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

ew no

but then I don't like him so my brain doesn't really even go there

jackson browne is a good call on this one.

I don't know if the Moog is the best instrument for the ends he wants to achieve

we'll be hearing more of that. i think it was a new toy and he wanted to use it every chance he got.

sing us a song yr the moog man

suburban showdown really needed a "Scenes from an Italian restaurant" style break in the middle where the tempo speeds up and they all have a big argument or something and then switch back to humdrum suburbia

that would've been cool

yeah totally!

Jackson Browne was a better melodist and storyteller, even at this stage.

go peddle yr JB love on the Eagles thread buddy

Alfred otm

"like"

and I'm not remotely a fan

"Somebody's Baby" >>> entire BJ catalog imo

Browne and Joel have their respective gaucheries, so they cancel each other out.

except that jackson browne is creepy & gross & i hate him

he looks like a serial killer who goes around playing a guitar luring women

The Nice Guy Killer

bleh

the intersection of the jackson and billy venn diagram is "lawyers in love," which should have been on one of billy's '80s albums.

so.... the difference w Billy Joel is he plays piano?

xp

Joel comes off plenty creepy and gross, as we'll soon see.

Browne plays piano too!

billy plays guitar too! (more or less)

GODDAMMIT WHY DO I HAVE TO EVEN DEFEND BILLY JOEL AGAINST MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON BROWNE IN A THREAD THAT ISNT EVEN ABOUT JACKSON BROWNE IN THE FIRST PLACE

you are all wrong and you should all shut up imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKrd0lv_p1c

Root Beer Rag is the first of two instrumentals on the record, and perhaps reflects the enthusiasm for ragtime following the massive success of The Sting the previous year. Somehow, Columbia managed not to make it the b-side to "The Entertainer," which surely could have snagged a few unsuspecting Joplin fans, but in an odd twist it would be used as the b-side for several 52nd Street singles in different markets. Meanwhile, per Wiki, it saw plenty of use as TV theme and incidental music, including as the opening to the very first, local-to-Chicago Siskel & Ebert program. It's also been covered a few times, including an a capella rendition by the German Wise Guys.

Joel remains fond of the song; here it is live in 1978 (there's the Moog next to him!) and 2013. Finally: "Root Beer Rag" was also the name of a Billy Joel newsletter (now defunct) published in the late 1970s to late 1980s.

By the way, since the album cover came up, here's that entry from Pop Spots, a charming site previously invoked with regard to the original Piano Man bar location.

And, from that link, this great ad which I missed when introducing the album:

http://www.popspotsnyc.com/streetlife_serenade/Steetlife_Ad_1_800.jpg

Um, cute?

nightmarish

a city full of Billy Joel's talking about Billy Joel, that's some malkovich malkovich malkovich shit

original concept for Longest Time video iirc

lol that'd be amazing. each new vocal part, another advent-calendar window pops open or another target-practice cut-out springs up from the ground, hey it's billy!

"root beer rag" makes me ridiculously happy.

tbh I'm kinda looking forward to getting to the video-era cuz BJ videos are ridiculous

Tip: do not google "BJ videos."

unless, y'know...

"Root Beer Rag" was also the name of a Billy Joel newsletter (now defunct) published in the late 1970s to late 1980s.

A proud former subscriber, right here.

Was about to make some lame joke about using this on Zen Arcade instead of Mondays Will Never Be the Same, but held back for once. Then I open up DC's link and see that the Streetlife cover was from San Pedro! Take that, Huskers!

So, any ragtime heads on this board? The most I can say about this song is it sounds nice on the record and it's probably real fun to play. The instrumentals on this album are usually cited as evidence of how dry Billy's well was, but I think this one at least is fun.

...oh well! Moving on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP4HygPI9lA

Roberta closes out side one of Streetlife Serenade. This is one of several "woman's name" songs in Joel's quiver around this time; "Rosalinda" and "Josephine," heard on the Sigma Sound performance, were never recorded for an album. An "I'm in love with a stripper" tale, it seems in some ways like the most "Billy Joel" song we've heard so far.

This seems like the kind of offbeat sentiment that Billy could really get into, but the song never really builds up any steam.

Root Beer Rag is fun, def makes me nostalgic for commercials of my childhood

Roberta is good, best non ragtime song so far

(on this album)

Yeah Roberta's really good and *very* Billy as Dr C rightly points out.

Piano sounds really beautiful on this - I don't know much about pianos so I'm not really sure why it sounds better than other piano songs he's played. Maybe it's just the way he's playing? It is a mystery. But I like it.

I'm following this thread with interest, my first agonizing "which record do I but with my allowance" choice was between Glass Houses and The Cars' debut. I'm still glad I went with The Cars, but it's interesting to see how much more of a soft spot I have for Joel's schtick than I do with (to pick another ILM "listening thread") The Eagles. Joel is putting down his friends/lovers, singing "I don't care what you say anymore," extolling the virtues of early death, and riding his motorcycle through the rain. The Eagles are telling a desperado to "come to his senses," getting lost in hotels, and warning about the dangers of a fast life. I know which worldview I prefer in my pop songs!

but = buy

agree

i think "roberta" may be the first great billy joel song, his first perfect marriage of lyric, melody and performance. love love love this one. the sad sack looking for love at the strip club (or the escort ads, or wherever) could be just another way for billy to express his self-loathing and/or woman-loathing and/or all-around bitterness, but that's not what he does here. "roberta" is sympathetic to both the narrator and the object of his affection, and there's a newfound ease in the vocal performance that sells both ends of that. a lot of what we've heard so far is a singer who hasn't quite grown into his voice yet, or who's trying a little too hard. here, finally, he's just singing. and it's a really sweet melody, which the "i'm in a bad way" bridge takes up a notch. A-plus.

it's quite possible he stole the intro to "roberta" from this 1971 neil diamond classic:

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

Hey y'all, I don't quite have it in me today to make the next post, given the state of things out there. Should return tomorrow though.

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

The Entertainer opens side two and brings back the Moog with a vengeance for what always feels like the album's centerpiece or keystone track to me. The sole single, released a month after the LP, it peaked at #34 on the Hot 100, getting to #30 on Easy Listening and the Canadian charts both. This makes it one of the bigger hits left off of Greatest Hits Vol. I & II in its original release (it was added to the CD version). Ironically, given the lyric, the recording was cut down from 3:41 to 3:11 for the single, screwing up the instrumental buildup. The printed label invokes a third running time as a cheeky punchline.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Entertainer.jpg

http://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/billy_joel-the_entertainer_s.jpg

http://images.45cat.com/billy-joel-the-entertainer-columbia.jpg

Continuing the line of country covers of Joel tunes, Waylon Jennings substantially re-interpreted it as an album-closer for 1984's Never Could Toe The Mark. The Internet suggests that an Australian mime (?) named "Reg Livermore" may have also attempted it, but it's possible The Entertainer was simply the title of one of his albums.

He featured "The Entertainer" this past weekend at Wrigley Field, btw:

Set List:
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Pressure
Go Cubs Go [cover of Steve Goodman]
The Entertainer
Vienna
The Lion Sleeps Tonight [cover of Solomon Linda]
The Longest Time
Your Song [cover of Elton John]
Zanzibar
A Day in the Life [cover of The Beatles]
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
The Downeaster Alexa
New York State of Mind
25 or 6 to 4 [cover of Chicago]
Allentown
Sometimes A Fantasy
She’s Always A Woman
Don’t Ask Me Why
My Life
The River of Dreams / A Hard Day’s Night [cover of The Beatles]
Nessun Dorma [cover of Giacomo Puccini, sung by Mike DelGuidice]
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Piano Man

holy shit "roberta" is super good

real talk: i've never liked The Entertainer
that crazy Moog riff is like knives in my brain

Also re: "The Entertainer": This pre-album version, with no Moog and different lyrics opens with a little run through Joplin's rag of the same name, a trick which he's apparently kept alive in recent performances. The profoundly uninspired rhythm section gives some hint of why he might have been looking around for a tighter touring ensemble around the time of this album. This 1977 live performance, in turn, adds a few flourishes and a mysteriously long intro, maybe there to give Billy some knob-twiddling time on the Moog. In my fantasy two-disc version of Songs in the Attic, this song is a must-have.