The Essential Billy Joel (2CD)
|
List Price: Our Price: $15.97 You Save: $9.01 (36%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $5.10 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for The Essential Billy Joel (2CD)
Free Music Review: Not Bad
Hit: 3 Stars
Some "essential" songs that are missing:The Ballad of Billy the Kid
The Stranger
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
She's Always A Woman
Big Shot
Sometimes A Fantasy
Pressure
Keeping the Faith
You're Only Human (Second Wind)
These songs, in my opinion, should be on an "essential" Billy Joel collection. There are some songs included that do nothing for me, but are probably near and dear to Billy Joel. BUT....that is what CD burners are for!
Free Music Review: Versatile and Flexible: Billy Joel at his best.....
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're like me and don't own many Billy Joel albums, The Essential Billy Joel is a good introductory 2-CD set to start a Joel collection. There are many of his great hits in this 36-track compilation, most of which have appeared in other "Greatest Hits" collections. To make up for this, Columbia Records fiddled around with the playlist a little bit. They left out "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" and "The Stranger" (among others) that were on the more expensive Greatest Hits albums and replaced them with (on disc one) "You're My Home," "Miami 2017," "Honesty," and (on disc two) they added "Waltz #1 (Nunley's Carousel)" and "Invention in C Minor." I like this album not only for its variety, but for its affordability ($22.99 at Amland). Let's face it, not everybody can afford to shell out $36.00 for Joel's Greatest Hits Box Set, which has 18 more songs than this 2-disc set. With this Essential CD, new and old listeners alike can follow Joel's three decade long career, from his first hit ("Piano Man," 1973) to his new classical compositions (2001's "Fantasies and Delusions"). I also like it because it has really great songs, such as "An Innocent Man," "Honesty," "The Longest Time," "A Matter Of Trust" (a guitar-based kick-butt rock song that reminds me of Bruce Springsteen), the bluesy "Baby Grand" (a duet with the great Ray Charles), the spiritual "River of Dreams," and the lovely classical piano piece," Waltz #1 (Nunley's Carousel)." This reflects, in my opinion, Billy Joel's versatility and flexibility as a songwriter, composer and singer. I was amazed to hear how different Joel can sound depending on the style he chooses in his songs. One minute he can be gentle and melancholy as in "And So It Goes," the next he can sound defiant and determined as he does in "Downeaster Alexa."
So ignore the naysayers; get this wonderful CD album. Trust me; you won't regret it.
Betty June Moore
Free Music Review: Many "Essential" Pieces Missing From Joel's 2CD Set
Hit: 4 Stars
Billy Joel released his top-selling "Greatest Hits Part I & II" in 1985 after gleaning five Top 20 singles from 1983's platinum "An Innocent Man" LP. That set captured the sound and style of the 50s-60s doo-wop and Brill Building music he loved as a teenager. "The Nylon Curtain," touching on shared personal and political baby boomer memories, preceded "Innocent Man" and received some of Joel's finest reviews. That, plus sellout concert tour and celebrity marriage with baby daughter, led him to a personal and professional peak.The story and songs are different with "Essential Billy Joel," an inferior entry in Sony Music's series spotlighting its selling artists from Tony Bennett to Men at Work. By its 2001 release tabloids had filled with stories of Joel's divorce and financial ruin, his quitting pop music, recording one classical CD and repackaging his considerable catalogue on CD shelves and on tour with fellow 70s icon Elton John.
Sequencing and song selection doom this collection. Joel's most popular songs make the cut: "Piano Man" leads off, you get "New York State of Mind" and the hits from 1977's breakthrough "The Stranger." Yet the collection misses "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Angry Young Man," two songs playing to Joel's musical and lyrical gifts: his pounding piano style and ability to shape atmospheric musical vignettes. ("Miami 2017," from "Turnstiles," also qualifies as defining, but its cynicism is a hard swallow 27 years later in light of 9-11.)
The CDs shortchange 1978's exceptional "52nd Street" (missing the masterpiece "Until the Night," among Joel's songwriting gems) and "Nylon" (missing "Pressure," one of his best sonic recordings as opposed to compositions). Yet you get nearly all Joel's radio hits from "Innocent Man" and 1989's inconsistent "Storm Front," including his awkward attempts at hard rock ("I Go to Extremes," "A Matter of Trust"). "Modern Woman," 1986's Top 10 hit from the film "Ruthless People," has not reached any Joel collection.
Radio could use new Billy Joel music (and not the pleasant but minor classical compositions closing the disc). Adult contemporary and "lite" stations on which he'd been a core artist need his wry lyrics and complex pop to counter their mushy, overemotive divas. Great songs like 1993's near-finale "All About Soul" show lyrical and musical maturity and empathy it would have been good to see him follow. Short of that, consider Billy Joel's essential 1985 best-of or a reasonably priced version of his box set before choosing this slighter, superfluous "Essential" collection.
Free Music Review: Not Quite Like The Boxed Set, But Good
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a fan of Billy Joel's music for two decades, and I must say, he truly is versatile. Joel can write in different styles (from blues-inspired rock to classical), and The Essential Billy Joel charts his musical evolution from 1973's "Piano Man" to 2001's "Fantasies and Delusions" (his debut as a classical composer). The inclusion of two tracks from "F & D" (wonderfully played by pianist Richard Joo) may be jarring to some listeners who have been familiar with Joel only as a pop-rock songwriter/singer, but hopefully they'll relax and enjoy the two compositions (Waltz #1 and Invention in C Minor) and maybe purchase "Fantasies and Delusions."If you own the three compact discs of his Greatest Hits, there are very few surprises here. Oh, sure, the producers did not include "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" or any of the tracks that were especially added to Volumes II and III of Greatest Hits, but they did include "You're My Home," "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)," and "Honesty," which is one of my favorite songs. If your Billy Joel CD collection is complete -- even down to the Limited Edition Boxed Set and "F & D" -- then maybe this CD isn't for you, as good as it may be.
However, if you are new to Joel's music and would like to sample his 30-year career's best material at an affordable price, The Essential Billy Joel is a good choice. Buy it and enjoy.
Free Music Review: Good For A Newbie
Hit: 4 Stars
I had never really listened to any of Billy Joel's music, but after hearing many of the songs here, I reconginzed them from other places. This albusm was good for me to get a samle of a lot of different songs, and according to what I like I will buy a full album.