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

"Ain't No Crime" - everyone otm. sounds like a totally different artist, SNL, slam the cover on his hands, 70's sitcom, all of that. "Big Shot" >>>> this

"You're My Home" - at least this one sounds like Billy singing. pleasant, but I feel like the metaphor has run itself dry before the third verse

ahhh much better

def john denver vibes, in the best way. i really like that a lot. A good KIP Billy track before the cynicism sled starts gaining speed lol

"You're My Home" is pretty enough that I can get past any of its lyrical shortcomings. The Denver connection is probably right, though the main guitar figure, especially in the opening, makes me think of the then-slightly-dated "Everybody's Talkin'." I like the "home could be the Pennyslvania turnpike" bridge where the rhythm section gets a little more oomph to it, and the pleasant AM gold incidental music right after that. "You're my instant pleasuredome" is such a distractingly awful lyric though, and it looms over the song once you know it's coming at the end. How the hell did he convince himself that was a good idea?

Helen Reddy, with Tom Catalano (who had produced, I think, all of Neil Diamond's records to that point) dials down the rhythm track and layers strings over the thing (with a bigger orchestral section blaring in for the bridge). It's more AM goldy which I like, but maybe a little too corny and certainly more dated. She certainly gets hold of the melody, and yes, she sings "instant pleasuredome," though she manages to make that sound prettier.

Here's Billy being a dick about the cover (though also zinging himself on a Storm Front album track):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDUWJA5W810

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ASIT5DqN0

The Ballad of Billy the Kid is the epic Side One closer; not quite a ballad of Billy the Kid but also not exactly the autobiographical theme song one might be dreading, it would be issued as a single in the UK (where "Piano Man" was failing to take off) in April 1974. It stuck around in the live set and Billy clearly liked it --- in that cute interview clip fact checking cuz posted a while back (with the Young and Russell impressions) he amuses himself by tossing one of the key piano riffs from this song in at the end, almost like a signature. A 1980 Madison Square Garden performance made it into the set of songs selected for Songs in the Attic; that version isn't radically different besides taking on Billy's mature bellow and roar, but it's maybe just slightly more comfortable in its skin. The crowd seems excited, in any case.

Another one that sounds like it sounds like Billy heard Tumbleweed Connection and went "hey, I could do that!" I've never liked TC, but (to my knowledge) Elton never pulled that stereotypically clip-cloppy Western music that Billy uses to open this song, which makes this measurably worse than any of Elton's C&W pastiches.

I basically like Tumbleweed Connection, for its songwriting much more than its aesthetic. The lesser tracks kinda blend into the background as western-y texture, which maybe works better when that's the whole gimmick of an album, rather than coming in for a song here, a song there.

At this point I have to assume there was some crumpled-up draft of "Piano Man" that went for Tumbleweed territory, with all the 1970s set-dressing swapped out for your stereotypical passel of saloon extras. Yee-haw deh dee dah, deh dee dah.

I hope Henley went nuts hearing the inaccuracies as he, Bernie, and Glenn tried to hammer out "On the Border".

Elton never pulled that stereotypically clip-cloppy Western music

when people cite this riff (which gets recycled all over the place), how come it isn't ID'd as "Happy Trails" (instead of "generic Western film music" or whatever - I've seen this happen a bunch recently, it feels like)?

the post hippie diaspora's fascination with outlaws/cowboy mythology is super interesting to me, like psychedelia was initially a very urban movement (NYC, London, SF) that so quickly moved agrarian/farmer then on to druggie cowboy outlaw stuff, which lasted for so long stripped of its original 60s origins w/Bon Jovi, Kid Rock etc

when people cite this riff (which gets recycled all over the place), how come it isn't ID'd as "Happy Trails"

'Cause I didn't know that's what it was called!

which is to say i'm kind of a sucker for this bullshit, but i have such an allergy to aaron copeland the string stuff esp at the end really irritates me, the arrangement really sinks this, he should've gone for more a (god help i'm saying this) Eagles feel, more pedal steel less beef-its-whats-for-dinner pomp & circumstance

it's not just you, there was something else recently where this riff came up and the composers themselves iirc referred to it as "Western movie music" but I can't remember who/what it was argggh

might've been The Who's "Soon Be Home"? eh whatever

xp

i really like this; the Happy Trails nostalgia & the Bernstein Mag-7 nod with the big strings
There's an earnestness that appeals to me I guess - like he genuinely was into Billy the Kid & wanted to write a song about him & here it is

and i feel that Tumbleweed Connection vibe too - i liked that album a bit as well so I don't hate the style or what he's going for

i love the spot-on elmer bernstein hollywood western homage. it's thrilling. i've always been a sucker for instrumental billy joel. i loved the rest of the song, too, when i wore a younger man's clothes. i always got a kick out of the switch from that billy the kid to this billy the kid with the six-pack in his hand. oh shit! he's singing about himself! cool!

but today, this one mostly makes me yearn for warren zevon. "frank and jesse james." "boom boom mancini." "bill lee." any of those. character sketches with actual characters. outlaw tales with actual outlaws. this one's a movie without a script. elmer bernstein scoring a picture that should never have been greenlit. buy the soundtrack. but skip the film.

(and it's 100 percent made-up, innit? "his age and his size took the teller by surprise" is a decent, telling detail, i suppose. but that's it.)

there's a cool, super-high, super-fast piano thing he does (at 0:57 and 1:30, for example, in the video dr. c posted of the song) which i don't know what it's called but it reminds me of a thing he will do several years later in "all for leyna," and it's one of my favorite billy joel piano things.

Yes, the fast, high piano runs are really cool. Actually the whole song works well - reminds me a little of "Songs From an Italian Restaurant" in places, another epic third-person tale. Before reading y'alls descriptions of this song, I figured it was another autobiographical song. Nope, but he sneaks a little bit in at the end

"Scenes", that is

I agree with the Dr. that I call that intro music "Happy Trails," though perhaps HT copied it from somewhere else and so it is not the original appearance of that motif.

Sigh. This song. There is a lot going on in the accompaniment, like the piano ornaments and the vigorous, dramatic drumming. Instrumental bridge = bad Copeland, yeah.

I find the lyrics stupid and the vocal melody dull as dishwater, though. At some points you hear Elton ("soon put many older guns ta SHAY-HAME").

Compare "SHAY-HAME" with "tryna drink WHISKAY, oh, from a bottla WHY-HINE"

or "hung my head in SHAY-HAME" in "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun." agreed with fcc that I'd like this song a lot more if the narrative actually held my attention, or if there were just a few more lyrical turns that stuck in my imagination. I'm okay with this kind of exercise generally, and have nothing but affection for "lily, rosemary, and the jack of hearts," or any of dylan's shaggy-dog songs really.

I like the lyrics because it's parody and self-parody at the same time. The overblown legendary status given to these Western guys, and the locals out on Long Island who think West Virginia is way out west.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlFmE4enqaI

Worse Comes To Worst opens side two of Piano Man with another smattering of different genre cues. Released as the album's second single in a 2:48 edit, it peaked at #80 on Billboard and #62 in Canada. Scarcely anthologized, it's probably one of his most obscure singles, but it apparently had some shelf life in the live set; this 1977 version bangs it together with "Ain't No Crime," with both songs getting a nice shot in the arm and some very lively keyboard work.

haha sounds like something off Superfly for like 10 seconds at the beginning

That sonofabitch thumb brings me back to the stoned businessmen in "Piano Man" for a second. I get that FM radio was playing anything in 1973, but Billy was getting pushed more toward AM/Top 40.

So with that in mind, how in the world would any program director allow a song with the word "stoned" in it on the air if it meant anything other than getting tooted on dry martinis?

I'd start counting the placenames - from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to New Mexico - but "We Didn't Start the Fire" would ruin it.

The overall sound of this is in line with what I think of as his style; even the tone of his singing voice. barring the Superfly/Tell Me Something Good intro of course lol

lyrics wise there's not a lot of "there" there, but musically it's pretty enjoyable

I like it!

A little too white reggae--aka, my least favourite sound in the world--for me.

billy as jimmy buffett. enjoyable, sing-along fluff. i like how the harmonies kick in on the chorus. the bridge makes no sense. "when i am together, when i sing my song"? smart of him not to come back to the bridge a second time.

somebody should sample the intro. action bronson, do it.

this also reminds me of ringo starr for some reason.

does anyone else find the cover image of this album incredibly creepy? my wife said it was the reason she's never listened to this album. I can't quite put my finger on it myself.

yes i hate it

it looks like a drawing someone did in a booth on the boardwalk for five dollars.

It's a painting, right? Or is it some kind of re-touched photo? It makes me think of Catholic icons for some reason.

It's hard to think of white reggae in this period without mentioning Eric Patrick Clapton. However this predates 461 Ocean Boulevard, does it not? (73 vs 74)

I do think that the chorus of "Worse Comes to Worst," the backing vocals especially, has a somewhat Ocean Boulevard-ish sound.

clapton is otm. there's a general vibe here of what people who knew, or were in, the beatles were doing circa 1972-73.

does anyone else find the cover image of this album incredibly creepy? my wife said it was the reason she's never listened to this album. I can't quite put my finger on it myself.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:38 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes i hate it

― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:39 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it looks like he's supposed to be dead & that is his ghost, but yeah terrible cover image

the back cover upthread is even more horrifying!

it's AM Gold's version of the Exorcist demon pazuzu

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/c/cd/Pazuzu-0.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150401021629

it looks like he's supposed to be dead & that is his ghost

and the coffin, it sounds like a carnival
and the skeleton smells like a beer

fcc, I can't determine whether of the Delaney & Bonnie crowd were involved in Piano Man. I don't think so. Maybe it was just a sound that was in the air at that time.

captain jack is dead
undead
undead
undead
undead un

fcc, I can't determine whether of the Delaney & Bonnie crowd were involved in Piano Man. I don't think so. Maybe it was just a sound that was in the air at that time.

i don't think there was much crossover in personnel, so yeah, i assume it was in the air. but if you click thru enough wiki pages you eventually discover, not surprisingly, that everything is pretty much connected to everything:

Laura Creamer (née Polkinghorne) is a songwriter, vocalist, and arranger who has recorded and/or toured with Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Van Morrison, Glenn Frey, Bruce Hornsby, Kid Rock, Eric Clapton and many others. She is credited as a backing vocalist on multiple albums including Billy Joel's 1973 Piano Man.

RE: The album cover: It wasn't until I started working at Kinko's that I finally went "Wait a minute..."

http://i.imgur.com/p9G80jI.jpg

lol

They call him the wild rose
But his name is Billy Joel

guys i skipped the day we were supposed to listen to the title track, anyway i somehow forgot the line "making love to his tonic and gin," please throw all recorded evidence of this song into the sea

it wasn't until this very moment the horrific image of billy joel jammin his dong into a saffire tonic invaded my sanity

the cover is really really bad. though tbh if theyd gone the more obvious route of a photo of him at the piano (maybe even at the Executive Room) it would just be generic 70s Yawnsomely Literal material. the Shroud of Turin approach is at least memorable I guess.

I believe "Jammin his Dong" was the original album title but the label scrapped it