve the problem of the "capt jack"-only ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqY6mXULzpw

Funny how the worst 4 fucking lines from 'Piano Man' still manage to come through.

I heard about this piano throwing incident back in the 80s, but I heard that it was because this Russian crowd was sitting quietly and listening to his performance (as was the cultural norm) instead of going crazy and screaming (which is what they do in the US). He thought they didn't like him, so in frustration he threw his piano. But it seems that in this video, he flipped out because of... the lighting?

“Remember, this was the Soviet Union in 1987, and they’d never had a major rock concert before. There was a film crew filming a documentary, and they turned very bright lights on the audience. The audience was having a good time until they turned the lights on. They froze; they turned paranoid. There was a lot of anxiety they are we being looked at? And whenever they turned the lights on, anyone who was overreacting was being pulled out of the audience by a security guard. I wasn’t yelling at the audience was yelling at the film crew. So I threw the piano, and that got their attention. Then they stopped lighting the audience, and everybody started rocking out.”

http://siberianlight.net/billy-joels-historic-soviet-concert-tour/

Never ever heard about this before. You can see his point mind.

I just discovered this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScIWg0iOxUw

People call this the worst album ever? Come on... It may not all be incredible, but it's mostly credible and gets points for heaviness without guitars and pretty early for such nonsense. And it shits all over "Uptown Girl."

I knew about Attila, but only now learned the band broke up after Joel ran off with the other-guy-in-Attila's wife

Friend showed me this - Billy Joel did a Q&A at Vanderbilt & some kid asked to accompany him on New York State Of Mind

Half of me is like uggggh nonnono secondhand embarrassment but the other half of me is, well, okay this is kinda cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04TYk4j0zQ

okay fine tbh all I could think was IT SOUNDS BETTER WHEN BILLY PLAYS IT
I'm a jerk

there's a certain kind of melancholy that can only be brought on by the thought that some young people are listening to and loving billy joel

security, escort this man outside plz

ZS, that is. not the kid.

billy joel rools!! nylon curtain is a GREAT album!!

classic early ILM posts above

otm

There are so many days when I can't get the phrase "the bag ladies throw their bones at my face" out of my head.

It's why I love this man so.

i just bought the 45 of the hassles' "4 o'clock in the morning" this morning on ebay. I had no idea this single existed until this morning. very different than the album version. like they were actually expecting radio play or something.

also today i relistened for the first time in forever to the epic operatic title cut to hour of the wolf, which simultaneously prefigured queen, meat loaf and "aladdin sane" by many years.

as a child i used to watch the hassles when they practiced in johnny small's garage, two doors down from my house. they used to do "a taste of honey" which i knew from the beatles. they also had a playboy calendar hanging up in there, which is probably my most vivid memory of those days. also they would lower the garage doors when we kids got too numerous / annoying. which must have been painful for them. even then i think i knew their first single was horrible. "you got me hummin'" was on the flip. can't remember the a-side. i have no conscious memory of billy as distinguished from all the other hassles.

you mean the hassles were good? NOW you tell me.

the smalls had a bottom-lit stone statue on their front lawn, and a spooky sounding doorbell, both of which i still associate with halloween.

wow! that's awesome, sang freud.

for the record i am not proclaiming the hassles as good, though they had a couple of moments. i'm pretty sure "you got me hummin" was the a-side. and i'm pretty sure that wasn't one of those moments.

did you ever get to see attila practice in johnny small's garage?

ha! no, i think johnny had moved out of his folks' house by that time...

I will give you motherfucking naysayers this, and only this: There has never been another human alive who has ever used the words "tonic and gin" in that order.

i sometimes catch myself saying "coke and rum" because of the game/50 cent song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llp8gkx6k5A

sometimes i say "falltime" because of that dream song

I don't change the station when I hear "A Matter of Trust.

huwunn
twoooooo
hwunntwoothreefawwww

the guitar groove is like lockjaw

"groove"

lol

http://www.billyjoel.com/news/rip-phil-ramone

Phil Ramone, music producer and dear friend, died this morning in New York at age 79.

Phil produced The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man, The Bridge, and the single “All My Life” released 2007. Our prayers and condolences are with the Ramone family. Phil will be deeply missed.

"I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented member in my band. He was the band member that no one ever ever saw onstage. He was with me as long as any of the musicians I ever played with - longer than most. So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him. I have lost a dear friend - and my greatest mentor. The music world lost a giant today." - Billy Joel

Note too, in his honor, that Phil Ramone did not produce "We Didn't Start The Fire."

He was a Yankees fan, so, you know, nobody's perfect.

http://i.imgur.com/SxhibqM.jpg

I don't change the station when I hear "A Matter of Trust.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 2, 2013 10:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

His last even halfway decent song tbrr

anything after that I have to pull off the freeway to throw up, lol

I bet you've never done that after hearing a Billy Joel song.

Hassle makes good.

http://www.picturevisionpictures.com/2004/pvp-jon.html#

http://woodcast9.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/billy_joel.jpg
http://woodcast9.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/billy_joel.jpg
http://woodcast9.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/billy_joel.jpg
http://woodcast9.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/billy_joel.jpg

You should never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi mind

so in frustration he threw his piano.

Those old Yamaha electrics weigh a fucking ton. Billy Joel could just pick any of our little asses up and throw us through a wall.

It's been another Joely week for me - my lady acquaintance made me put on Glass Houses and everyone in the apartment was really feeling it. Today, Songs In The Attic. Maybe his best album? The live performances really knock some juice into the songs, and the largely-obscure setlist means that it's never thrown out of balance by huge singles you've heard too many times. See also my 'Miami 2017' thread. I kinda wish I was drunk right now though.

Songs in the Attic still feeling like the winner in this marathon. Just listened to 52nd Street straight through the first time in a decade at least. The first side is rock-solid ("Big Shot," "My Life," "Zanzibar") but the second really starts to wander after "Stiletto." "Until The Night" just kills everything dead. "52nd Street" itself is a decent Randy Newman pastiche though.

Still got a special spot for "Rosalinda's Eyes," so Side 2's cause isn't lost yet.

I freaking love Rosalinda's Eyes, the long fade out with that reverb-y cowbell is all time.

Never really exposed to Joel as a kid. I remember my mother telling me when I was young that "Uptown Girl" was an Eric Clapton number.

Only came across him during random job-lot purchases on eBay and I picked up seven of his rekkids for £1 (Streetlight Serenade, The Stranger, Glass Houses, An Innocent Man, Greatest Hits I & II, Storm Front & River of Dreams).

Some good stuff. I don't understand why he's so viciously hated. At the very least, Innocent Man is a fun, joyful album and a few of his others have good moments.

I'd like to think his critical stock is on the rise, it certainly seems too low at the moment.

Of the Joel albums I've heard (quite a few), An Innocent Man is definitely the easiest one to like.

Wonder Woman, you have got me in a spin
Jesus Christ, I can’t believe the shape I’m in
Everything is all mixed up and upside down
Everything is whirling twirling ‘round and round
Oh no no no, whoa, round and round and round

while he's never ever been a critic's darling, i'm not sure his stock is especially low at the moment, and i'm not sure it's due to rise or fall anytime soon. he's one of those rock and roll constants, who's always had plenty of fans in both high and low places, and plenty of haters in both high and low places too. he's reliable that way. i think this assessment from way upthread pretty much nails it:

he's like a director who makes reliable action, hack-ish action movies but is capable of occassionally -- when the mood strikes him -- making a real highbrow film.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 31 July 2007 01:30 (5 years ago)

i'd edit that somewhat. i'm not sure he's ever made, or tried to make, that highbrow film. rather, at his best (glass houses, an innocent man, the stranger,) maybe turnstiles), he makes great action movies, and at his worst, he does well-made schlock. maybe the nylon curtain had highbrow intentions, i don't know, but basically joel has been proudly middlebrow from the start. he knows how to entertain, and he usually does.

Innocent Man does loving pastiche very well. I've probably said this multiple times throughout this thread, but Nylon Curtain is an excellent LP.

I like the plaintive side of his earlier stuff, anything that sounds like the title song of a movie set in the Upper East Side w/ Jill Clayburgh, like Summer Highland Falls

XP Coming from someone who thinks "Piano Man" is annoying as shit, I never considered "tonic and gin" egregious practice of poetic license. However, annoyingly bad vocal delivery of "Talkin' with Davy who's still in the navy" or "The piano sounds like a carnival" still generates lulz after all these years.

Also xp, the best versions of most of his best deep early songs are on <i>Songs In The Attic</i> which is what makes it (possibly) his best album.

Is Billy Joel the troll, or the NYTimes?

http://i1.nyt.com/images/2013/05/26/magazine/26joel1/26joel1-hpMedium-v2.jpg

I love how that pic conflates Harry & Tonto with Melvin & Howard

NYT is the best source of "Billy Joel is alive and thinks he's well" profiles

Ladies and gentlemen, that right there is a man who doesn't take shit from nobody.

his bulldog is cool.

that picture like 20 posts up though is scary as fuck. he looks like the cryptkeeper.

Great hour-long conversation with Alec Baldwin and Billy Joel:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/heresthething/2012/jul/30/

http://deadspin.com/dick-vitale-goes-to-billy-joel-concert-tweets-nearly-e-1504135175

Heard "Piano Man" outside of McDonald's this evening. Thought "I could post that on a Billy Joel Songs In the Wild thread, if there were such a thing."

Then, I went inside Kroger and heard "Vienna" - not the most common WMJ song you hear on the supermarket p.a.

Wild indeed.

A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND #PIANOMAN do it Billy J but where is CHRISTIE
9:50 PM - 17 Jan 2014

More interesting than the Cure, Depeche and New Order combined.

Possibly less interesting than Simply Red.

I think Joel was smart to call it a day after River of Dreams, although the great meta-narrative of his artistic life would have been well-served by ending with An Innocent Man.

For a couple of weeks during the christmas period at home about three years ago, I'd get out of bed relatively early, go downstairs and put Glass Houses on the turntable. I enjoyed it, although I can't remember ANYTHING about it these days. Does he have an album that everyone agrees on as his best?

I'm very willing to entertain MoT's notion about Billy Joel compared to New Order, although I'd substitute "better" for more interesting.

Always kinda thought The Stranger was the consensus pick for his best.

a pretty big chunk of his fanbase would rate glass houses as his best. me included.

Glass Houses is clearly the most Billy Joel-y Billy Joel album.

Yeah, all of the above - those two records are the most internally consistent, and Glass Houses maybe moreso, since The Stranger ends on a couple of duds. But, it also has several more super-iconic songs, and the smooth Seventies sound is kind of key to his whole steez IMO. Still think 52nd Street is kinda underrated.

Does he have an album that everyone agrees on as his best?

Don't know how consensus it is, but Nylon Curtain is brilliant.

Still think 52nd Street is kinda underrated.

Yeah, me too, I'm sure I've blabbed on somewhere upthread about how great Rosalinda's Eyes is (that long cowbell fade!)

Wrote on "Movin' Out":

http://thisiheard.blogspot.com/2014/01/billy-joel-movin-out-anthonys-song-1977.html

has anyone else heard the Howard Stern town hall interview with old Bill?

It's pretty good. Audio quality is kinda shitty but it's worth a listen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyaee97AAlQ

even though he's famous and all, I can't help but think of him as kind of a runtish, underdog guy.

though this appears to have been intended as criticism, this is probably the thing on this thread that billy would most agree with. this is exactly how he talks about himself.

Long profile:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/27/thirty-three-hit-wonder

I'd love to interview this guy.

After reading about the Springsteen/BJ double bill, I looked up the show. Never heard Springsteen croon a standard like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZq5hy2RsvM

A roar greeted the opening notes of “Just the Way You Are,” and up in Section 106 I could see some women of a certain age singing along and dabbing their eyes.

When the song was done, Joel turned to the audience and said, “And then we got divorced.”

Love that man.

This article fills me with a mixture of sorrow and rage that even eyewitness atrocity testimony can't match (though, of course, this kind of is eyewitness atrocity testimony).

idk it sounds p awesome to me

Hey, 誤訳侮辱, let me know when you want to go on a really long road trip with me.

That said, "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" could be the worst possible song to pick as Your Wedding Song.

i was thinking the same thing

That said, "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" could be the worst possible song to pick as Your Wedding Song.

I had an ex whose parents' wedding first-dance was soundtracked by Freda Payne's Band Of Gold. I think that's worse (if a better song).

I once attended a wedding where the first dance was Who's Sorry Now by Connie Francis.

^^^ winner

Sunny flirted with the idea of walking down the aisle to "Stuck In the Middle With You"

Jokers to the left of me looks at her family,
Jokers to the right, looks at my family...

haha, splendid candidate

lool sunny <3

I've come around on Billy Joel. His tunes are infinitely catchy and the lyrics aren't as vapid as I remember (Uptown Girl, et al excluded). A lot of his stuff touches on real shit like manic-depression, class consciousness, and the death of the American dream. And some of it is pointless but well-produced AOR... listening to his live stuff demonstrates he's also pretty good on the keys, which I can appreciate.

I'm not sure where to put him in my own brain's classification... I feel like I want to compare him to Warren Zevon, although the internet seems to be telling me he's the American Elton John. I don't think Elton's songs are as personal and autobiographical as Billy's...

The early posts on this thread seem pretty extreme. Is he a terrible person IRL or something?

warren zevon isn't a bad comparison. elton john is the obv one ppl go for but i don't think it really hold up beyond the immediate obv similarities, elton's doesn't have nearly the bitterness. the best comparison i've read, the one that haunts me, and it was on ilm was that he's the american elvis costello.

Is he a terrible person IRL or something?

Yeah, probably. I don't think the degree to which songs are autobiographical determine quality.

best comparison i've read, the one that haunts me, and it was on ilm was that he's the american elvis costello

that would be the first post of this thread.

I haunt your balls

i, too, am not sure what autobiography has to do with anyone mentioned here. billy and elton both strike me as preternaturally talented pianists and composers who use words mostly as a way to express their melodies. elton grabs his words from outsider writers, while billy writes his own so, yeah, sure, he probably can't help it with the bitterness and self-loathing, since that's who he is. but that doesn't automatically make the songs autobiographical. maybe the melodies are autobiographical though.

as for zevon, maybe he's what billy would be like if billy read more. he's certainly a match for billy in the bitterness and self-loathing departments.

I've slowly gotten stoned idk

I love Zevon more than Elton and Billy Joel so

xps Alfred I wasn't saying that autobiographical songs are better/more important or whatever, I was just using that as a yardstick for comparison to other musicians (like Elton John) w/r/t similar themes present in the respective artist's catalog.

I don't know enough Costello to know if that's an apt comparison. Anyway, my argument isn't that BJ's music is amazing, just that it's more interesting than I had previously thought.

But yeah its otm that Zevon is better than BJ & Eton.

and I love plenty of Elton songs

Wasn't John Hiatt briefly the American EC?

Billy basically Bruce-lite, with Warren's knack for melody plus both the aforementioned's propensity for defensible cheese and bombast, minus the defense. And yeah, fewer books read than either, too.

Also, Warren not afraid to flash a knife in your face now and then, figuratively speaking.

Is he a terrible person IRL or something?

I've wondered this too. Like, is there any definitive "Billy Joel is an asshole" story or two that proves that he is considerably worse than any number of people we regularly celebrate on this board, or just an overall feeling that people have?

man the more i try to compare billy joel to other artists, the more i'm actually impressed by him. he's firmly in the tradition of the great american songbook but also firmly in the tradition of the post-dylan singer-songwriter. Everyone else seems kind of indulgent or arch in comparison.

Profile last year:

“The set’s a little M.O.R.,” Joel complained, meaning “middle of the road,” the soft-rock category now called Adult Contemporary. He made his way onto the stage and sat down at the piano and knocked out a little Beethoven, before the band members, most of whom have been with him for more than ten years, worked out the backup vocal harmonies to “My Life.” They vamped for a while on “Sledgehammer,” by Peter Gabriel, and ran through the end of “Movin’ Out,” to get the right level for the horns. And then Joel was doing “Just the Way You Are.” He’d written it for his first wife and manager, Elizabeth. When he told her, “This song is for you,” Donna Summer, standing nearby, said, “Does that come with the publishing?”

Before long, at the sound check, he began substituting bawdy lyrics: “I just want someone . . . to have sex with” and “Now you know I’m . . . full of shi-it.” “I couldn’t have loved you any better, unless . . . you grew some bigger tits.” Cohen walked by, shaking his head.

After a while, Joel stopped. “Should we really do that one? Really?

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/27/thirty-three-hit-wonder

realized this on twitter recently but the time between river of dreams and now is more than the time between cold spring harbor and river of dreams.

according to the profile, he makes up for that time by drawing boats and getting lost w/Bono in Long Island.

yeah i have to say i do weirdly respect him for hanging it up and not releasing any new albums even though he could easily crank out whatever and have it sell well

elton's duets came out after river of dreams

I was going to compare Storm Front to Steel Wheels because they came out the same year except Joel outsold the Stones easily, i.e. he wasn't (yet) a nostalgia act.

neil young has released more albums since river of dreams than billy joel ever released

(and billy can STILL outdraw the fucker!)

I don't know if BJ is a bad person but he does often seem to be really arrogant, smug ... a dick, basically. Plus or minus the effect of booze. Could be the accent at work? But absolutely, there are far worse people in the biz (Warren Zevon was one of them).

Basically my gut reaction to Billy Joel is not unlike my reaction to the Eagles, a talented bunch of similarly overplayed bros who more or less wrote what was expected of them, nothing more, nothing less, stay on target, never stray, count the money. I think his jaundiced self-loathing definitely hampers/hurts him, especially now, just as it hurts the Eagles; if he had the (real or fake) humility of, say, talented MOR tunesmith Neil Diamond, he'd be a lot easier to take. But then you see stuff like this, and you're like, eh, OK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bceuh8c-4kg

i don't think you can really say "his jaundiced self-loathing definitely hampers/hurts him" AND that he "more or less wrote what was expected of them, nothing more, nothing less, stay on target, never stray, count the money". even more so than the eagles, the former, while a noxious personality trait, IS a personality trait that separates him from a lot of singer-songwriters who really never did have an identity beyond a hit song or three.

like, richard marx, he's a guy who stayed in his lane

(with all due respect to "hazard" and his twitter)

I meant that unlike the Eagles, who wrote some resolutely MOR shit but did so from a place of misplaced superiority - we are the Eagles, we are awesome, therefore we are great and you suck - BJ seems to carry himself like he knows many of his hits are crap. Like, he's always had this tough guy, working class swagger, and I wonder if he at all feels his career has been one long compromised sell-out. Like, he did what he was told because he could and it paid off, but maybe he doesn't value what he does because he secretly (or overtly, as of late) aspired to Mozart? Whereas the Eagles would be all, fuck Mozart, how much did he sell?

xxxpost i was hoping it'd end with Billy sitting down at the piano and going "yeah but can you do THIS?"

Josh, you're implying that Joel can be anything other than a jukebox. He wrote "Piano Man" cuz he's a piano man -- that's what he is.

i just don't think you can hold onto the idea that these guys were just dully following the rules AND blowing themselves on wax. there are too many examples of people truly doing the former for me to think billy or the eagles really were.

these guys weren't just going down the middle of the road, they were repaving it in their image

Tell it to Atilla.

I think someone like solo artist Richard Marx is an outlier, because his roots are as a session guy and songwriter and that's essentially where he ended up again. Like if Desmond Child's shit-ass Rouge had somehow hit it big, it would have been the same. His heart and skills (as such) lay behind the scenes.

Speaking of which, this is like if ABBA and Eddie Money had an ugly baby:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLcWHU9tKjg

Play me a song, I'm the piano man, man:

http://i0.wp.com/www.metalinjection.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/attila.jpg?fit=750,1000

I think its pretty obv that the guy selling out stadiums more than 20 years after his last album is the outlier more than the hack who hit it rich for a couple years

(Btw nobody tell Richard I called him a hack its just shorthand I mean him no ill)

shit, croup, you just sealed your death sentence unless you can persuade Richard to meet you at a sports bar

That IS the death sentence

Richard's still having hits, for other people! Say too many bad things about him and he'll have Keith Urban hold your arms while he punches you.

wtf are we arguing about

"He's still getting checks behind the scenes in Nashville" soooo not making Richard more novel than billy in terms of MOR singer-songwriters

Oh I'm just pointing out the inconsistencies in rockist logic, quixotic i know

To be clear I'm not saying billy joel doesn't suck, I just like ideological clarity

you can't go the distance with too much resistance

Ha, I'm not even making an effort at clarity! You can have them all. Just saying that BJ plays his songs like he doesn't like them either is all. As opposed to the Eagles, who seemingly lack such self destructive self consciousness.

we're talking about Don Henley here

men get lost sometimes as years unfurl

If there is any self-loathing to Don Henley it's only because he hates everybody, and is duty bound by ego to include himself.

well, yeah

I find Joel difficult to have an all-encompassing opinion on. I grew up on him cos my dad grew up near where Joel did, and fed us his music. and some of the singles I still like a lot, though they tend to be his less ubiquitous hits, ie "Pressure", "Allentown"...and yeah I'm one of those dudes who likes "Goodnight Saigon" which somehow became the artcock's favorite Joel song over the years.

"For the Longest Time" rings the right chords as an a capella choir boy, "Uptown Girl" is plenty jaunty. but then I hear something like "Don't Ask Me Why" or "You May Be Right" and I'd rather be playing mini-golf.

Actually, I can think of a few artists better suited to mini golf.

They should build a Billy Joel themed mini golf course in Long Island. So much potential...

for the longest putt

y'all done yet?

http://i.imgur.com/nMKAeD1.gif

love 'don't ask me why', fantastic fake mccartney song

He even sings some really bad French on that album, just like McCartney.

'you may be right' is pretty good fake stones too

prob the rhyme of answers/chances

xxp

still wish we'd done a track-a-day joel thread

it took Sinatra decades to record a self-blowjob as horrendous as Piano Man, but of course he didn't write My Way.

go for it, bro

xpost

Sunny tells me the other day about how she and her mom were stopped at a light after "A Matter of Trust" was out. 13-year-old Sunny for some reason starts belting out the intro, "a-ONE, a-TWO, a-ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR"

and on FOUR, her mom pulls away from the light into the intersection, even though the light was still red.

i think i could hang w/ joel, i could probably hang w/ frey but we'd have to talk about sports a lot. henley i don't think i could hang w/.

The fact that Joel represents Long Island and Springsteen represents Jersey is pretty much a perfect personification of my affection for Jersey and hatred of Long Island.

haha pplains that story is awesome. i remember my parents, uncles, etc being 'yeahhh- that's what i'm talking about' w/ that song and somehow making me think that joel had been a hard rocker when he first started having hits and this hard rocker was him getting back to that. not quite! no idea why i got that impression or why i thought 'a matter of trust' was a hard rocker, thing rocks like solo tom cochrane.

http://i.imgur.com/pqi1jnQ.jpg

"Come have a seat, Mr. Balls."

Man, Lou Reed looked cool in the 80s.

http://i.imgur.com/nmjSjao.jpg

"i'm a soul man"

solo tom cochrane rock (not as much as red rider admittedly), "TELL EM WE'RE SURVIVORRRRS" is closer to iggy than it is to james taylor

so disappointed to learn he doesn't really play guitar on that song

damn you to hell for that soto

i don't believe anything anymore

I know you're an emotional girl!

http://d3rm69wky8vagu.cloudfront.net/photos/large/10.204847.jpg

lol at bruce there 'why did they ask me to put my keys in a bowl???'

damn, al. take your henley shirt off while you're in here.

didn't know Paul Giamatti was bros with der Sting and Bruce.

paul giamatti, malcolm mcdowell, vinny testeverde

didn't know Paul Giamatti played Vader without the mask in ROTJ

^ winner

Oh come on. That's a freaking meme by this point.

Hey Billy! You're an ugly little man!

http://i.imgur.com/6XIHZDy.jpg

"Gosh. However will I recover?"

i don't follow fuckyeahemperorpalpajoel on the tumblr or whatever

Ha, all I've done is type in the words "Billy Joel" into Google and seen that pic a dozen times.

always nice to see a proud father giving away his daughter's hand in marriage

lol wait holy shit it really is. And I didn't even see the harmonica pic.

always nice to see a proud father giving away his daughter's hand in marriage

― balls,

and eating the rest of her

great billy joel performing cunnilingus, thx for that scenario soto

cunnilinguini at our Italian restaurant

lol morbs

http://i.imgur.com/ZVhGH46.jpg

she's a modern woman!

and for god's sake don't eat me out!

god imagine how happy you would feel getting to take a pic of billy joel licking the knife

if that's movin up then i'm eatin out

you men will not break me with these Billy-Joel-eating-pussy puns.

Billy Joel? More like Jilly's Bowl!

http://gifsec.com/wp-content/uploads/GIF/2014/07/surprise-excited-jaw-drop-gif.gif?gs=a

see what Richard Marx songs are about cunnilingus besides "Endless Summer Nights" and uh "Hazard"

http://i.imgur.com/I5p9asi.gif

"Satisfied" ?

"Flesh and Bone" ?

"Glory of Love" ?

O wait.

I took for granted, all the times
That I thought would last somehow
I hear the laughter, I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now
Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me going crazy

snatch, clunge, jelly roll
nappy dugout, pussyhole
it's still a tasty minge to me

Fucking wayfarers

Schmaltzy assclown

and we would all go down together

Hmm mmmm. Keep it up.

http://i.imgur.com/aLDspAl.gif

Let. The. Hate. Flow. Through. You.

Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/thumb/f/f0/I%27m_on_fire_video.png/240px-I%27m_on_fire_video.png

So, um, what the hell is happening here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZq5hy2RsvM

Hah ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7pRf3TJVC8

snatch, clunge, jelly roll
nappy dugout, pussyhole
it's still a tasty minge to me

― balls, Tuesday, September 15, 2015 3:50 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

deliberately staying awake another two hours so this doesn't influence my dreams

influencehaunt

http://www.facebook.com/richardmarxmusic/posts/10152113168840555

I feel so close to unraveling ... something. Secret of the universe, space-time continuum, hot funk, cook punk ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsy7iiet6Yw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXvki5MKPAI

So, um, what the hell is happening here?

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, September 14, 2015 9:57 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no one ever said Bruce doesn't like to go under the hood now and then

I'm going to bed. Gonna put some ice on my sore Virginia first though.

blue waffle beef curtain
tonsils deep in bearded clam
hairy goblet pink canoe
palomita pop

bajingo foo-foo honey pot
munching on the soggy box
penis fly trap french fry dip
Communist Bloc

i was really hoping for a billy joel song-of-the-day thread, until i read the last 300 posts on this thread. now i'm praying it doesn't happen.

please do a richard marx song-of-the-day thread instead, kthxbye.

hahahaha

hold on to her thighs
hold on to her mammaries
if you haven't made her squirt then you're not through
hold on to her...thighs
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LBmNTLxclXE/hqdefault.jpg

In summer 2011, Marx collaborated with comedy internet duo, Rhett and Link, producing a celebrity endorsement for a colon cleansing spa in Sacramento, CA. The ad spot and its "making of" was featured on an episode of Rhett and Link's series on IFC.[19]

wtf

man never try to one-up marx

oh man it was bothering me all day but I figured out that Goodnight Saigon sounds a whole lot like the slow part of The Pogues' Fairytale of New York.

good work today guys (smdh/lol/wtf)

to me joel & elton have pianos & and nice-old-lady fans in common. aaand that's it.

taupin's lyrics are halfway nonsensical but john sings them like they mean something. joel writes one act plays & sings them like he's acting the one man show.

maybe it's the delivery that gives them something a bit more in common idk

i wish i had seen Joel in SF last weekend :(

The Stranger is a perfect album - could never find another BJ album I enjoyed from start to finish, Piano Man is dreadful imo.

Feel like Elton made a career out of bold, nonsensical statements and BJ is more abt depicting/creaeting milieus

Even I wouldn't say The Stranger is a perfect album. It does all right until it hits "Get It Right The First Time"/"Everybody Has A Dream".

Agreed about Joel and John playing pianos, and that's about it. I made everyone's hats flip the last time I said it, but I'll say it again: Joel's closer to Donald Fagan than he is to Reginald.

http://www.avclub.com/article/howard-kremer-why-just-way-you-are-wrestling-someo-225185

He’s super hit or miss. I think if you like one of his songs it’s just like how, if you met 30 stray dogs, probably one of them would just be nice and come up and lick you, but that’s just due to sheer numbers.

it just seemed like marmalade seeping through the radio, just filling the entire car up until we all just drowned.

It was like wrestling someone with no bones. It would just come and lay on you and there was just like really no way to throw it off you. He was just on top of you.

xp well, I'd rate The Stranger as pretty perfect in the sense that it's perfectly coherent and enjoyable from start to finish.

Agree to disagree. Just can't get past when he does his "Ray" voice, and listen, I'm no hater.

Goodnight Saigon sounds a whole lot like the slow part of The Pogues' Fairytale of New York

Check out Thomas Dolby's "Airwaves"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1RTAft_B8

xp hmm never thought of this before but I'll put it on in the office immediately and see if it will annoy me this time

Ha, no. Keep it inside your heart. Don't let me prove you wrong.

Well I guess I really just wanted an excuse to listen to the entire album once again, colleagues seem to be digging it too xD

Come to think of it, my view on The Stranger probably very influenced by an excerpt from Phil Ramone's Making Records book where he iirc described it as something of a gem and the record where Bj really found himself/his style. Also, remember being quite amazed that same guy was behind the production of Blood on the Tracks.

Always dug the back cover with Phil and the boys.

http://i.imgur.com/fNhjvav.jpg

the *sound* of that album is incredible

esp. Movin Out...great production

I like how almost all his early (pre-late-'80s) hits sound. Excellent dry sound.

I can't believe I've heard all but two of those songs.

dry like your mother's...favorite white wine

Oh yeah, "Bottle of Red" and all that..

also a terrible baseball futurist

Rose he knows he's such a credit to the game

even tried to police the heavyweight champ's 'lingus

Ali don't you go downtown

(xp) well, rose does know that, even today! even if the game disagrees!

as for billy's (nearly) perfect album, it's glass houses.

"Sleeping With the Television On" coulda been an Elvis Costello song, I guess.

I could imagine "We Didn't Start the Fire" if Elvis Costello was as bad as some people think he is.

balls on fire in this thread

i've said it before and i'll say it again, nylon curtain is a wonderful set of songs

we didn't start balls' fire.

i don't really buy that joel hates his own songs either, i think he has a gruff workman's pride in them. and that footage of him losing his shit onstage is pretty inspiring - it was during his russian shows, and he was freaking out and trying to stop the cops there beat up his fans in the crowd.

it was because they kept turning the house lights on whenever the audience started bopping

there's something incredibly silly about a man in a baggy shoulder-padded sports coat throwing a tantrum

Last year, Joel even told Howard Stern about his dream of forming a supergroup with Henley and Sting.

The Insufferable Wilburys

there's something incredibly silly about a man in a baggy shoulder-padded sports coat throwing a tantrum

― brimstead,

so you're not supporting Trump eh

http://thecuttingsuite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/36237-thumb.jpg
Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care

http://media.philly.com/images/Theater-Sting_Kauf.jpg
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you still really care

http://images.starpulse.com/pictures/2014/05/23/previews/Eagles1-20140523-39.jpg
well, yeah

hahahaaaa

^Cosign

It would be too cumbersome to repost (xxpost) to the EXCELSIOR thread, but let my LOL be registered.

Fucking grandpa Henley

gold

loll croup. never saw it coming

That Henley photo should be in the dictionary next to the term "Dad Rock".

That Henley photo should be in the dictionary next to the term "hamburger."

Hey guys check out my new inconspicuous plaid shirt

Can Sting not afford a properly fitting t-shirt?

Sting's letting us know who's got two tickets to the gun show.

His downeaster extensors

She loves your

BILLY JOEL: modern woman

She loves your

STING: red dress tonight

She loves your

DON HENLEY: well, yeah

Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well, yeah.

http://thecuttingsuite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/36237-thumb.jpg
She was there at the bar, she put some bread in my jar
She was right on time, I bet her mama never told her why.
Last night, thinking about last night

http://media.philly.com/images/Theater-Sting_Kauf.jpg
I was no king of pain, out of the pouring rain
I looked in her eyes, said I'll be watching you
Last night, talking about last night

http://images.starpulse.com/pictures/2014/05/23/previews/Eagles1-20140523-39.jpg
I asked her where's the exit, and she pulled out a steely knife
Well yeah, she said, "Your money or your life?"

http://i.imgur.com/mJBLzAT.jpg
This guy, this guy was your idea. Remember that.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FFa7H2IfnRk/RdDlHL0itAI/AAAAAAAABEU/degFE47FsC4/s400/sting.jpg

^^...and then they all lezzed it up.

the end

"The fuck, Gordon? My invitation get lost in the mail?"

https://nyppagesix.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/457918476_101144129.jpg

the singularity may be near.

The conversation proceeded at this sort of informal pace, and although Mr. Joel asked most of the questions, Mr. Henley often deferred to Mr. Joel, of Long Island. Later, a discussion of Mr. Henley’s writing practices led Mr. Joel to admit that he had lost the desire to finish his songs.

“We need some of your stuff right now,” Mr. Henley said. “You and I have been threatening to write together for many years.” A wave of applause cut the singer off and muted his counterpart’s response.

personally, i hope they get together and resolve whether the innocence ended in 1989 or whether it had always been burning since the world was turning

lol

Mr. Joel, of Long Island.

http://i.imgur.com/SbZlepp.jpg

what else do I have to say?

Is he lost in thought or looking at something?

I think he must have spied a somber psychedelic photogram of Neil Young strolling by.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSf7qJbwfUKGTn_yeeT0QmINGbC3bG1iOrVr4BcAdejFSmg_IdP

I was getting scared until I got to that third paragraph.

The conversation began on the subject of Mr. Henley’s East Texas roots, and he recalled that meeting Kenny Rogers in a local clothing boutique helped start his career. Mr. Joel interrupted to sing the hook to “Just Dropped in (to See What Condition My Condition Was in)” before Mr. Henley explained why he would soon leave behind his original band mates.

DON: So as a renown singer-songwriter-musician-activist waiting in the wings, I see Kenny Rogers shopping for clothes one day at –

WMJ: *BANGS ON PIANO* YEAH, YEAH, OHH YEAH- WHAT CONDITION MY CONDITION WAS IN

DON: Right, that was the song he and the First Edition were on the charts at the time with –

WMJ: I WOKE UP THIS MORNING WITH THE SUN-DOWN, SHININ' IN. *bares teeth at audience*

DON: Anyway that's the whole story. Next question.

WMJ: I WOKE UP THIS MORNING WITH THE SUN-DOWN, SHININ' IN. *bares teeth at audience

really did expect a "well, yeah" in response

loving joel there *bares teeth at audience*

WMJ: Hey, Henley, what's that thing you always say when you and Frey are wrapping up a tart reply to a stupid question?

DON: "Well, yeah"?

WMJ: WELL YA PICKED A FINE TIME TO LEAVE ME LUCILLLE. (LONG ISLAND COUNTRY, THAT'S RIGHT!)

Billy Joel agreed to shift a Friday night show at Madison Square Garden to Saturday to make way for His Holiness.

(“What’s he going to say, no?” joked Mr. Cohen, who is also Mr. Joel’s production designer.)

To quote Hunter Thompson quoting Stalin, "Fuck the Pope. How many divisions does he have?"

The Swiss Guard doesn't stand a chance against the reformed Eagles.

Krokus says Bring It On! We've even got our own Joe!

http://i.imgur.com/RV1nw6s.jpg

I'm not a fan, but I cobbled together a list of twenty songs.

Good list, but whither Laura?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALp9rfnPJ8c

the chip on his shoulder is his muse, for better or worse

good line. accurate.

happy to see you rate "don't ask me why" so high. curious as to your thoughts on the conspicuously missing "new york state of mind."

when is the damn billy joel poll happening?

Whither "Pressure?"

Inspired by Alfred's blog post, I took Greatest Hits Vol. I & II out with me on last night's dog walk. I didn't really need to hear "Piano Man" ever again, and I never liked "New York State of Mind" even a little bit, but good call on the link between "Captain Jack" and "Walk on the Wild Side;" the song definitely feels like a suburban Lou Reed to me (probably why, as a teen, I always ID'd far more with it than any Lou I had heard at that point). "The Entertainer" is a lot of fun as well--the "it took me years to write it/they were the best years of my life" lyric is exactly what I'm assuming Alfred means by that "chip on his shoulder is his muse" line, and the clunkiness of "stuck on the shelf like another can of beans" is Billy at his most adorkable (the way he constantly undercuts such attempts at poetry with graceless turns of phrase is a lot both a lot of what I find charming about him, and probably why he gets no respect). "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" is a "Be My Baby" riff only slightly less powerful than "Just Like Honey."

I like the Stranger a whole lot more than Alfred does, apparently. "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" and "Only The Good Die Young" would likely top my own list of fave Billy tracks, and Chuck Klosterman OTM re: "Just The Way You Are."

A bit more hesitant about dipping into the 80s stuff (probably on tonight's walk), but hoping to be surprised.

Billy at his most adorkable

yes

I know you don't like angry man Billy but I think "Pressure" is a kinda cool catchy tension headache of a new wave rip

Here's my Spotify playlist of Billy Joel's Greatest Non-Hits.

I want to know if they played "Miami 2017" at the All-Star Game the other night.

i want a billy joel tracks poll more than anything in the world

mainly bc i still dont know the albums very well

i love him tho, and greatest hits 1 & 2 is a regular go to

Underrated Leonard Cohen cover on Volume 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sly0MmNQzE

tracks poll is actually just a few down in the queue! i'm stoked, y'all! <3

veg & Alfred I would do a Billy Joel listening club like the Eagles or Rod

yeah i'm down w/ that idea too

Here's me on a Billy Joel listening thread.

http://i.imgur.com/FIgBONr.jpg

omg ums YES a listening thread! that would be even better than a poll

Count me in on listening thread.

Shall we punt the poll down the queue a ways then, and have a listening thread instead? Then give it a few months for the listening vibes to percolate through the ILM hivemind and see whether there's appetite for a poll at that point? I've been in line for the poll since um (checks) .. August of 2013... but to me a poll and a listening thread sorta amount to the same thing - excuse to listen to a bunch of the artist and talk about them song by song.

i like that idea!

I think "Allentown" is also my #1 with "Laura" as my #2, and this bump is eerie because I tweeted about "Laura" twice in the past week.

Oh but I've determined that the lyrics of Allentown are kind of annoying working-man Bruce Springsteen bullshit but musically it's pretty fucking dope.

eg & Alfred I would do a Billy Joel listening club like the Eagles or Rod

― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

DON: Well, yeah.

cool! ok! imma get on this TODAY

what would be the period covered?

I feel like everything? I dunno even in his peak period outside of maybe the Stranger I feel like there's lots of stuff ppl don't know?

that's a lot of material! When col and I have moderated them, the sheer drudgery of everyday posting required time limits. At least the Eagles catalog is small.

I was thinking chronological, but not including Hassles/Attila just cause that'd bog it down right at the start? (Maybe double back to those as special features though?). Basically, Cold Spring Harbor to River of Dreams.... open to other approaches though!

Agreed that it's a more unwieldy catalog than the Eagles. OTOH the most familiar stuff is smack in the middle of the chronology - would be weird not to get to Allentown and Don't Ask Me Why etc., but also unsatisfying not to delve into the lesser-heard records...

OK. I'm convinced.

I think there's a lot of ppl like me who know tons of Billy stuff but never really owned a lot of albums because he was always everywhere on the radio and MTV

Atilla is a whole different thing and doesn't count I'm, though I like it

So, I've been compiling a spreadsheet and I count 149 unique songs that could conceivably be included - - - though that's including later live covers of things, duets with Tony Bennett and Rosie O'Donnell, Elvis covers on the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack, etc., much of which could be eliminated, or consolidated by covering several related songs on a single day. If we really do stick to the 1971-1993 'core' discography it's more like 125 entries. How long was the Eagles list, roughly?

How would you handle Songs In the Attic?

I was pondering that but I think it'd be either a matter of just noting, when we hit those songs, that they later showed up on that album in 1980-era live recordings, or, when we hit 1981 it's like a little, OK, break time, this three-day weekend's listening is Songs in the Attic, share your thoughts and feelings. I mean, later live albums, who cares, but I feel like that one's kind of part of the 'canon' for Joel fans.

I feel like list the main studio albums

tbh, since he has almost zero non-album b-sides etc., there are virtually no 'iffy' cases until after The Bridge so i can kinda read the room at that point and see how we're doing. i mean we have to have "the night is still young" and "you're only human," and i mean leaving off "why should i worry?" just seems mean.

How long was the Eagles list, roughly?

TOO LONG!

But seriously, probably around 100 songs (counting reunion stuff).

I say, lets do the Cold Spring Harbour through River of Dreams discography, excluding live stuff (does Songs from the Attic have any non-album material?) but including the rare odds and ends like the GH bonus tracks, and perhaps "Why Should I Worry." Billy certainly has a more manageable discography than Elton, and didn't you guys do that (I didn't follow it)?

Also, I think doing the listening thread prior to the tracks poll makes sense as a way for those of us who only really know the hits to get deeper into his catalogue, even if it means suspending the tracks poll if its turn comes up in the queue. I think it'll make voting more interesting.

I love this idea. Joel is one of those artists I've always wanted to delve into - I basically only know his zillions of singles. I wouldn't vote in a poll until I've listened to at least some of his classic albums

got caught up in stuff today but i think i can launch thread tomorrow!

I like the idea of the Songs in the Attic interlude as suggested - i have never listened to his live stuff so a good core live album tucked in the middle would be kinda enjoyable imo

It sounds do-able!

i love you ILM.

just trying to find the exact right image to top the thread....

:D

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fe/02/f6/fe02f61a81bbb2abc278ca1cfef834e9.jpg

or perhaps

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/89/b1/47/89b14728dd9f0efed4ee37ecc09fa24f--billy-joel-the-album.jpg

much as i love the guy, i went with something just slightly more punchable

IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKIN' ALONE: The Official ILM Track-by-Track BILLY JOEL Listening Thread

I wasn't sure which thread to put it on - this one? some other BJ? LC? - but here's this brilliance.

https://leonardjoelbillycohen.bandcamp.com/releases?fbclid=IwAR1mYTy6ZBCI17IYJCz2u9-bQKURJHdcptw_hd2rBECHE6Uexir7OMpjm8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPHpKS04NJI

that's fantastic

yeah v interesting.

wanted that guy to cut his thumbnail and/or hold his pen differently though

missed the "Leonard Joel" / "Billy Coen" link JiC posted - thumbs up!

always nice to see a proud father giving away his daughter's hand in marriage

― balls, Monday, September 14, 2015 10:34 PM bookmarkflaglink

lol wait holy shit it really is. And I didn't even see the harmonica pic.

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Monday, September 14, 2015 10:35 PM bookmarkflaglink

always nice to see a proud father giving away his daughter's hand in marriage

― balls,

and eating the rest of her

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, September 14, 2015 10:35 PM bookmarkflaglink

great billy joel performing cunnilingus, thx for that scenario soto

― balls, Monday, September 14, 2015 10:36 PM bookmarkflaglink

cunnilinguini at our Italian restaurant

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Monday, September 14, 2015 10:37 PM bookmarkflaglink

Billy Joel Biopic ‘Piano Man’ Greenlit by Michael Jai White’s Jaigantic Studios

writer/director: adam ripp, son of artie ripp, the producer who signed young billy to an awful contract and then fucked up cold spring harbor

producer: a dude who believes "Billy Joel is the key figure on the Mount Rushmore of American Music.”

billy: "is not involved with this film project, and no rights in music, name/likeness or life story will be granted."

the hassles: are mentioned

i: assume this can't be any worse than rocketman or bohemian rhapsody?

I didn't see either of those, but I will be seeing this.

Also, finally a movie that should have been directed by Hal Needham.

no rights in music, name/likeness or life story will be granted

All the characters are going to directly address the camera as "William" or "Mr. J.", and whenever the unseen protagonist sits down at the keyboard to play something, another character will run into the room to interrupt.

Billy Joel should have played himself, with or without digital de-aging

they're gonna call him Captain Jack the entire film, with zero variation

Billie Jorp-Jomp, I believe

They're going to put all his songs in the movie anyway, and then fight a legal battle that they do not formally count as "music".

so .....how is this going to work?

they're going to name him Jilly Bowl, and he's going to sing songs like "Maintaining the Belief", "For a Lot of Time", and "Shit That Happened at a Fazoli's"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1QqMxXfaw0

This is going to be like "The Linda McCartney Story" where Wings plays "Kansas City" about a half a million times.

Starring new upstart singer Mikey Jim

Also, finally a movie that should have been directed by Hal Needham.

Exactly; skip all the music stuff and just write a movie about a Long Island neighborhood where some guy keeps crashing his car into people's houses.

give me a call, I'm the insurance man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXISPB6c1pw

my mom and i don't agree on everything, but the woman just detests billy joel. that's how i know she's all right

"Vienna" (always been my favorite BJ song) is having a moment:

‘No one understands a woman in her 20s like Billy Joel’: gen z finds solace in anti-hustle anthem Vienna https://t.co/lOdfGAM8Kh

— The Guardian (@guardian) July 1, 2024

My 17-year-old loves "Vienna," and I p much thought that was her only Joel knowledge. Then last week I caught her listening to "The Stranger."

On second thought, when she was in middle school she was auditioning for "Little Shop of Horrors," and needed something in a doo-wop style. I taught her "For the Longest Time."

Was just thinking the other day that “Vienna” is a clear standout in his catalog.

“I want to name my child Vienna but everyone says it reminds them of sausage,”

It reminds me of Joan Crawford's character in Johnny Guitar which is maybe another reason to reconsider naming someone that

Ha, OTM!

It's a tik tok thing. The girlies love Vienna. It's so weird.

as i've said in multiple billy joel threads now, patient zero is 13 going on 30. gave that song its own life

Kind of funny that a full 6 out of 9 songs from The Stranger are included on Greatest Hits Vol 1 and 2, and "Vienna" is not one of them

Has more Spotify plays than anything else from the album at this point

Yeesh.

8-track tape running order
1. "The Stranger" – "Just the Way You Are"
2. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" – "Vienna" – "She's Always a Woman"
3. "Only the Good Die Young" – "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Part 1)"
4. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Conclusion)" - "Get It Right the First Time" – "Everybody Has a Dream"

Article makes a good point in that the popularity of "Vienna" may stem from the fact that it hasn't been shoved down everybody's throats.

dying to know where scenes part 1 ends and where scenes conclusion begins.

It couldn't have been much of a conclusion!

Had "Scenes" been left alone, Side 3 would have lasted 11 minutes and 32 seconds. It appears that 11 minutes was the limit.

That said, Get It Right and Everyone Has a Dream combine for 10:35. So the conclusion of SfaIR must have been less than 57 seconds, otherwise, why break it up?

Running Times
Side 1: 10:02
Side 2: 10:25
Side 3: 3:55 + (7:37 - y)
Side 4: 10:35 + y

(^ Times do not include spaces between songs, where presumably you could hear "The Stranger" being played backwards.)

Maybe they cut the 2 minute instrumental "Stranger" reprise from the end of EHaD.

We disregard the danger (of the 8-track running time).

They did cut the reprise!

Shoulda had Snowy White come in and bang out a guitar solo that bridged the song with the reprise.

Side 3: 3:55 + (7:37 - y)
Side 4: 10:35 + y

excellent math-ing, thank you!

in billy joel circa 2020 news, i just finished season 2 of "the boys," which is super (pun intended) fun and features, in addition to sketchy acting and sketchier writing, what i'm reasonably sure is the best use of recurring billy references and music in tv history. some pretty cool billy t-shirts, too.

Well dammit, of course Hoffman would have the answer.

My first version was 8-track, and I still hear the sax fade out, <click>, and fade back in during "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant." It was a long time before I heard it uninterrupted.

So probably right around 6:59 or so.

Oh, man, it's actually worse than that.

Fast-forward to 26:40 of this podcast to hear it.

Works a lot like how movies come back from a break on Tubi.

yuck.

is that what tubi does? i've never used it. but youtube does the same thing with long videos. amazing how the best minds in media and tech have figured out how to use 2020s technology to exactly replicate the worst aspects of how things worked 50 years ago.

it's always the same in the end, as a wise man once said.

At least with the cassette version of "Pigs" by Pink Floyd, it just faded out of Side 1 and faded back in on Side 2, like they had just been jamming the whole time in those ten seconds you stepped out.

I've only watched one movie on Tubi. Not sure if or when I'll do it again.

Heh we just watched a Tubi movie and yeah some of the breaks were very awkward

Vampire Weekend played Scenes From an Italian Restaurant tonight at the Garden lol pic.twitter.com/41KVbDqLIT

— Spooky 🎃 Lolo (@LolOverruled) October 6, 2024

wow, with actors & everything! great-sounding cover

Ha, Billy's band used to do the same thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRP1dF7Qlac

Riding the same cheese wavelength:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkiKIJb8Y-M

Lib!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ZTGsoE8CQ

Somehow I recently came into possession of a copy of his memoir.

It was not only inscribed, but had a handwritten note from him inside (not addressed to me).

He's a great drummer, but I suspect he fell afoul of the Stan Lynch/Kenny Aronoff rule: never forget who's boss.

He angrily refused to play reggae according to some guy in the River of Dreams documentary.

I guess he really hated this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnxBDuJhOzY

Liberty DubVitto

Big news and not the best:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billy-joel-cancels-tour-normal-pressure-hydrocephalus-1235346714/

As I've noted just now elsewhere on social media, this is the exact same condition my dad was diagnosed with and thankfully had successful surgery for the other week via the installation of a shunt. So it's no joke, but treatment can work wonders, though many factors are involved. This is an excellent piece on the condition and its treatment, which I especially recommend as guidance for anyone you know who may be exhibiting certain symptoms -- it can be tricky to narrow down:

https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/hydrocephalus-symptoms-diagnosis-treatment

Preshah!

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS_ftk5_vEGpzt4fpPuC_ycTLvJzxcN_m3OGr7QsgcZCA&s=10

Oh man, sad news. Glad your dad's doing better, Ned, but that sounds incredibly stressful for you.

raising a bottle of white to the continued health of ned's dad and a bottle of red to the speedy recovery of our billy.

poor Billy :( hope he pulls through

but yes, good news re yr Dad, Ned.

Too kind! Fear not, my dad seems to be very well. I'll be seeing him tomorrow to sense the results directly.