Skip to main content

It's Still Billy Joel to Me

Not long ago I sat down with a DVD compilation of Billy Joel videos and promotional films. As I watched him play an unshaven guardian angel, car mechanic, and game show contestant I was reminded again of my abiding love for his music. Granted, it doesn't take much to remind me. I've been a fan since I was six years old and my mom played tapes of An Innocent Man (1983) and Greatest Hits (1985) over and over in the car as we drove around town. In college I did a deep dive into his catalog and found that and found that Billy's music - even the songs I didn't listen to growing up - helped ground me whenever I felt lost in the process of growing up. 

This deep connection has continued through adulthood, and I haven't shied away from writing about him on this blog over the years. In fact, I've written reviews about four of his 12 studio albums. So it occurrs to me that he is a prime candidate for an every-album-reviewed project. In case you're new around here, I've done this for some of my big musical crushes (The Beatles, The Monkees, "Weird Al" Yankovic, XTC, Talking Heads).

The last time I did it was with REO Speedwagon, and that proves to be an interesting point of comparison. I approached that project as a REO neophyte, knowing only Hi Infidelity and their greatest hits, but I have a great deal more familiarity with Billy and his life's work. But the two are similar in other ways, both highly successful in their heydays, both considered deeply uncool by people who care about that sort of thing.

Though I love the way writing about each album chronologically ends up creating a narrative about the artist and their work, I've decided to approach this project backwards. I'll start with a couple of posts covering the music Billy has released since his retirement from recording in in 1993, and work my way all the way back to his 1971 debut.

So please join me each week as we sail down the River of Dreams, pull back the nylon curtain, pass by some glass houses on 52nd Street, hop a few turnstiles, and dock in Cold Spring Harbor.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon

I suppose I should have known the saga of REO Speedwagon couldn't end with a whimper. Before I get into the latest developments, here's a brief review of what's happened so far: In September 2024 came the announcement that the band was effectively breaking up at the end of the year. Apparently, frontman Kevin Cronin ruled that bassist Bruce Hall was no longer fit to continue touring following back surgery in summer 2024. Hall felt otherwise. Here we learned that REO had essentially become a three-way partnership between Cronin, Hall, and Doughty (who retired from touring in January 2023) following the departure of original members Alan Gratzer and Gary Richrath in 1988. Doughty sided with Hall, so Cronin was outvoted 2-1. No Bruce Hall, no REO Speedwagon. In December 2024 Cronin revealed he would continue performing REO Speedwagon songs with the two musicians who replaced Doughty and Hall, as well as Brian Hitt and Dave Amato (who replaced Gratzer and Richrath), with the on...
Post a Comment
Read more

Billy Joel: 1980 - 1977

When I decided to write about every single Billy Joel studio album I knew had a bit of a leg up in that I'd written reviews of a handful of his records already. What I didn't realize until just now was that those reviews were of albums that had been released consecutively between 1977 and 1980. As I reread those reviews - the most recent of which is 14 years old! - I found that I still stand by them. My writing style has mellowed a bit, and I no longer give grades to albums, but otherwise my opinions then are my opinions now. So here you go... Billy Joel: Glass Houses (1980) Billy Joel: 52nd Street (1978) Billy Joel: The Stranger   (1977)
Post a Comment
Read more

Billy Joel: Turnstiles (1976)

Turnstiles is, along with An Innocent Man and The Stranger , in my top three Billy Joel albums. It has pretty much everything you might want from the Piano Man. It has two beloved classics: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "New York State of Mind." And while I like that they respectively open and close side one, I think these two are the key moments to the album's story, and thus wish they'd been sequenced a bit differently (more on that in a bit). It has virtuosity. The opening to "Angry Young Man," called "Prelude," with its lightning fast hammered piano, is the most obvious display of Billy's growing talents. But it wasn't just him. Turnstiles is the first recorded appearance of the Billy Joel band - Richie Cannata, Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, and Doug Stegmeyer - and their performances show they were able to handle pretty much anything with aplomb. It has introspection and wisdom. Billy was only 27 years old ...
Post a Comment
Read more