Billy Joel - 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)
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Artist: Billy JoelEdition: Music CD
Format: Live
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: 4 1/2 stars. Billy Joel in top form on his best-ever live album
Hit: 5 Stars
Any and all fans of Billy Joel, diehard and casual alike, should take note of this fine live album. It is two and a half hours of excellent, committed performances, selected from twelve concerts held at Madison Square Garden in 2005.
There are ten musicians on stage, but nothing sounds opulent or cluttered (although I could have done without the synthetic sounding and sometimes too-prominent keyboard, especially those God-awful solos on "Angry Young Man" and "The Entertainer"). Some of the performances captured on "The Millenium Concert" may have seemed a bit tired, but on "12 Gardens" Billy Joel seems committed and even happy to be playing and singing these old songs again. His vocals are almost always strong and focused, unlike some live performances where you can all but hear the singer thinking "do I really have to sing this one for the 2.000th time?"
Disc one is 75 minutes, and the numerous highlights include "Don't Ask Me Why", "Allentown", a coolly swinging rendition of "My Life", a sharp "The Entertainer" (just wait for the keyboard intro to be over), and energetic versions of the grandiose "Miami 2017" and "The Great Wall of China".
The sound is excellent all the way through, and disc two is even better than disc one (and two minutes longer): A seven-minute "Goodnight Saigon". "An Innocent Man", pure, smooth 60s doo-wop. The powerful "Downeaster Alexa", one of Billy Joel's best lyrics. A tough, punchy "You May Be Right". "Piano Man", gritty harmonica and the crowd singing half the song. Oh, and don't worry, "It's Still Rock n' Roll To Me" is here, only it is "hidden" somewhere on disc two, an unlisted bonus track. And it sounds great, by the way.
I'm really not a huge Billy Joel fan, he is a little bit too "pop" for that, but these strong, well-chosen performances really showcase what kind of chops he has, and what an impressive catalogue of songs he has to choose from. Hardcore fans would perhaps have liked to hear a few more obscure and rarely played songs and a few less Billboard hits, and those who only know the hit singles may complain that they aren't all here. But "12 Gardens" is actually pretty hard to fault, and I can't imagine fans of Mr Joel being disappointed. This is a great live album, Joel's finest offering for many many years.
12 Gardens: Live (2CD) Poster
This extraordinary double CD from superstar Billy Joel was recorded live at Madison Square Garden during his recent record-breaking 12 sold-out shows in New York City. This two-hour collection features amazing live versions of thirty of Billy's greatest hits and fan favorites.
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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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