Billy Joel - 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)
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Free Music Notes for 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)
Free Music Review: Songs In The Attic,Volumes 5 & 6
Hit: 5 Stars
Wow! Billy Joel just put out his fourth live album after not having an all-original studio album in 13 years. Here are selections from his 12 recent shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden. I bet it reminds you of the New Year's Eve 1999-New Year's Day 2000 concert recorded at the same venue(that album is entitled 2000 YEARS-THE MILLENIUM CONCERT). Two tracks from Billy's first live set SONGS IN THE ATTIC were recorded at MSG in June 1980. The second live set was 1987's KOHUEPT(Russian translation for "in concert"). I just heard MIAMI 2017(Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) on the Music Choice Classic Rock channel following the studio version of SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT! SFAIR also appears on this set as did on 2000 YEARS. Some tracks were on the previous live sets but on this one you get THE ENTERTAINER,VIENNA,THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA,ZANZIBAR and PIANO MAN(a candidate for SITA),to name a few. Did Billy employ Richard Cannatta again for NEW YORK STATE OF MIND like he did for 2000 YEARS? Cannatta was Billy's saxophonist in the 70's and early 80's. They first recorded NYSOM together for 1976's TURNSTILES. Billy announced on 2000 YEARS that Cannatta had assembled a brass ensemble and had an original solo on NYSOM. Hey,Billy did EVERYBODY LOVES YOU NOW on this set like he did on SITA. It first appeared on Billy's only pre-Columbia album COLD SPRING HARBOR,released in '72 and re-released by Columbia in '83. There's also THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG,an original track from his GREATEST HITS VOL.1 and VOL. 2 compilation. All the other songs are awesome. Of course,Billy thanked all his fans for paying the ridiculously high ticket prices(prices ranged between $100 and $200). He once said he would have done the same if Jimi Hendrix "came back". Hey,tickets for the 12/31/99-1/1/00 show were expensive also. And of course,Billy again told his fans at the end,or near the end,"Don't take any s--t from anybody!". So pop these CD's in your player,crank up the volume as loud as you can and PARTY!!!!Free Music Review: Billy's Best Live Album To Date
Hit: 5 Stars
After a brief hiatus form touring, the Piano Man himself Billy Joel has come roaring back to life with this two disc live cd, containing 32 songs (2 hidden) performed at his 12 night stint at Madison Square Garden (I was lucky enough to attend two of the shows).
I hvae two of Billy's other live releases ("Kohuept" and "The Millenium Concert") and have heard clips from "Songs In The Attic"), but "12 Gardens Live" just blows them all away. Billy may be pushing 60, but he still rocks with the energy and soul he had back in the 1970s'.
The track listing is a solid mix of Billy's biggest hits ("My Life", "We Didn't Start The Fire", "It's Still Rock N' Roll To Me", the latter of which is hidden track at the end of disc two) and rarer album tracks ("Everybody Loves You Now", "The Entertainer", "Vienna"). The sound quality, though flat in a few spots, is overall excellent.
If I had any complaints, it's that I would've added a few songs. I went to two shows (February 16th and April 19th), and there are a few songs from both shows I would've loved to have seen included. Off the top of my head, I would've put "Sometimes A Fantasy", "Captain Jack" and "I Go To Extremes" on here instead of "The Great Wall Of China", "She's Right On Time" and "A Room Of Our Own" (the latter of which is the other hidden track). Also, one of the big highlights of the concerts (or at least the ones I went to) was when Billy brought out one of his roadies (didn't catch his name) to sing AC / DC's "Highway To Hell". Billy didn't sing on it (he played guitar), but it was still an awesome performance that deserves to be on cd. Lastly, I would've preferred if Billy used the April 19th performance of "An Innocent Man", in which he opened the song with snippets of "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand By Me". It was awesome.
Other than that, there's nothing I can really complain about (though the lack of liner notes is kind of disappointing), and this cd is a must for all Billy Joel fans.
Free Music Review: Give it up for the Piano Man!
Hit: 5 Stars
Billy Joel, like his 88-key counterpart Elton John, started as a troubador and turned those early years pounding a piano in various dives and small venues into quite an illustrious career as one of pop music's most enduring and best loved singer-songwriters, who also happened to be able to bring down the house when on stage. "12 Gardens Live" is an audio illustration of why Joel has always been exceptional live - the ability to take his pop confections, album standards and deep cuts and give them new life in front of an audience. That he sold out 12 nights at Madison Square Garden is no surprise-Joel's still got the chops, both vocally and on the piano, and easily punctuates why the piano is an integral part of rock and roll, while not neglecting the guitar and sax. And New York is a "hometown" audience, so of course he's right at home there. His energy for performing is evident and some of the rearrangements let the songs take off on their own now and then with interesting results. Playing songs rarely heard live, like "Laura" and "She's Right on Time" (from "The Nylon Curtain"), the single "The Night is Still Young," and "Don't Ask Me Why" (from "Glass Houses") side by side with Joel's list of tried and true concert favorites make for a nice collection of some of his best material. However, unlike Elton John, who's proven that one can grow old gracefully on record and still make good on stage, Joel's been sadly absent from the studio these last years and if anything what's only missing from this great set is some recent material, as there's nothing here written after "River of Dreams." If anything "12 Gardens Live" serves to prove that Joel's got what it takes-the Piano Man can play and certainly he can also write; Joel just needs to get in the studio and get back to doing what he's quite obviously so good at.Free Music Review: The Piano Man Is Still The Ultimate Entertainer!
Hit: 5 Stars
On June 13th Billy Joel released his latest double disc CD, 12 Gardens Live, on Columbia (the title was taken from his record-breaking 12 sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden) and the results are extraordinary. The set kicks off with the 1976 gem from his Turnstiles album, "Angry Young Man," and is sung with as much passion and fervor as it was thirty years ago on the original recording. Other tracks performed exceptionally include the album cuts "Vienna," the exotic and romantic "Zanzibar," the wonderfully futuristic and fearsome "Miami 2017 (I've Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)," the working class lyrics and sound of "Allentown," and the stunning "Laura," while the haunting and very relevant "Goodnight Saigon" is a sad and stunning reminder of our current situation in Iraq. The storyboard childhood lament of "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" is first-rate, while his staples "Piano Man" and "New York State Of Mind" take to the air with the greatest of ease. It's also startling how the "hits" still hold up and sound amazingly current, which is true testament to an extraordinary artist such as Joel. The hits (and there were many to choose from) that Joel included on this tour and CD include the top ten favorites "My Life," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," a soaring rendition of "An Innocent Man," the tender and Dylan-esque "She's Always A Woman," and the million sellers including "We Didn't Start The Fire," "Big Shot," "You May Be Right," the reggae-tinged "The River Of Dreams" and a rousing rendition of "Only The Good Die Young." I'm not typically a fan of live albums, but when you get an artist as brilliant as Billy Joel and performances so solid that they could've wound up on a studio recording if it weren't for the thunderous applause, the entire two-hour journey is nothing less than stellar.Free Music Review: One of the best live albums I've heard
Hit: 5 Stars
Pop music has always been about the moment--hence its name. Every once in a while, a pop artist rises above the moment, and becomes timeless. Call him pop, call him rock (hell, you can call him classical, country, blues, and jazz too, and probably several other genres), Billy Joel is a timeless musical artist. Want proof? Pick up this two disc set and listen to the musical magic.
What makes 12 GARDENS LIVES so wonderful isn't just the tunes; after all, we've heard 'em before, haven't we? Many of these have become pop/rock standards. No, what sets GARDENS apart from the rest of its ilk is that Joel is still as wonderful as he was when he came out--the man, like his music, has aged gracefully. His piano playing skills are still to be reckoned with; his voice still carries the range and tenacity that made it so delictable way back when. His energy is infectious; the live audience feels it, and you do too, with these classic songs of love, life, hope, and rejuvenation blaring in your ears. From the poetic "New York State of Mind," to the memorial "Goodnight Saigon," to the raunchy "Only the Good Die Young," to the rowdy "You May Be Right," to the satiric "The Entertainer"...you get the idea. These songs are golden. And probably the most telling songs on the album come at the end of the second disc: Joel's musical anthem "And So It Goes" (and so he does), and the unlisted track just following, "It's Still Rock 'n Roll To Me." Both songs are about timelessness and continuity, about keeping face and moving on. That's what Billy Joel has done for decades; 12 GARDENS LIVE is simply another great pop/rock/whatever album by one of the most talented musical artists in the world.