The whole thing is just a real feel-good album, and one of my favorites. The doo-wop of “This Night” will have you swaying in your seat, and “For The Longest Time”‘s light-hearted ode to the hopefulness of new love tells the tale of a place we’ve all been. They’re just fun songs! “Uptown Girl” is of course his homage to Franki Valli and the Four Seasons (and similar groups), and stands the test of time as one of those songs that almost everyone knows and sings at least a few lines of whenever they hear it. “Easy Money” and “Christie Lee” were just MADE for his piano-rock sound - you’ll find it hard to sit still, and even harder to imagine HIM sitting still while he plays. The title track, “An Innocent Man”, is a classic for a reason - somehow he can make his voice go from delicate and understanding to strong and passionate in the very next line. Each song has its own distinct style, taken from the music he loved as a kid, and it’s amazing how he handles each one in its own special way without losing his own signature style. “Billy really showcases his flexibility as a performer on this, one of his best albums.
“The Nylon Curtain” is Billy Joel at his most inquisitive, most restless and most inspired.”
#BILLY JOEL DISCOGRAPHY FULL#
The album’s finale, “Where’s The Orchestra,” is the most poignant question of all… and the ethereal sample of “Allentown” at its end brings the album full circle even as it acknowledges that life is about the search for the answers. Joel does indeed “musically overreach” on this album, and it works out amazingly: the piano is still front and center, of course, but listen to the acoustic guitars on “Allentown,” the strings in “Surprises” and the military drums in “Scandinavian Skies.” The true genius of this album, of course, is Joel’s subject matter: not only does he tackle some of society’s most compelling issues head-on (Vietnam, the Bethlehem Steel layoffs), he probes the human spirit with a depth he doesn’t quite get anywhere else. Even the upbeat “A Room of Our Own” (a song which is as close as possible to a Beatles song without actually being a Beatles song), while chuckling over how confining marriage can occasionally be, reminds us that a room of our own is something we all need. This is the exact opposite of his subsequent album, the ’50s-inspired “An Innocent Man” while the content of that album is light, happy pop, the music on “The Nylon Curtain” is pensive and thought provoking. But then it started to grow on me, and I realized what a fantastic achievement Billy Joel’s realized here. “I have to be in a certain mood to listen to this CD, and for the first couple times I heard it I didn’t like it much. Here are all of the Billy Joel albums ranked.ĭon’t miss the music of one of America’s best singers! Click and enjoy music from this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame royalty! Despite largely retiring from writing and releasing pop music following the release of River of Dreams, he continues to tour he frequently performs at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. In 1987, he became one of the first artists to hold a rock and roll tour in the Soviet Union following the country’s alleviation of the ban on rock and roll music. Since the advent of his solo career, Joel has held a successful touring career, holding live performances across the globe in which he sings several of his written songs. In 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors, for influencing American culture through the arts. In 2001, Joel received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). Joel has been nominated for 23 Grammy Awards, winning five of them, including Album of the Year for 52nd Street. Across the 20 years of his solo career, Joel produced 33 Top 40 hits in the U.S., all of which he wrote himself, and three of which (“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, “Tell Her About It”, and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) managed to peak at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. 1 & 2, is one of the best-selling albums in the US. His 1985 compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol.
He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, with over 150 million records sold worldwide. Commonly nicknamed the “Piano Man” after his first major hit and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released twelve studio albums from 1971 to 1993 as well as one studio album in 2001. William Martin Joel aka Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist.
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