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Another Poll of the day: Billy F'N Joel

When was Billy Joel at his best

Never, always stunk.	2 votes
Everything Pre-Stranger	5 votes
Everything Post Stranger	0 votes
Had a decline in the 80's, swan song kicked ass	2 votes

SteveJRogers Jun 21 2007 02:23 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 21 2007 02:29 PM

Just trying to gauge the love/hate for the Long Island Balladeer among those who one would think would be a big cross pollination of the two fan bases since Long Island is Met country and all, and "New York State Of Mind" is the usual game ender before the Mets decided to take away the New York-ness with "Taking Care Of Business" (well it started with "Who Let The Dogs Out" but NYSOM is still very much a Met song) DTASFA!

metirish Jun 21 2007 02:27 PM

A poll needs to be important for me to vote.

Gwreck Jun 21 2007 07:22 PM

Wham.

TransMonk Jun 21 2007 08:17 PM

The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses and parts of The Nylon Curtain were good works...the rest I could live without.

Johnny Dickshot Jun 21 2007 08:37 PM

One of his problems was being underappreciated early and overappreciated later. Stranger was quite obviously the breakthrough, but even then he had a tendency to show-tune it ("Italian Restaurant" YAWN.) Meantime the 50s pop ditties didn't get any better down the line from "Good Die Young" and the piano ballads were always going to pale up against "Summer Highland Falls." (most songs do) Marrying all those supermodels didn't do a thing for his soul and drinking too much and not leaving Long Island seemed to rob him of fresh ideas. His voice has gone to the toilet. His fans are all in their 50s and he must be 60 by now. No?

Edgy DC Jun 21 2007 09:08 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 22 2007 12:34 PM

I'll take the piano ballads. (Although I don't recall the last time I cared to.) BJ was part of a rock 'n' roll generation with a rock 'n' roll aesthetic who mostly just couldn't rock with any authenticity. So he tried that retro thing and became a cartoon. A CARTOON! Steve never seems to get that the objection to his strange song postings wasn't really that we all hate Billy Joel, but rather that starting off an exciting game reflecting on a sentimental ballad is terribly horribly anticlimactic.

Frayed Knot Jun 21 2007 09:24 PM

I recall liking 'Nylon Curtain' and parts of 'Allentown' among his later stuff. Occasional CPF poster (though not in a while) Patchy Fogg runs an hour-long Billy Joel radio show on the station that operates out of Nassau CC (90.3 FM). It's time slot - Sunday afternoon I believe at 2PM - isn't ideal listening hours for me so I've only caught a few bits here and there, but it's not bad listening for a so-so BJ fan since a dedicated show like that has the freedom to haul out a lot of the back-catalog stuff that never got hammered into the ground by Classic Rock radio (particularly the NY-based variety) a bunch of which I've rarely heard since maybe college. Meanwhile his kid is now singing and does a reasonably good version of Neil Young's 'Don't Let it Bring You Down'

sharpie Jun 22 2007 07:36 AM

Never cared for him much but a few songs were ok and I used to know a girl who liked those first two albums (Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man)and I kind of liked the girl so there you have it.

RealityChuck Jun 22 2007 08:28 AM

Billy Joel hasn't been the same since he left Attila: [ :) (It's GERRY Arrigo, BTW).

Edgy DC Jun 22 2007 08:31 AM

I'm sorry, does that say "Jonathan Smell"?

Johnny Dickshot Jun 22 2007 08:32 AM

Awesome! Where can I hear "Amplifier Fire"?

RealityChuck Jun 22 2007 09:00 AM

No. Their amps went to FIFTEEN!

metsmarathon Jun 22 2007 09:01 AM

i can only imagine the reaction to that photo shoot from the rest of the slaughterhouse crew....

metirish Jun 22 2007 09:05 AM

Great find Chuck...Joel always had the weirdest eyes ,going by the song names the album seems to cover a wide spectrum ,and it's a concept album I think...part II? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_(band) wrong about the concept....

soupcan Jun 22 2007 09:15 AM

I was actually quite a large Billy Joel fan when I was around 13 or so ('bout the time The Stranger' was released). I got to college my freshman year and was still listening to Joel, had bought all the ensuing albums, etc. A guy who lived on my floor walked into my dorm room, and said "Billy fucking Joel? He sucks man, come down the hall and listen to some actual music!" That was pretty much when I woke up and realized that Billy Joel sorta blows.

Centerfield Jun 22 2007 09:25 AM

What was the actual music?

metirish Jun 22 2007 09:33 AM

Centerfield wrote: What was the actual music? I'm going to have a few guesses here..1977 soupcan was about 13....so at college he was around 18 - 1981/82 ? the music soupcan was invited to listen to was.... Various NY punk... Talking Heads Ramones Patti Smith

Johnny Dickshot Jun 22 2007 09:36 AM

It was Peter Wolf -- Lights Out, I believe.

metirish Jun 22 2007 09:38 AM

Our fun for Friday could be guessing what the music was....

Edgy DC Jun 22 2007 09:46 AM

Clash, Elvis Costello, early Who. the Dickies, and, inexplicably, the Good Rats.

Vic Sage Jun 22 2007 10:53 AM

I think y'all are being a might too dismissive. BJ was a pretty fair balladeer, trapped inside a guy who thought he was a rocker. But, as Edgy stated, he lacked authenticity in that role. Still, a proficient tin pan alley stylist, he put out alot of hits over a period of 22 years and 12 studio albums. If he had been born 20 years earlier, he would have been a successful Broadway songwriter. COLD SPRING HARBOR (1971) - crappy intro album, but one decent ballad. - She's Got a Way" PIANO MAN (1973) - My favorite; his most personal album. - "Piano Man" - "You're My Home" - "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" - "Captain Jack" STREETLIFE SERENADE (1974) - not good, except for - "The Entertainer" TURNSTILES (1976) - a few more soulful ballads. - "New York State of Mind" - "Prelude/Angry Young Man" THE STRANGER (1977) - his breakout album, with more of a pop/rock, uptempo, fun sensibility than his earlier, more brooding albums. While most of these songs are now so played out, they are nearly unlistenable, the enormity of their success cannot be overlooked or overstated. - "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" - "The Stranger" - "Just the Way You Are" - "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" - "Only the Good Die Young" - "She's Always a Woman" 52ND STREET (1978) - this follow up is where i stopped liking him. I started hearing the insencerity of his work creeping through. - "Big Shot" - "Honesty" - "My Life" - "Zanzibar" GLASS HOUSES (1980) - his fake rock posturing comes blasting thru in this retched record. - "You May Be Right" - "Don't Ask Me Why" - "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" NYLON CURTAIN (1982) - a bit more soulful than the last 2 albums, i was still distanced from his music at this point, but Allentown got through to me. - "Allentown" - "Pressure" - "Goodnight Saigon" AN INNOCENT MAN (1983) - yuck. pseudo-rock at its lamest. - "An Innocent Man" - "The Longest Time" - "Tell Her About It" - "Uptown Girl" - "Keeping the Faith" GREATEST HITS Vols. 1 & 2 (1973-1985) - all the hits plus a few previously unrecorded songs, like - "The Night Is Still Young" THE BRIDGE (1986) - more of the lame same. - "A Matter of Trust" STORM FRONT (1989) - although i hated "fire", this had the first few new Joell songs that were worth listening to. - "We Didn't Start the Fire" - "Leningrad" - "I Go to Extremes" - "And So It Goes" - "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" RIVER OF DREAMS (1993) - a melancholy denoument. - "The River of Dreams" - "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" - "Famous Last Words" While strictly MOR (his delusions of being a rock n roller aside), Joel was a good songwriter and a decent performer. There are certainly worse things to be (or to admit to) than being a Billy Joel fan.

RealityChuck Jun 22 2007 11:05 AM

I actually remember when the Attila album came out: the family store sold records at the time and it came in and sat in the bins for ages. Billy Joel is one of the better lyricists in rock, but as a songwriter, Vic Sage is right: he was born too late. In the 40s or 50s, he would have made a splash writing for Broadway; the songs are more Broadway than rock. I'm still surprised he hasn't taken a chance and written an actual Broadway score (Moving Out doesn't count). I became aware of him when Cold Spring Harbor came out: a friend had an advance copy and played it and I thought "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Tomorrow is Today" were great songs. He was even billed at the time as "The American Elton John" (much like Emitt Rhodes was "The American Paul McCartney" and Loudon Wainwright III, John Prine, Bruce Springsteen, and Elliot Murphy were all billed "The New Bob Dylan."). I bought Piano Man -- probably his best album and liked him ever since. It was odd, because I never recognized his voice, but at least three times, the first time I heard one of his songs on the radio, my first reaction was, "Man, those are good lyrics." I saw him in concert a few years ago with Elton John. He's a fine performer.

soupcan Jun 22 2007 12:10 PM

Centerfield wrote: What was the actual music? Gosh I don't remember exactly but I've gotta think that there was some Talking Heads and some Clash. My friend also had this album he found God knows where by a band called The Monks which had this song called 'Nice Legs Shame about Her Face' that we listened to incessantly. He and I started liking a lot of the same music over the next few years - The Psychedelic Furs, OMD - that kind of shit. Oh - can't forget U2. They released Unforgettable Fire around that time and that album was a HUGE hit among our little group. Needless to say the piano-playing balladeer was left far, far in the dust.

MFS62 Jun 23 2007 01:19 PM

Gwreck wrote: Wham. The subject of another poll? I think they only made one album. Later

cooby Jun 23 2007 07:48 PM

His birthday is the same as mine.

Edgy DC Jun 23 2007 08:29 PM

Before Attila, of course, were the Hassles: Joel's wikipedia entry says he made a halfhearted suicide attempt after Attila lost their contract. Ms. Edgy read that over my shoulder laughing and said, "It's the best thing that ever happened to him. Being in Attila should precipitate a suicide attempt."

Willets Point Jun 27 2007 01:12 PM

I was a huge Billy Joel fan as a little kid. In fact Glass Houses was the first non-children's record I ever owned (co-owned with my sister) and thus has a certain sentimental value. I've liked him well enough on and off since then and saw him play in Washington about 10 years ago. Put together his best songs and you have an excellent 20 song playlist, but a lot of the other stuff doesn't hold up. The only album I currently own is Songs in the Attic which is a live album of songs pre-Stranger which he was forced to record with session musicians instead of his band. IMHO Songs in the Attic is Billy Joel at his best.

Johnny Dickshot Jun 27 2007 01:29 PM

I agree that 'Attic' is a nice record, probably the one I most enjoyed of his over the years. Nobody brings ballads about postapocolypse Miami to life like the skin-thumping stylings of Liberty DeVito.