For someone who’s had a recording career like Billy Joel’s,
\nthere’s no denying that he was long overdue for a greatest hits
\nrelease back in 1985. But to combine two volumes into one release?
\nThat was as crazy as — oh, I don’t know, maybe Bruce Springsteen
\nreleasing two albums on the same day. (Hey, wait a minute…)<\/p>\n
As it stands,
\nGreatest Hits Volume I & Volume II<\/i> might be a little too
\nmuch, even for fans of the “piano man,” but you can’t fault anyone
\nfor putting together this 22-song collection. After all, you really
\ndon’t recognize the effect that Joel had on music over the course
\nof 12 years until you hear all the hits he released.<\/p>\n
Taking light pop, near-folk ballading, the atmosphere of smoky
\njazz clubs, his Italian heritage and religious roots, his love for
\ndoo-wop and the early days of rock & roll, and rolling them up
\ninto a career, Joel helped remind listeners to keep in touch with
\nall of their roots while looking ahead to the future.<\/p>\n
The first seven years of Joel’s stardom are wrapped up nicely in
\nthe first disc of the collection — though this also proves to be
\nthe toughest to get through at times. Even though it’s been around
\nfor over 25 years, I somehow never get sick of hearing “Piano Man”
\nand hearing the musical birth cries of a superstar. Even for
\nsomeone who grew up with this material, tracks like “New York State
\nOf Mind” and “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” might be new experiences,
\nas these songs don’t normally make the rounds of classic rock
\nradio. But while they might not have been topping the charts, they
\nprove that they belong in this collection.<\/p>\n
During this time, Joel seemed to be struggling with the decision
\nof whether to be a pop crooner or a rocker — and the conflict is
\nheard in songs like “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” (the track that
\nhas Italian influences in it), “The Stranger,” “Just The Way You
\nAre,” “She’s Always A Woman” and “You May Be Right.” The tough part
\nof this portion of the collection is that the songs become very
\nmuch a personal hit-or-miss. I’ve never liked the songs “Big Shot”
\nor “Only The Good Die Young,” and this collection doesn’t do
\nanything to change my mind. Your list of personal likes and
\ndislikes is certain to change, but it’s also pretty certain that
\nboth lists will have at least one song from this period.<\/p>\n
The real fire under Joel’s career is chronicled on the second
\ndisc of
\nGreatest Hits Volume I & Volume II<\/i>. From the paean to
\nrock music “It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me” to the release of
\npenned-up anger on tracks like “Allentown,” “Pressure” and
\n“Goodnight Saigon,” Joel finally allows himself the freedom to
\nexpress his emotions without worrying whether the songs would top
\nthe pop charts or not.
\nThe Nylon Curtain<\/i>, from which three of these songs are
\npulled from, might not have been a commercial blockbuster, but for
\nJoel, it truly was the release he needed.<\/p>\n
1984’s
\nAn Innocent Man<\/i> was the culmination of all Joel’s hard work.
\nIn a way, it had to be tough to choose between all the hits that
\ncame from this album — notably absent is “Keeping The Faith.” But
\nthe three selections that do make the grade — “Tell Her About It,”
\n“Uptown Girl”and “The Longest Time” — represent the album well,
\nand are still quite enjoyable tracks.<\/p>\n
You could question the inclusion of the two new tracks on this
\ncollection — one of which, “You’re Only Human (Second Wind),”
\nbecame not only an anthem against suicide but another hit single
\nfor Joel — but they fairly represent where Joel was at this stage
\nin his career, looking back at the superstardom he now enjoyed.
\n“The Night Is Still Young,” admittedly not a song written for the
\ntop of the pops, is a pleasant track, but it also showed that joel
\nhad not abandoned his musical roots.<\/p>\n
The one negative about this release is it often seems like more
\nof Joel’s music than one should handle in one sitting. On their
\nown, these tracks are pleasant enough, but when you put them
\ntogether, it sometimes feels like overkill.<\/p>\n
Still,
\nGreatest Hits Volume I & Volume II<\/i> is the perfect
\nstarting point for anyone who wants to get a feel for Joel’s music
\nup to the
\nAn Innocent Man<\/i> days — and it should make you intrigued
\nenough to go check out the original albums the tracks are culled
\nfrom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5760],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36718","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-billy-joel","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36718"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36718"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}