Billy Joel

I really like Billy Joel's music even though it's a lot softer than the stuff I usually listen to. Been real lazy about upgrading my crappy vinyl to CD though.

"Turnstiles"

  1. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (4:37)
  2. "Summer, Highland Falls" (3:15)
  3. "All You Wanna Do Is Dance" (3:40)
  4. "New York State of Mind" (5:59)
  5. "James" (3:54)
  6. "Prelude/Angry Young Man" (5:15)
  7. "I've Loved These Days" (4:31)
  8. "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" (5:14)

One of Billy's best studio albums, featuring a WICKED piano solo intro to "Angry Young Man" as well as the astounding apocalypse tale "Miami 2017".

"Songs in the Attic" (live album)

  1. "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" (5:05)
  2. "Summer, Highland Falls" (3:03)
  3. "Streetlife Serenader" (5:17)
  4. "Los Angelenos" (3:48)
  5. "She's Got a Way" (2:44)
  6. "Everybody Loves You Now" (3:10)
  7. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (4:25)
  8. "Captain Jack" (7:16)
  9. "You're My Home" (3:07)
  10. "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" (5:28)
  11. "I've Loved These Days" (4:35)

A bunch of older, rarer Billy songs done live, performed everywhere from concert arenas to 300-seat clubs.

"The Nylon Curtain"

  1. "Allentown" (3:52)
  2. "Laura" (5:06)
  3. "Pressure" (4:42)
  4. "Goodnight Saigon" (7:05)
  5. "She's Right on Time" (4:15)
  6. "A Room of Our Own" (4:05)
  7. "Surprises" (3:28)
  8. "Scandinavian Skies" (6:00)
  9. "Where's the Orchestra?" (3:19)

Bought this one at the same time as the Greatest Hits CD solely for the full-length version of "Pressure", totally oblivious to the fact that the remastered Greatest Hits had restored that song to its proper length. Ah well, that's what I get for not checking the track times first...

"Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II"
    Volume I: 1973-1977
  1. "Piano Man" (5:38)
  2. "Captain Jack" (6:57)
  3. "The Entertainer" (3:40)
  4. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (4:39)
  5. "New York State of Mind" (6:05)
  6. "The Stranger" (5:09)
  7. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" (7:36)
  8. "Just the Way You Are" (4:51)
  9. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" (3:30)
  10. "Only the Good Die Young" (3:54)
  11. "She's Always a Woman" (3:22)
    Volume II: 1978-1985
  1. "My Life" (4:44)
  2. "Big Shot" (4:02)
  3. "You May Be Right" (4:13)
  4. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (2:58)
  5. "Don't Ask Me Why" (2:59)
  6. "She's Got a Way"--live (3:02)
  7. "Pressure" (4:37)
  8. "Allentown" (3:48)
  9. "Goodnight Saigon" (7:02)
  10. "Tell Her About It" (3:50)
  11. "Uptown Girl" (3:16)
  12. "The Longest Time" (3:39)
  13. "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" (4:49)
  14. "The Night is Still Young" (5:26)

I've owned this album in more formats than anything else in my collection, I think. Originally bought the 2LP crappy vinyl when it first came out, then stole somebody's cassette version because it had extra tracks on it, then bought the original 2CD version, which I later sold off when I was hard up for cash. Now I've got the CD again, the "remastered" version which comes in a slim, single CD sized case instead of one of those bulky 2-disc monster cases. More importantly, certain songs that were horrendously edited on previous editions (i.e. "My Life", "Pressure"...see Nylon Curtain, above) have been restored to their full album lengths! OTOH, there's an annoying CD-Rom portion on the first disc, but what you gonna do...

...you know, I was just thinking how this must be the best greatest hits collection ever released by any artist. I mean, just LOOK at all the hits!! This set pretty much negates the need to pick up Billy's earliest stuff, although I'm gonna be forced to get Glass Houses no matter what, since "Sometimes a Fantasy" is inexplicably left off of here. In any case, there's the 2 bonus tracks -- "You're Only Human" is a horrid anti-suicide pop song, but "Night is Still Young" is pretty pretty.

"Kohuept" (live in Leningrad)

  1. "Odoya" (1:17)
  2. "Angry Young Man" (5:23)
  3. "Honesty" (3:57)
  4. "Goodnight Saigon" (7:20)
  5. "Stiletto" (5:08)
  6. "Big Man on Mulberry Street" (7:16)
  7. "Baby Grand" (6:08)
  8. "An Innocent Man" (6:08)
  9. "Allentown" (4:22)
  10. "A Matter of Trust" (5:07)
  11. "Only the Good Die Young" (3:32)
  12. "Sometimes a Fantasy" (3:38)
  13. "Uptown Girl" (3:08)
  14. "Big Shot" (4:44)
  15. "Back in the U.S.S.R." (2:44)
  16. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (2:57)

This album was recorded live in the Soviet Union, 1987, during the same tour that I saw him live at Wembley Arena, London. The playlist is mostly the same (he didn't perform "Back in the U.S.S.R." in London, though :) and let me tell you, Billy's concert performance is ASTOUNDING. Probably the best concert I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot! A friend saw him on the recent "River of Dreams" tour and said he still hasn't lost it, despite how old and pudgy he is these days.


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