Billy Joel - 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Billy JoelEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-06-13
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Angry Young man
- My Life
- Everybody Loves You Now
- Billy the Kid
- The Entertainer
- Vienna
- New York State of Mind
- The Night is Still young
- Zanzibar
- Miami 2017
- The Great Wall of China
- Allentown
- She's Right on Time
- Don't Ask Me Why
- Laura
- Goodnight Saigon
- Movin Out
- An Innocent man
- The Downeaster Alexa
- Always a Woman
- Keeping the Faith
- River of Dreams
- A Matter of Trust
- We Didn't Start the Fire
- Big Shot
- You May Be Right
- Only the Good Die Young
- Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
- Piano Man
- And So it Goes
Free Music Notes for 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)
Free Music Review: 1 part "Songs in the Attic Vol. 2," 1 part Greatest Hits Live - an improvement over the Millennium Concert, plus hidden tracks!
Hit: 5 Stars
Billy Joel is a great live artist, one of my all time favorite performers, but for some reason, whether it is his record company's fault or his own, his live releases have not been able to accurately capture just how great a true Billy Joel show is, sounds, and the diversity of his setlists. There are plenty of live products available, but in one way or another, they all fall short of anything resembling what a true live concert is like for Billy Joel fans. I know the point of "Songs In the Attic" was to specifically NOT be a normal live album (and I love it for that reason), but the Russian concert is a cut-and-paste job, lacking most of Billy's true hits, and even the Millennium album felt like it had too much post-production tinkering and a few of the bigger hits that are normally my favorites live suffered from it, when they are normally at their best in their simple, raucous, garage-rock glory. These two albums were trying to capture the feeling of those two monumental concerts and they simply fell short. That's not to say they did not have their moments. There are a handful of songs on each that I listen to regularly instead of their studio versions. But in terms of representing the felling and accuracy of a great Billy Joel concert, us fans were left wanting.
Granted, it is no simple task making such a translation from the sensory and excitement overload that is BEING at any live show to a DVD or CD. But Columbia/Sony has gotten pretty damn close recently with other artists, especially Springsteen who has not one but two (NYC and Barcelona) terrific, packed DVDs with a ton of songs, great renditions of those songs and excellent production values that put you right there. Columbia also released a full-length concert from 1975 and, like the NYC DVD, an accompanying audio CD of the show. The fact that Springsteen and Billy Joel share the same record company and there is all this great live product from the Boss but Joel's live catalog has gone virtually ignore is both surprising and upsetting. I don't know if this is Columbia's doing (you'd think they'd be all about making money) or Billy's himself, but when I heard the news that "12 Gardens Live" would be released, culled from his record breaking run of 12 sold out shows at Madison Square Garden this past spring, I was giddy with excitement. Finally, we were going to have something definitive in Billy Joel's live repertoire.
The setlist only added to my excitement. The Millennium album tried to sprinkle in a few "deep cuts" to make the album feel like something other than just a greatest hits live package, but "12 Gardens" gets the mix right. It is something of a sandwiching of "Attic" and "2000 Years." Like "Attic" it features a host of great key album tracks and fan favorites that were never hits but fans love, request and Joel often plays live for that reason. "Everybody Loves You Now," "The Entertainer," "Vienna," "Night Is Still Young," "Zanzibar," "Miami 2017," "Great Wall of China," "She's Right on Time," "Laura," "Downeaster Alexa," "Keeping the Faith," and "And So it Goes" have never been on a live album before. Those tracks alone make this sort of a "Songs in the Attic 2." But then you also get all the hits, and from what I can hear so far, this album does a better job of representing them than anything yet. I have always liked "Goodnight Saigon" and "Angry Young Man" best on "Kohept," so I may need to give the versions here a couple of spins before I can determine there true worth. Similarly, I loved "Movin' Out" and "Don't Ask Me Why" on "2000 Years," so we'll see if the versions here can top those. And the Greatest Hits box set has lovely, well produced live versions of "Vienna," "Scenes from an Italian...," and "Piano Man" that I regularly listen to INSTEAD of the studio recordings (yes, I think they are that good, and in terms of just pure sound quality alone they top any other live release from Billy). So even if "12 Gardens" can not match those six or so songs, there are still 24 others that make this release well worth having.
Actually, there are more than that. Each disc contains a hidden track. Disc 1 has "A Room of Our Own" and Disc 2 features "It's Still Rock N Roll to Me." I was disappointed by the 2000 versions of "You May Be Right," "Still Rock...," and "We Didn't Start the Fire." I'd heard the band play these songs in all there garage rock glory in the past, but that release either didn't capture it, or they didn't come off so hot at that show. The beauty of this release is they had 12 shows to choose the best performances of each song from. And, yes, those three songs finally have a worthy live rendition committed to an actual live release.
The other reason this album merits attention, besides the great, diverse set list, is that Billy is in his best voice and some of the arrangements have been given added touches. It's doubtful you'll replace you're studio cuts of "Night is Still Young" and "Zanzibar" with these versions but it's great to hear them interpreted all these years later and after having not been played for so long. They also add continuity to what, for the first time on a Joel live album, feels like an actual concert. I know what a Joel concert is like, so I know there is more on-stage banter and that kind of stuff, but I must say this album, with the way the songs are sequenced and the diverse set, does the best job possible of putting you right there. Even if a certain version doesn't come off as great as you would hope, the huge sampling of what was played on this tour flows so nicely that just having these songs included at all helps this album feel like you are listening to an actual concert rather than a slice and dice compilation of live tracks. Also, unlike any other Joel live album so far, "Piano Man" is here! It's odd to think that Billy's biggest, signature song never made an appearance on a live album before (the Greatest Hits box set bonus live tracks not withstanding), but it has not. And, like a true Joel show, this release leaves the three-song encore from all the shows intact ("Only the Good...," "Scenes..." and "Piano Man").
So what are the highlights? It may be pointless for me to give my opinion since everyone seems to disagree about what makes certain live tracks great, or if a live version is truly better than its studio cut. Some people love live albums, some people hate them and just want to hear the songs the way they are used to. I happen to love them. I love hearing my favorite songs interpreted differently years later; hear different vocal and instrument spins on the same old stuff, see how lyrics have aged, etc. For pure musicianship alone, rocked up versions of "A Room of Our Own," "Great Wall of China," "We Didn't Start the Fire," "You May Be Right," "It's Still Rock..." and the opening three songs are all top notch. After a few listens though, I still think the versions of "Movin' Out," "Don't Ask Me Why," and "River of Dreams" are better on the Millennium CD, and the versions of "Vienna," "Scenes..." and (especially) "Piano Man" here still can't best those on the Greatest Hits boxset live, bonus disc. And I still think "Goodnight Saigon" was best represented live on the Russian album.
Not that any of these are bad here (although I was pretty disappointed with this rendering of "Piano Man" - his deep vocals and the limp sound of the audience for the first three choruses), but I just felt they sounded better both musically and in Billy's voice on these previous releases. But "Downeaster `Alexa'," "Laura," "Keeping the Faith," and a lovely, tear-jerking rendition of "And So It Goes," are all, not only on a live album for the first time, but stand up to their studio versions, if for no other reason than they are better for a shot of live energy. Those are just my personal observations and opinions. Like I said, everyone has a different standard for this sort of release. I wasn't going to even bother critiquing individual songs, but I felt compelled to given this is a review forum.
But I would rather focus on this release as a whole, and as a live album, "12 Gardens" is one of the best I have come across - simply because in terms of accomplishing what should be the ultimate goal of any live album, it get everything right. The worth of each individual version of these songs are left to the eye of the beholder, but as an album, "12 Gardens" has the best sectioning of hits and fan favorites I have ever seen. Giving true fans something truly new and unique for their money and still giving them - and the more casual fan - all the hits. And even if you think there are better versions of some of these songs out there (as I obviously do), these versions are no slouches. So if you were only to buy one Billy Joel live album, this is the one to get.
*One quick note: I pre-ordered this release from Sony to get a free poster and two free bonus tracks that are not on the album (they are "Sleeping with the Television On" and "You're My Home"). And keep in mind the hidden tracks you also get that are not listed. Actually, it's odd because even with the bonus tracks each disc runs only a little more than 75 minutes. If you burn a copy, you can probably add the two bonus download tracks to each disc and have 2, 17-track discs. That's 34 songs and as close to any true live Billy show you'll ever get. And this release is probably as close to the best and most definitive Joel live album as we'll ever get.
12 Gardens: Live (2CD) Poster
This extraordinary double-CD release from Billy Joel was recorded live at Madison Square Garden during his recent record-breaking TWELVE sold-out shows in New York City and features amazing live versions of greatest hits and fan favorites!12 Gardens Live is worth the cost just for Billy Joel's still-robust renditions of "My Life," "Only the Good Die Young," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," and "Big Shot"--time off has not taken a toll on the piano man's pipes, and his playing remains on the right side of rock critics' expectations--but the big surprise here are the sleeper hits; by rights, they should sink like stones amid a sea of universally loved signatures. Instead they shimmer brightly, landing on ears like undervalued gems. "Goodnight Saigon," "Zanzibar," "Laura," and "Miami 2017" are recognizable titles only to the type of wild-eyed Billy Joel fan liable to throw her bra onstage, but they linger, pleasingly, past such late-career chart-climbers as "The River of Dreams" and "We Didn't Start the Fire." Woven around "New York State of Mind" and "Allentown," they serve to remind any student of pop why Joel is a worthy statesman. For those who needed no reminding, pleasant surprises of a different sort await: the double disc is home to two hidden tracks. On disc one, a rocked-up version of "A Room of Our Own" returns the entertainer to the Madison Square Garden stage, where he is duly howled over. And on disc two, after delivering a goosebump-raising rendition of "And So it Goes" that surely would have sufficed as a memorable closer to a monumental gig, he busts back out with "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me." Those who thought he forgot to include it on the set list should revisit "Keeping the Faith." --Tammy La Gorce
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