so....does someone want me to post the next song? We can't break the streak.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 01:55 (seven years ago) link
I thought "She's Got a Way" was today's song?
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 02:10 (seven years ago) link
yeah i figured that too
let's not pre-empt the Doctor yet
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 02:12 (seven years ago) link
...not a huge fan, but i recently was gifted MFSL flacs from his "classic" years. so i might become a convert during the span of this thread.
― bodacious ignoramus, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 02:46 (seven years ago) link
the TV show Preacher used Uptown Girl to somewhat amusing effect in a recent episode
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 02:54 (seven years ago) link
Don't know/haven't seen, but The Simpsons owns classic use of that song.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:08 (seven years ago) link
Hey yeah, sorry, was waiting til tonight... I'm stoked that people are gnawing at the bit for this thread!
Our next track underwent some of the biggest alterations in the 1983 remix of Cold Spring Harbor, losing a full three minutes of running time - which, since we're dealing with track two here, seriously affects the pacing of the album. I'm sticking with a 'homemade' pitch-corrected version (credit to YouTuber TheZestanor). Bask in the sudden expansion of the arrangement: drums, searing guitar work, and some sweet sweet backing vocals. It's You Can Make Me Free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNdRLwRLGE
The truncated and otherwise altered 1983 remix can be heard here, as well as on Spotify, etc. The Chipmunk version does not appear to be online anywhere handy, but I think we'll all live without it.
― ﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:10 (seven years ago) link
I'm mostly familiar with BJ from The Stranger on, so listening to all these older albums is kind of a neat thing to finally get around to. I've already jumped ahead, of course, but I'm primed.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:12 (seven years ago) link
I'm digging this whole experiment - I own a lot of Joel records and know most of them backwards and forwards, but I also have huge gaps in that listening, and my copy of CSH for example is a Chipmunk edition so I've actually never taken the time to track down corrected versions and pay real attention to (some of) these songs.
― ﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:19 (seven years ago) link
wow mccartney much, bill? lol
also it kinda sounds like a guy walking through a sound stage while random people are playing instruments loudly to themselves
you can barely hear him over the piano at first & then when the guitar kicks in it's ok wtf is happening
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:26 (seven years ago) link
like i think the guitarist may be playing to a different song than Joel & the drummer
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:30 (seven years ago) link
hey man, they made him free
― ﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:31 (seven years ago) link
free to do what we wanna do
free to get loaded & to party
and not to keep time or play together really at all
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:33 (seven years ago) link
i still kinda like it though
I dig it, but I'm such a Ram stan that I love the idea of someone getting that record day one, devouring it, and entering the studio two months later all keyed up to attempt one's own "Back Seat of My Car." Of course there are earlier McCartney precedents - "Another Day" had been out for a few months longer, and I sorta wish that amid his vocal outbursts at the end he tossed in "JUDE JUDY JUDY JUDY JUDY JUDY JU-DY WAIIIOW!" The backing vocals in particular are a lot closer to Linda's sandy overdubs than anything on Abbey Road, to my ears anyway. This is a really bizarre choice for the second track on a singer-songwriter album but maybe Billy or somebody wanted to make sure you got that he was a rocker, that this wasn't just going to be an album of "Your Song" type ballads.
― ﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:39 (seven years ago) link
yeah i think the devout mccarrtneyisms itt to me are what i like about it, as a mccartney fan myself
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 03:44 (seven years ago) link
much more than "she's got a way," i'd say this is his "maybe i'm amazed" moment. or at least his attempt at that moment. it's catchy, but it ain't mccartney-catchy.
maybe the ending jam is a gift to any hassles or attila fans who were still hanging around. with some beatles ah-ah-aah harmonies on top of it just because.
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 04:17 (seven years ago) link
Digging this experiment. I also came in with The Stranger. But, wow, You Can Make Me Free, not so great. Much more pastiche than BJ himself. The underlying song isn't that hot so he just added more and more stuff.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 05:17 (seven years ago) link
Yeah agree that this is a very weird second track. That jam would disrupt any album momentum. It's a fine song, but I would have thought it was McCartney if I wasn't listening carefully
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 09:42 (seven years ago) link
Everyone OTM this morning.
Gonna wake up the kids with this and tell 'em it's Aerosmith.
― pplains, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 13:39 (seven years ago) link
lol
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 14:05 (seven years ago) link
I had resigned myself to an entire album of earnest piano ballads, so this was unexpected? I mean, it starts out as something very much in that mode, but then the production/accompaniment just goes kinda bonkers.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 14:33 (seven years ago) link
these threads (ie this, Eagles, Elton John etc.) seem like some mix of gluttony for punishment, genuine attempts at critical discourse re: artists people don't necessarily like all that much, and semi-closeted fans seeking vindication
not at all sure they beat drinking alone tho
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 15:18 (seven years ago) link
thanks for your contribution
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 15:23 (seven years ago) link
yeah this song was great cod McCartney, it's funny I mean of course Billy Joel loved the Beatles, everyone loved the Beatles but it's kinda funny to me to hear him sound so McCartneyesqe, I never considered him particularly a big Beatles influenced guy in terms of the stuff I knew.
Also the sound quality is crazy bad, like a bootleg or I think veg said upthread a rehearsal tape, which is weird because like this time frame in the industry you just don't hear a lot of bad sounding records, it was such a peak of good producers, good studios, etc, and I looked it up on wiki and it was done at Record Plant and some other big studios....
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 15:35 (seven years ago) link
Since I'm not as familiar with this album as I am with the ones from 52nd Street on, I looked up the credits on Wikipedia, and lo and behold:
Denny Seiwell – drums on "You Can Make Me Free"
Later in the very same month this was recorded, Seiwell would of course be the drummer on the first Wings album, Wild Life.
― Old Lynch's Sex Paragraph (Phil D.), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 15:40 (seven years ago) link
Also the sound quality is crazy bad
surely this is attributable to it being a pitch-corrected youtube rip...? idk
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 15:53 (seven years ago) link
I link to this Billy Joel interview with Alec Baldwin all the time, but in one section he goes into the Beatles influence and how his first songs even had their phrasing/accent.
Billy Joel: There wasn’t anybody but white people in my school. I think there were a couple of Jews, some Latinos. There was sprinklings, but everybody liked soul music, “Twist and Shout,” when everybody would do, 'Come on now, shout. Come on now.' And “Louie, Louie” – I think that was the Kingsmen. “What I Say,” Ray Charles. “See the girl all dressed in green?” You’d make up really dirty words to that. We came up with some really good stuff.So, I loved that stuff, and then The Beatles came around, and there it was. Boom. Four working class guys from Liverpool, which is as close to Levittown, in England, I think, in sounding anyway. Okay, if four guys from Liverpool –Alec Baldwin: I never thought of that. Levittown is our Liverpool.Billy Joel: Yeah, Liverpool. And uh, it’s possible, it’s possible. They don’t look like Frankie Avalon. They don’t look like Bobbie Rydell. They look like four working class guys, from anywhere. They could be from Hicksville. They could be from Levittown. So I said, that’s possible. That’s what I want to do. I want to write my own songs. I want to play in my own band, do our own arrangements, and make our own way.
So, I loved that stuff, and then The Beatles came around, and there it was. Boom. Four working class guys from Liverpool, which is as close to Levittown, in England, I think, in sounding anyway. Okay, if four guys from Liverpool –
Alec Baldwin: I never thought of that. Levittown is our Liverpool.
Billy Joel: Yeah, Liverpool. And uh, it’s possible, it’s possible. They don’t look like Frankie Avalon. They don’t look like Bobbie Rydell. They look like four working class guys, from anywhere. They could be from Hicksville. They could be from Levittown. So I said, that’s possible. That’s what I want to do. I want to write my own songs. I want to play in my own band, do our own arrangements, and make our own way.
― Eazy, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:18 (seven years ago) link
Dude worshipped McCartney. I've mentioned this before, but it still kills me.
...There's this part in the Billy Joel bio about his shows closing out Shea Stadium in its final year. This whole chapter about how they had to add a second show, controversies in ticket prices, how Joel rounded up all of these celebrity guests like Tony Bennett to sing "New York State of Mind" -- all leading up to trying to get Paul McCartney to show up as the cherry on top.
Negotiations went on for weeks, Paul jetting across the Atlantic, still in the air when the show started. Joel gets a note midway through proclaiming that his secret guest was "in New York airspace." Plane lands, McCartney and crew get rushed out by the airport by NYPD, bypassing Customs supposedly, with a motorcade all the way out to Queens.
McCartney comes on with Billy, crowd goes wild, they do some songs, and backstage before the final encore in Joel's hometown, McCartney says, "You know what you we have to close it out with, right?" Joel, deferring to his hero, says "What did you have in mind?" ... and Paul says, "We have to close it out with... LET IT BE."
You can just about hear the air leave the sails, deflating the whole chapter with those words. You get this idea that wherever Macca goes, he's doing something like telling Neil Young at the Bridge Benefit 'YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAVE TO CLOSE IT OUT WITH, RIGHT?"
― pplains, Sunday, June 7, 2015 2:36 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
- Take a Sad Song and Extract Every Last Ounce of Spontaneity from It: the Beatles Uber-Ballad Poll
― pplains, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:26 (seven years ago) link
haha god that is so McCartney
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:28 (seven years ago) link
I quite liked this - Billy's top 5 according to Billy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEXQaxUjesE
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:31 (seven years ago) link
also I would totally watch the movie about Piano Man + Rocket Man vs Tamborine Man
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:39 (seven years ago) link
what, no Spoon Man
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:40 (seven years ago) link
has McCartney ever praised Joel?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:43 (seven years ago) link
xpost lol shakey
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:43 (seven years ago) link
and no "Mirror Man"!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:47 (seven years ago) link
Ramblin Gamblin Man could be good to have on yr team imo
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:48 (seven years ago) link
idk he seems kinda unreliable
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:54 (seven years ago) link
:/
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 16:54 (seven years ago) link
He rambles, he gambles, is this guy even gonna show up? Sub in Particle Man.
― Old Lynch's Sex Paragraph (Phil D.), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:01 (seven years ago) link
haha
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:02 (seven years ago) link
That Colbert clip is all-around great. Love his (friendly) dig at Elton.
Also, Billy OTM re: his #1 song.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:38 (seven years ago) link
he does pretty good impressions! his Tony Bennett was right on the money
also I like how visibly nervous he seemed at the beginning.
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 17:59 (seven years ago) link
young billy doing piano impressions of neil young ("i would never write anything like that 'cause it's too simple, it's too obvious"), elton john and leon russell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AljfNsA6t30
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 18:03 (seven years ago) link
cute clip
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 19:09 (seven years ago) link
i like how mid 20's I'M MY OWN THING I AINT LIKE NOBODY ELSE
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 19:18 (seven years ago) link
Dr C, thanks for starting this thread, it's already awesome...!
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 19:32 (seven years ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Getting_Things_Done.jpg
― Eazy, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 19:35 (seven years ago) link
yeah otm
it's like summer camp for music nerds who like music everyone else hates :D
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 19:38 (seven years ago) link
Oh shit - sorry - wrong thread
― Eazy, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 20:01 (seven years ago) link