Piano Man

[tyggerjai]

So. I'm ... conflicted about my feelings for Billy Joel.
On the one hand ... Billy fucking Joel, man.

On the other hand, a lot of his early stuff, I think, is genuinely good - "Captain Jack", "Piano Man", in fact _Piano Man_, full stop, "Travelin' Prayer" notwithstanding. "Allentown", "Goodnight Saigon", "Only the Good Die Young". Give him "Uptown girl" as a temporary lapse of reason, eh? ;)

But then ... I dunno. Billy fucking Joel. "River of dreams"? "We didn't start the fire"? What is that shit?

So. Is it just me? Did the man start out with some great work and go downhill? Is the later stuff actually good, but just not lodged in my brain the way the early stuff is? Or is it all shite, and I just have a soft spot for some of it?

sol.
.

Comments

[ms-kismet.livejournal.com]

Be glad you've not heard the debautchery which is "Love Shack" mishmashed together with "Uptown Girl"... it does neither song any favours at all... *shudders*

Our first concert! Were we 13 or 14?

[qamar.livejournal.com]

Just ask murphus about Billy Joel, oh yes...

*confession time*

[vaingloriesque.livejournal.com]

I own a Billy Joel album, I bought it about 8 years ago; 'An Innocent Man'. One of those embarrassing CD's I only drag out when people start playing 'Woman In Red' at parties, and anything sounds good in comparison.

And *blush* I actually quite like it... it's got 'The Longest Time' on it, I've loved that song since I was little. That, and Uptown Girl. ;) And any time I'm anywhere near a piano, I start playing 'Don't Go Changing', (as well as 'Pretty Good Year', but that's not a Billy Joel song).

Put it this way - he's better than Phil Collins or Michael Bolton. 'River of Dreams' was shite, though.

Re: *confession time*

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, see "The Longest Time" is also pretty good, I think, in that fluffy kinda way.

Fluffy kinda girl that you are.

sol.
.

Don't call me Miss Fluffy....

[vaingloriesque.livejournal.com]

Fluffy? Fluffy?!

Re: Don't call me Miss Fluffy....

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

Fluffy Miss Bindy.

That's *not* your name?

sol.
.

Re: Don't call me Miss Fluffy....

[vaingloriesque.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeek!!!

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

I like early Billy Joel too, and I am teh c00l, so it's OK for you to like him. No, really.

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

And I like early Elton John, too. So there.

[vaingloriesque.livejournal.com]

Hm. There's this one Elton John song that I really like... and that's about it.

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

See. I have a tender spot for "I guess that's why they call it the blues", I must admit.

sol.
.

[vaingloriesque.livejournal.com]

It's 'Your Song' that gets to me... an association thing, I guess.

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

I think Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a fantastic album.

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

Please don't compare early Elton John with Billy Joel. I mean really! Billy Joel had a time and a place, and it was the mid-'80s. He was fine in context and that's about it.

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think Billy Joel, like Elton John, belonged in the 70s. I think once the 80s happened they both got rubbish and sappy and, well, they turned into Billy Joel and Elton John.

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

Good call. I still think that early Elton John stands up now whereas Billy Joel is horribly dated, at least to me.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I was once stuck at maths camp with a bunch of guys who had a cassette player, a cassette containing 'Goodnight Saigon' (either an album or a Greatest Hits), and no other music. For two weeks.

I was just starting to heal, and think about maybe forgiving him, when 'River of Dreams' came out.

[sly-girl.livejournal.com]

You went to maths camp?

*snicker*

[jeshyr]

I must agree ... maths camp??? Is that like band camp? [/american_pie]

Ahem .. Sorry ... the topic. Well, I'm known to be totally unconnected to popular taste when it cames to pop music, I hate most of the 'gothy' music you all go for but I do happen to think Billy Joel and Elton John and even John Farnham are good in most of their repertoir. Although I may be biased at that last becaus I 've sung with the guy *grin*.

*dons flameproof underwear*

Ricky

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Yup, training/selection camp for the International Mathematical Olympiad. It was more fun than it sounds. (Unlike the chemistry camp, which was soul-crushing if educational.)

[drzero.livejournal.com]

I agree, I think he was brilliant early on, then later just kinda circled around the idea his early stuff was based on. Loved "Angry Young Man" from the Russian concert album. I think his retirement to concentrate on orchestral works was him saying "I'm bored and want to do something different".

[bar-bar-ella.livejournal.com]

I think I'm with sly_girl here. Early '70s for both Bill and Reg.

*Except* I think they both had a good song each in the '80s. For Bill, it was "An Innocent Man" and for Reg, it was "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues". Both great, beautiful, heartbreaking songs.

Apart from that... go direct to the Seventies. Do not pass 1980. Do not collect Grammies.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Trivia: Billy Joel also played piano on the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" (by his recollection) or "Walking in the Sand" (by their producer's).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ryn/]

i'm actually agreeing eith you. love some of it, but he really went to shit with river of dreams.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

I think Sickboy in Trainspotting had a theory that covered such questions.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Gee, nobody's mentioned yet that Billy Joel's music went to hell around the time he started boffing Christie Brinkley. Coincidence? HA!