Billy Joel Retrospective

He has sold millions of records, had a plethora of hit singles and had a Broadway show written based on his music. Yet Billy Joel has never been a critics’ favorite

The Daily Vault will do our small part to rectify that situation by naming Joel as our February Artist of the Month.

Very much a New Yorker, Joel was born on Long Island and learned piano as a child. A rebellious streak fueled his interest in boxing and street gangs, but the love of piano never died and Joel decided to pursue music as a career after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.

This fusion of pop and Broadway formed the basis of much of Joel’s work, which got its start with his debut Cold Spring Harbor in 1971. The album and tour were not well-received, but two years later Joel rebounded with Piano Man, which began a string of chart hits and classic albums such as The Stranger, 52nd Street and Glass Houses.

A short break followed, during which Joel lashed out at critics who called his music lightweight and lacking soul, answering with the serious-minded The Nylon Curtain and follow with 1983’s r&b and doo-wop-heavy blockbuster An Innocent Man. The disc, much of which was an ode to then-girlfriend Christie Brinkley, sold more than seven million copies and spawned several hit singles. A period of silence followed, with Joel’s last classic album, Storm Front, coming in 1989. At the end of 1991, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honored Joel with a Grammy Living Legend award.  In recent years Joel has composed a classical piano album, and toured intermittently, often co-headlining with Elton John. The Vault will review each of Joel’s studio albums and throw in some surprises along the way. Many of the reviews will appear on the site for the first time.

Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured thousands of reviews from artists covering almost the entire musical spectrum, written by a volunteer review staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including Garth Brooks, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and many others. Themed retrospectives have focused on punk, hip-hop, female singer-songwriters and dynamic debuts.