tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82856422589188867432024-03-13T14:40:45.737-07:00Scenes From an Italian RestaurantA lifelong journey with the Piano ManCTBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11039137706625360484noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-11974076368060591252018-06-27T19:31:00.001-07:002018-06-27T19:31:05.534-07:00Trip Update- 3 Weeks to go<b style="font-weight: normal;"><div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-996a111d-443a-5e64-8425-64e69b5d1162" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A non-album blog post for a change. This whole blog was started just as a celebration of Billy Joel and his music. Several of you have stopped me in person and said that you have been reading. THANK YOU! One of my friends said he listened to “Cold Spring Harbor” because he read about it here. And I’ve even gotten some twitter “likes” and “retweets” from Mike DelGuidice, Billy’s guitarist. (Who by the way, deserves his own article. He is the lead singer of a Billy cover band called “Big Shot” and is now a full fledged member of the band. Also, in concert he does an awesome rendition of “Rock n Roll” by Led Zeppelin, and “Nessun Dorma” as well. Very talented guy.)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trip planning for Billy Joel’s 100th show at MSG is complete. I will be arriving on Monday night. Tuesday I am looking to do some fun things around the big apple. I would like to visit the Space Shuttle Enterprise. (I LOVE the space shuttles...there are 4 left. Endeavor (in LA), Atlantis (in Florida), Enterprise (in NYC) and Discovery (in Washington, DC),. I’m sure I will head to Corona Park in Queens, home of the 1964 World’s Fair. Not sure what else will be on the agenda. Probably not a Broadway show, as I have already invested in Wednesday evening’s entertainment.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have secured tickets to Wednesday night’s show at MSG. Upper deck, behind the stage. Those really are some of my favorite seats. Since Billy’s piano rotates, I feel like you get the best bang for your buck.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing this blog has been a lot of fun in that it has reminded me a lot about why I enjoy Billy so much. But it is also a reminder of some songs I haven’t heard in a long time. I found myself in the car today really wanting to listen to “Stiletto” and “Ballad of Billy the Kid”. I suppose that’s the point right? Remember the music you love, and remember why you love it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The show is 3 weeks from today, and I am more than ready. I don’t have the wishes of grandeur that I did when I was a teenager. I don’t expect to sit front row. I don’t expect him to sing songs he’s never sung before. I am just looking forward to celebrating 100 shows at the world’s most famous arena with the only man who could have pulled that off. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And thanks for reading by the way. Hopefully someone, somewhere, has learned something.</span></div>
<br /></b><br />Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-23853529866241684322018-06-27T19:15:00.002-07:002018-06-27T19:15:58.681-07:00Nylon Curtain- 6/27/18<b style="font-weight: normal;"><div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-124fdf1f-442b-f8e2-1345-1dfb7d512a13" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Album: The Nylon Curtain</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Release Date: June 23, 1982</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biggest Hit: “Allentown” and “Pressure” (Both number 19 on the Billboard Charts)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Songs I have Heard Live in Concert: “Allentown”, “Pressure”, “Goodnight Saigon”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Track Listing:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allentown</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Laura</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pressure</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goodnight Saigon</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She’s Right on Time</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Room of Our Own</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Surprises</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scandinavian Skies</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where’s the Orchestra</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Billy Joel loves the Beatles. No question. This album can’t even be considered an homage to the fab 4, it is just stolen directly from them. Side 2 certainly sounds much more like Lennon/McCartney than Billy.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Side one was clearly the side that was meant to be the “popular” side. 3 of the first 4 songs were the only 3 singles from this album. Critically acclaimed, but not one of Billy’s most successful albums. It peaked at number seven on the charts, and only sold two million copies. Perhaps an album ahead of its time?</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Allentown” has become one of Billy’s signature songs. I have a very strong personal relationship with this song. I am 7 years older than my sister, and I made a decision long ago, that I was going to be an amazing older brother. When she was 8, and I was 15, I made her memorize the lyrics to this song. I wanted her to know the music and enjoy it as well. A very cool thing happened nearly 20 years later: 2 summers ago I flew out to Washington to visit her, and to take her to see Billy at Nationals Park. The show was delayed by 2 hours by rain, but soaked and tired, we stayed for the Piano Man. When he began “Allentown”, she leaned over to me and said “You remember when I was little, you wouldn’t let me play until I knew all the words? Thanks.”</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Pressure” is everything that 1982 stands for, especially if you watch the music video. Billy getting sucked into the couch seems unrealistic, but then again, in 1982 MTV was new, so who knew any better? In 5 short years, Billy would become the first American rock star to tour the USSR. “Pressure”’s keyboards have always had a Russian feel to me, so it was no surprise when this one made the set behind the Iron Curtain.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Laura” is one of the first heavily Beatles influenced songs on the album. It has the sound of a later Beatles tune, and also has a great story behind it. “Laura” is not a real person. But you know what else has 2 syllables? “Mother”. So, while Billy was writing this song, he had a certain someone...maybe someone he was closely related to in mind. The lyrics show a lot about how Billy feels about Mums at the time:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Here I am. Feeling like a f*****g fool,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do I react the way exactly she intends me to?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve done everything I can, what else am I supposed to do?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m her machine</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And she can touch all the keys, she can push all the buttons I’m programmed through.”</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And maybe the most telling:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Laura, calls me in the middle of the night.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Passes on her fateful information.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then these careless fingers, they get caught in her vice.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until they’re bleeding</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On my coffee table”</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never liked “Goodnight Saigon” until I was older. Once I understood the Vietnam war and the anger surrounding it, the song made so much more sense. Billy did not serve in the army, but he wrote the song based on all he heard from his friends who did. It paints a hopeless, sad picture of what it must have been like to be in the jungles of the east. The chorus of “And we would all go down together. Yes we would all go down together. We said we’d all go down together” seems repetitive and simple, but when you take into account it is being sung by men fighting a war they are losing, and may very well kill them, it is touching. In addition, when sung in concert, Billy always invites servicemen to sing the chorus on stage. It adds a human touch to the song not there before.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“She’s Right on Time” is an odd song. Never released as a single, but it does have a music video. It’s one of the few songs of Billy’s that I simply have nothing to say about. It’s fine. There is nothing special about it, and it isn’t terrible. Sorry to not have more for you.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A Room of Our Own” is a great rock song, and a good look into Billy’s new single life. The song, basically saying “we can love each other, but I need my space sometimes” is probably one of the truer songs Billy has written. Even people who are completely head over heels in love need a little room of their own. The lyrics in this one are so fun. So, so fun. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ve got love darlin,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve got sex.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You got cash mama,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I got checks.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ve got tv shows,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I got crime.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You got your room honey,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I got mine.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that’s alright, we’re the same even though we’re alone,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that’s alright, cuz we all need a room of our own. </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Surprises”, “Scandinavian Skies” and “Where’s the Orchestra” might actually be Beatles B-sides. I don’t want to accuse Billy of doing any psychedelic drugs while writing these three, but I certainly don’t want to rule it out. “Where’s the Orchestra” is the song that fascinates me the most. The song is about the transition into adulthood, and the genuine surprise and let down that it isn’t actually all fun and games. </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where’s the Orchestra?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wasn’t this supposed to be a musical?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here I am.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitting in the Balcony.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How the hell could I have missed the overture?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Billy outright admits that “Scandinavian Skies” is about his time using heroin. So, one wonders, here is Billy in 1982. He is divorced, he is writing about his heroin use. His album has not gone to number one. So what happens next? Does he fall into oblivion? Does he disappear? Or, does he meet a supermodel, fall in love, and release an album that dwarfs everything else he has done? (Since I want you to keep reading, we’ll hope it’s the latter.)</span></div>
<br /></b><br />Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-11338807452714526752018-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:002018-06-23T09:24:32.811-07:00Glass Houses 6/23/18<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-0ad7c30d-2d74-b5ff-7968-d875d7d7d264" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Album: Glass Houses</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Release Date: March 12, 1980</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biggest Hit: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (Number 1 on the Billboard Charts)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Songs I have heard live in concert: “You May Be Right”, “Sometimes a Fantasy”, “Don’t Ask Me Why”, “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, “All for Leyna”, “Sleeping with the Television On”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Track Listing:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You May Be Right</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes a Fantasy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t Ask Me Why</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All for Leyna</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I Don’t Want to Be Alone</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sleeping with the Television On</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">C’etait Toi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Close to the Borderline</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Through the Long Night</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interviewer: Billy, have you heard all of the negative reviews of “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”? Some of them say it is the worst song ever written about rock music. What do you to say to that?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Billy: Yeah, I read the reviews while sitting in the living room of the house that song bought me, so I don’t worry about them too much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If that quote doesn’t sum up 1980 Billy Joel, nothing ever will. This is a Billy at his absolute peak. “Glass Houses” debuted at number one on the charts and produced 4 top 40 hits, including Billy’s first of 4 chart toppers. He was untouchable, and would continue to be for the next 15 years or so, with a tiny vacation around 1987. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glass Houses holds an amazingly special place in my heart. It was the first full Billy album I ever bought. At my first Billy show, he played “Sometimes a Fantasy” which I had never heard before, and I loved it. I NEEDED to find that song. Now kiddies, remember, this is 1998, so the internet was new, and I didn’t have a quick way of figuring out what song it was, or where I could find it. Once Glass Houses was purchased though, there was no turning back. I was head over heels in love with the music of Long Island’s favorite son.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve mentioned a few times that during Billy’s peak, his albums tended to have themes. As we saw with “52nd Street” the theme was jazz. With this album the theme is “It must be 1980, because the synthesizers are getting quite the workout.” Mostly a mix between disco and punk rock, if you had never heard of Billy before, but were familiar with the eras of music, you could pick the year of this album plus or minus 2 years with your eyes closed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You May Be Right” is a cool start to the album, as the song kicks off with glass breaking, an ode to the cover, which shows Billy throwing stones at a glass house. (If you don’t understand the reference, I can’t help you.) This single went to number 7, and has remained a mainstay of Billy’s live shows. Much like “Movin’ Out”, if you go see Billy and don’t hear this one, please give me a call. My favorite memory of this song comes from the several shows I got to see Billy do with Elton John. The show would always begin with duets “Your Song”, “Just the Way You Are”, and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”. Then, Elton would play for an hour, Billy for an hour, and then the two would reunite for 7 songs or so to end the evening. Elton singing “You May Be Right” was always a highlight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Sometimes a Fantasy” is stuck in 1980, and can never leave. It is a song about calling a phone sex hotline...not something the folks of 2018 are even aware existed. The song was banned by some radio stations for being too “suggestive”. As always, banning a song helps, and this one became yet another top 40 hit. While the subject matter is dead and gone, the song itself is still a big hit when played live.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Don’t Ask Me Why” is a huge departure from the punk rock/disco theme as it is really just a tango. It’s a great song, went to number 19 on the charts, but it probably got it’s most help from being the follow up single to “Rock and Roll”. I think it may be one of Billy’s most often played radio songs though. I wish this wasn’t the case, but when I hear it, I smell mint flouride, and picture myself at the dentist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eric Bischoff, former head of World Championship Wrestling, penned the book “Controversy Creates Cash”. “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” certainly meets that requirement. Either you love this song, or you despise it. Seems like most people have at least heard it, as it sold over 1,000,000 copies as a single. Perhaps some of the lyrics hit too close to home for some of the reviewers? “Don’t you know about the new fashion honey? All you need is looks and a whole lot of money”, and the line I think most of us know: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It doesn’t matter what they say in the papers,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s always been the same old scene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a new band in town,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But you can’t get the sound, from a story in a magazine,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aimed at your average teen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any rock artist at Billy’s level of success who has the *ahem* fortitude to write like that about the press, and then take the song to number one, is someone to be greatly admired. Greatly admired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“All For Leyna” has led to a nearly 20 year on-going argument between my best friend Nick and I. I think it’s a good song. He thinks it is horrible. While I will admit the song does not hold up well 38 years after it’s debut, it is a fun song. LOTS of bass. LOTS of synthesizer. If I can get you to take about 4 minutes out of your busy day to go to youtube and watch this music video, please do. It’s just...well...you’ll see. And please feel free to let me know what you think about it. I’ll even make your life easy and put the link right here for you: </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzE1-NlOthY" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzE1-NlOthY</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not much to report on side two of Glass Houses, mainly because side one is so darn good. “I Don’t Want to Be Alone” is a good song, a very pleasant listen. “Sleeping With the Television On” is one of Billy’s most underrated songs. Very very very good. And, it begins with the playing of the National Anthem, which, as I understand it, used to play at the end of each TV station’s broadcast day. Thus, setting the scene that he has indeed, fallen asleep with the television on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need to take a little time on “C’etait Toi (You Were the One)”. We all have ideas that seem really good at the time, and then, once we act upon them, don’t seem nearly as good. This is one of them. Billy thought it would be great to write a love song in one of the Latin languages of love: French. Billy doesn’t speak French. He said in an interview once that he sang this song live one time, in Paris. He said the crowd all sat and looked at each other trying to determine what language he was singing in. It was not good. And, congratulations “C’etait Toi”, you have won Brendan’s (and Billy’s) vote for absolute worst Billy Joel song. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Close to the Borderline” is your typical rock song with sweeping guitar riffs and a catchy chorus. “Through the Long Night”, as I referenced in the “52nd Street” blog, is a cousin to “Until the Night”; a musical tour de force that never really goes anywhere. I hold nothing against it, but “Glass Houses” would have been an even stronger album with 8 or 9 songs than the 10 it has.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I’ve said before, it changes day by day, but “Glass Houses” is in a constant rotation with “Turnstiles” and “Stranger” as my favorite Billy album. It is absolutely worth a listen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every musical act of the 70s and on was in some way inspired by one certain British band from Liverpool. And no, I am not referring to Herman’s Hermits, although Mrs. Brown’s daughter is indeed lovely. On Billy’s next offering “The Nylon Curtain” he doesn’t even try to hide his love for the Beatles, he simply writes a Beatles album without them. We’ll see how that goes next time. </span></div>
Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-37799246009823892018-06-20T06:02:00.001-07:002018-06-20T06:06:31.263-07:0052nd Street- 6/20/18<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Album: 52nd Street</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Release: October 13, 1978</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Biggest Hit: “My Life” (Number 3 on the Billboard Charts)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Songs I have heard live in concert: “Big Shot”, “Honesty”, “My Life”, “Zanzibar”, “Stiletto”, “52nd Street”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Track Listing:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Big Shot</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Honesty</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">My Life</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Zanzibar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Stiletto</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Rosalinda’s Eyes</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Half a Mile Away</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Until the Night</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">52nd Street</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">As I have alluded to in the past, one of the most exciting things about Billy in this era is that his albums from “52nd Street” on have a theme. When you listen to this album, Billy’s first of four in a row to debut at number one, you hear an amazing jazz influence. Songs like “Zanzibar” or “Half a Mile Away” would have fit in perfectly on a Steely Dan album. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I get very tired of people saying “You only like the hits, you’re not a real fan”. Please. I feel strongly if a song became a hit, it is likely because it is good. You won’t hear me knocking “My Life” or “Big Shot”. What strong songs those are. The lyrics and general attitude of both of those songs are a very clear message from Billy: “Don’t fool with me.” (This is a family blog. His real message is a bit stronger.) Lyrics in “My Life”, namely “I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life. Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.” and most notably “They’re gonna tell you can’t sleep alone in a strange place, then they’re gonna tell ya you can’t sleep with somebody else. But sooner or later you sleep in your own space, either way, it’s ok, you wake up with yourself” are so simple on the surface, but when interpreted (at least by this blogger) they mean a lot. Yes, “they” are going to give you a lot of rules to follow, and yes “they” are going to change their rules situation by situation, but in the end, the only person you need to answer to is you. Usually the second or third song in Billy’s set, this always gets folks riled up.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">But if you want to see riled up, watch the folks during “Big Shot”. Probably the angriest song in Billy’s catalogue until 1993’s “Great Wall of China”, it was always rumored that this was written after Billy went on a date with Bianca Jagger. Not totally true. Billy wrote it after he went to dinner with Mick & Bianca, and he pictured Mick saying all of things to her the next morning. Apparently her behavior was poor at best. I think, for me at least, the reason this song is so popular is because at one time or another, we have all been guilty of being said “Big Shot”, and, at one time or another we have all had to sit next to the “Big Shot”. It’s amazingly relatable. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">“Honesty” is a forgotten top 20 hit. (It was HUGE in South Africa. No idea why or how, but South Africa LOVES “Honesty”.) A song about his ex-wife and their broken relationship (mostly on Billy...go figure) the song is an ode to really being honest. “Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty, is hardly ever heard, but mostly what I need from you.” I’m thinking the marriage didn’t end due to an overwhelming amount of open communication.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">The jazz influence on “Stiletto” (also angry), “52nd Street” and “Zanzibar” is unreal. They all sound like songs you would hear in a smoky dueling piano bar. “Half a Mile Away” has such a great horns section that it almost always makes my top 10 favorite Billy songs. “Until the Night” is one of those real 70’s “huge” musical numbers. Sweeping piano, strings, huge drums and percussion. It never really took off as a hit, but is a precursor to “Through the Long Night” that will be coming up on Billy’s next offering “Glass Houses”.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">If I am going to get you to listen to one song that you do not know on this album, I am going to request it either be “Half a Mile Away” simply for enjoyment’s sake, or “Rosalinda’s Eyes”. “Eyes” is written about Billy’s mom, Rosalind. Often overlooked is the fact that Billy’s mom was indeed Cuban. Dad was Jewish. Growing up in the 50’s this was quite the combo. Combined with the fact that Billy’s dad up and left, being Jewish, Hispanic, and the son of a single mother, growing up on Long Island had to be hard. Billy and his mom had a rather contentious relationship. Rosalind appeared to enjoy the spotlight a bit more than her son, and that didn’t help. She also really liked a drink or two. Genetics are a bitch, and Billy found that out the hard way later in his career. Clearly though, in this song Billy and ol Rosie are getting along great. This ditty is all about her positive influence on Billy, and the song, written with a VERY heavy latin flair, is the perfect ode to one’s mom. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Jazz on “52nd Street” earned Billy three grammy nominations, two wins, three top 40 hits, and a platinum album 7 times over. To put how popular Billy was at the time into perspective, “52nd Street” sold over 7,000,000 albums. That is still 3,000,000 less than “The Stranger”. “Stranger” was ranked as number 70 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, and “52nd Street” took number 354. Back to back albums considered 2 of the greatest 500 of all time is what we like to call a hot streak. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">In a career spanning nearly 50 years, he has sold over 150,000,000 albums worldwide, and this was the heyday. He is the 6th best selling musical act in the history of the United States, trailing The Beatles, Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles. Yes, that’s correct. Billy has sold more albums than Elton John, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, and even the Boss himself here in his home country. And, perhaps one day, after MSG 100, we will have some fun with the stories about Billy’s interactions and business dealings with Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and his frenemy Sir Elton. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Next blog we discuss Billy being caught up in the disco age of 1980. An album overloaded with keyboards and bass, and album that would continue on the 7,000,000 sold track, and an album that FINALLY gets Billy a number one hit, “Glass Houses”. </span></div>
Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-23424536038434129842018-06-13T16:22:00.000-07:002018-06-13T16:22:21.769-07:00The Stranger- 6/13/18<b style="font-weight: normal;"><div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-6e9ebbb6-fb6d-c182-eb85-ccc7afa94845" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Album: The Stranger</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Release Date: 9/29/77</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biggest Hit: “Just the Way You Are” (Number 3 on the Billboard charts)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Songs I have heard in concert: “Movin Out”, “The Stranger”, “Just the Way You Are”, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”, “Vienna”, “Only the Good Die Young”, “She’s Always a Woman”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Movin Out</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Stranger</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just the Way You Are</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scenes From an Italian Restaurant</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vienna</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only the Good Die Young</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She’s Always a Woman</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Get it Right the First Time</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everybody Has a Dream</span></div>
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<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most musicians would sell their soul for an album like this one. 6 greatest hits, number 2 on the Billboard charts, 2 grammys for Just the Way You Are, and the kickoff of what would become 15 of the most successful years any artist would ever enjoy.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you read the last blog about “Turnstiles”, and judging by the numbers, you didn’t, you would see that with that album Billy was starting to make a lot of noise as far as letting the music world know that he was pretty darn good. Stranger was so successful that, until Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” it was the best selling album of all time. It, to his day, is diamond certified, having sold over 10,000,000 copies. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are just too many good stories with this album to put in one spot. I am going to try, but no promises.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Movin’ Out” is really a concert staple. If you go see Billy and he doesn’t sing this one, please give me a call. I always enjoyed this song for the simple reason that Anthony’s mother in the song is “Mama Leone”, which was my grandmother’s maiden name. That always gives my mom a smile. The end of “Movin Out” is very much like Clapton’s “Layla”, and since that song was recorded 7 years earlier, I have to give the Brit more credit on that.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I always wanted to hear “The Stranger” live, and for the better part of 15 years of going to Billy’s shows, I never did. I could not figure out why. I read a story that answered it all. Billy’s original long time drummer, Liberty DeVitto used to make obscene gestures, etc. while Billy would do the opening whistling. Because Billy could never get through it, he just stopped performing it. For lots of reasons (mostly because of royalties from this album, which we will get to soon…) Liberty is no longer Billy’s drummer. And now, thankfully, the song is back in the set. The lyrics are so true to life. “We all have a face that we hide away forever, but then we take it out and show ourselves when everyone has gone…” As a lover of Freud, the difference between the ego and id is present in that line, and boy do I enjoy it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Just the Way You Are” is really a touchy subject. Objectively, Billy’s most successful song to this point, he grew to hate it. He always tells the story of why he would not sing it for years and years: “I sang it so many times. I would sit at the piano and start ‘Don’t go changing, to try and please me…’ and then I would start thinking what am I going to have for dinner? If I order room service the fries will be cold…’You’ve never let me down before….oooh, don’t imagine, you’re too familiar, and I don’t see you anymore’ I could get a club sandwich...maybe some soup…” so basically, my heart was never in it and I stopped.” Now what’s interesting is Billy never wanted to record the song, but Linda Ronstadt was in the studio next to him. She walked in and asked what he was singing, and he said a throw away song. She said “That song is going to be huge. It’s either going to number one for you, or number one for me.” She was very close as it won two grammy awards and went to number 3.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” needs an entire blog of its own. (That’s the name of this one). It is, along with “Summer Highland Falls” always in my top 5 Billy Joel songs. I can’t say enough about this song and how great it is. It’s really 3 songs in one; a song about an Italian Restaurant, a song about catching up with a high school friend, and a song about what happened to the cool kids (Brenda and Eddie). At 7:37 it is a long song, and that is why, when I first started listening to Billy, I just ignored it all together. My mistake indeed. Like Springsteen with “Jungleland”, long songs that tell a story are untouchable. As a huge compliment to Billy, his writing on this song paints such a good picture that I think it was actually the reason his musical didn’t work out. Billy’s musical “Movin’ Out” followed all of his characters through the 70s and 80s. Anthony from “Movin Out” and Brenda and Eddie from this one were the stars. Here is the thing: He has done such a great job putting Brenda and Eddie in their own world that trying to watch them interact with others just didn’t work. Being that good a writer, I guess, is a double edged sword.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Vienna” might be Billy’s most beloved non-greatest hit. At his shows, Billy usually gives the audience of a choice of two songs, and which ever gets the loudest applause gets played. I’ve never seen “Vienna” lose. Never. Written about his step-brother who lived in Austria, it’s a message to him to calm down, slow down, enjoy the world around him. It seems many people have taken this song as a message to themselves to do the same. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of Billy’s signature songs “Only the Good Die Young”, was written pretty clearly about Billy hoping to get more than a kiss from poor Virginia. The Pope at the time (John Paul II) did NOT like this one, and the church banned it. The line “...don’t let me wait, you Catholic girls start much too late.” That irked the pontiff. Billy, a Jewish man, thanked the church profusely for their hatred of the song, as after they banned it, it skyrocketed into the top 10. You can put this one up there with “Piano Man” and “New York State of Mind” and several others as songs synonymous with Billy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last two songs on the album are strong, but when you are following 4 top 20 hits, you have to pale in comparison. “The Stranger” was really Billy’s coming out party as a rock star. The next 4 albums that follow are just as strong, but in very different ways. All 4 went to number 1, produced 4 grammy nominations and 2 wins, as well as Billy’s first two number one hits. We have officially entered the golden age of Billy.</span></div>
<br /></b><br />Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-32675122057331160862018-06-05T08:29:00.002-07:002018-06-05T08:30:28.106-07:00Turnstiles 6/5/18<b>Album</b>: Turnstiles<br />
<b>Release Date</b>: 5/19/76<br />
<b>Biggest Hit</b>: “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (Number 17 on the Billboard Charts)<br />
<b>Songs I have heard live in concert</b>: “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”, “Summer, Highland Falls”, “New York State of Mind”, “Prelude/Angry Young Man”, “Miami 2017”<br />
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Track Listing:<br />
Say Goodbye to Hollywood<br />
Summer, Highland Falls<br />
All You Wanna Do is Dance<br />
New York State of Mind<br />
James<br />
Prelude/Angry Young Man<br />
I’ve Loved These Days<br />
Miami 2017<br />
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Sit back and get comfortable. This one is going to be a long one. I can’t begin to say how much I love this album. It is one of probably three Billy albums (along with “The Stranger” and “Glass Houses”) that I can sit and listen to from start to finish without wanting to skip a song.<br />
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Let’s start by putting the album in perspective: for the two of you who read the blog about “Streetlife Serenade” (which would be twice the number of people who bought the album itself), you know that Billy was in LA. Well, after SS bombed, he said forget it, and headed back east. Billy loves NYC. We know that. On his way back home he penned so many of these songs. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” a very Ronnette’s like song, talks abouts Billy leaving LA, and being somewhat mixed about the decision. As we can see from some of the songs on this album, the decision was the correct one after all.<br />
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“Summer, Highland Falls” will forever be in my top 5 Billy songs, no question. It is a beautiful melody, with lyrics that are, according to Billy, “an ode to manic depression”. “It’s either sadness or euphoria” says the song. Probably a bit extreme, but it makes for an amazing ditty.<br />
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“All You Wanna Do is Dance” was ahead of it’s time. A bit reggae, a bit disco, it would have fit well 5 years later on “Glass Houses”.<br />
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What can one say about Billy’s signature song “New York State of Mind” that hasn’t been said already? While it is already a song that we all know, and we have all heard, when you put it in perspective: Billy riding cross country from LA to New York and writing about his love for that city, it becomes an even better song. Turnstiles, as you will see soon, reminds me of my Dad quite a bit. This song not being the least of the reasons why. Whenever we go to see Billy, I will ask “so, which song did you enjoy best”. His answer is consistently this one. Always. And, if you want to send him right over the edge, ask him about how much he enjoys hearing it live at Madison Square Garden.<br />
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“James” is a song written about one of Billy’s childhood friends with whom he lost touch. It played a large role in the musical “Movin’ Out”, but otherwise is pretty forgettable. The one thing I will say for it is that the use of the electric piano sounds an awful lot like a song on Billy’s next album, one that even won him his first grammy, so all is not lost.<br />
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“Prelude/Angry Young Man” is a tough one for me. Do I like it more because of Billy’s rapid piano playing tour de force? Or do I like it more because the lyrics refer to someone we all know? “There’s a place in the world for the angry young man, with his working class ties and his radical plans. He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl, and he’s always at home with his back to the wall. He’s proud of the scars and the battles he’s lost. He struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross, and he likes to be known as the angry young man.” I know him. So do you. As I have mentioned in past blogs, lyrics are a huge part to me. There is one in there that I think about a lot as I get older: “I believe I’ve passed the age, of consciousness and righteous rage, and I found that just surviving was a noble fight. I once believed in causes too. I had my pointless point of view, but life went on no matter who was wrong or right.” Tell you what- that line right there is good advice to a lot of folks.<br />
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“I’ve Loved These Days” is underrated- it is a song, in my opinion, about a loss of young adulthood. A change from being a rebel rousing kid to being a responsible adult, but looking back on all of those memories fondly, and not with any regret.<br />
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I could write a 3 page essay with my eyes closed about “Miami 2017”. I just adore it. Along with “Summer, Highland Falls” this one will always be top 5 for me. Billy wrote this one as a sci fi piece. As he got back to NYC, he saw in the paper that Gerald Ford had refused to bail NYC out from bankruptcy, and the headline read “Ford to NYC: Drop dead”. This inspired Billy to wonder what would happen if NYC was actually allowed to fall into disrepair. So he wrote this song about buildings falling, people fleeing and all hell breaking loose. Perhaps more interesting, he wrote it from the viewpoint of a retired man, living in Miami in the year 2017.<br />
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Fast forward to September 11, 2001. We know what happened that day, and it was not unlike the images of this song. But the song itself talked about how, even after all that mayhem, the people of New York stood strong. From that day forward it became a rallying cry for New Yorkers. Billy still plays it every night.<br />
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My personal memory of this song is probably what means most to me. When I first heard it in 1998, I thought “Wow...2017. I’ll be 33! I wonder what life will be like.” I told my dad right there and then that if Billy Joel were to play Miami in the year 2017, he and I would be there, no doubt. Fast forward to December 31, 2017. Miami, Florida. Billy is playing the BB&T Center, and Dad and I are there. He opens the show with, what else, “Miami 2017”. It was a full circle experience that I would not trade for the world.<br />
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Depending on the day, and on my mood, “Turnstiles” is my favorite Billy Joel album. It rotates quite a bit with “The Stranger” and “Glass Houses”, but on a non-musical, simply personal level, this one is untouchable. On a musical level, success level, and overall fame level, next time we’ll discuss the album that topped them all.<br />
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Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-88886159935034412342018-06-01T06:32:00.003-07:002018-06-05T08:30:20.036-07:00Streetlife Serenade 6/1/18<b>Album</b>: Streetlife Serenade<br />
<b>Release Date</b>: 11/11/74<br />
<b>Biggest Hit:</b> “The Entertainer” (#34 on the Billboard Charts)<br />
<b>Songs I have heard live in concert:</b> “Root Beer Rag”, “The Entertainer”, “Souvenir”<br />
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<b>Track Listing:</b><br />
Streetlife Serenader<br />
Los Angelenos<br />
The Great Suburban Showdown<br />
Root Beer Rag<br />
Roberta<br />
The Entertainer<br />
Last of the Big Time Spenders<br />
Weekend Song<br />
Souvenir<br />
The Mexican Connection<br />
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If we decide to strike “Cold Spring Harbor” from the record, which most people do, we would have to consider this album Billy’s “Sophomore Slump”. I feel bad for him since he had to push out an album nearly one year after a successful one in “Piano Man”. Obviously touring took up a great part of that year, and the album that resulted was sub-par.<br />
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I think the most interesting thing about “Serenade” is how it is pretty Los Angeles based. Songs like “Los Angelenos” and “Great Suburban Showdown” have very west coast vibes. Just a year later, Billy would write an entire album about how much more he loves New York than LA, and basically bash the city of Angels for the rest of his career.<br />
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There are two instrumental pieces on here, the only two instrumental pieces Billy would write until his classical album in 2001. “Mexican Connection” probably could have been a full song if Billy had the time/energy to add lyrics. “Root Beer Rag” though stands strongly on its own. And, truthfully, watching it performed in concert is a lot of fun.<br />
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“The Entertainer” is probably Billy’s first jab at the record business, something that would show up over and over and over again in his career. The lyrics are so telling of what being a singer/songwriter must be like. “If you’re gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05” and “you’ll be thrown in the back on the discount rack, like another can of beans.” His anger is palpable, but also somewhat endearing. Who wouldn’t be ticked off with that kind of life? I mean now, we know it worked out, but back then, who knew if it would?<br />
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“Souvenir” is probably the only song on this album I have any relationship with. He still plays this one live, but only at New Year’s Eve shows. After midnight the lyrics “Every year is a souvenir that slowly fades away” really are ideal. It is a short song, about 90 seconds in length. I don’t know there is much more he could have done to elongate it, but it is a good one.<br />
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“Roberta” is one of Billy’s lower moments. It is a love song. To a stripper. Written by a married man. So digest that just for a moment if you can. The man who already wrote “She’s Got a Way” for his wife, is now serenading a stripper. This is the kind of thing that happens when a record company demands a new album too quickly.<br />
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Overall “Serenade” is not terrible, but it is not up to par with what is about to happen. Because for the next 15 years, Billy is about to be untouchable. Moving back to New York turned out to be the best possible thing to happen to our friend, both musically and monetarily. We of course can only share in one, but I am glad we can.<br />
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Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-84095672597728054832018-05-24T06:41:00.002-07:002018-05-24T06:44:18.801-07:00Piano Man 5/24/18 <b>Album:</b> Piano Man<br />
<b>Release Date</b>: 11/9/73<br />
<b>Biggest Hit</b>: “Piano Man” (Number 25 on the Billboard Charts)<br />
<b>Songs I Have Heard in Concert</b>: “Piano Man”, “Ballad of Billy the Kid”, “Stop in Nevada”, “Captain Jack”<br />
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<b>Track Listing:</b><br />
Travelin’ Prayer<br />
Piano Man<br />
Ain’t No Crime<br />
You’re My Home<br />
The Ballad of Billy the Kid<br />
Worse Comes to Worst<br />
Stop in Nevada<br />
If I Only Had the Words (To Tell You)<br />
Somewhere Along the Line<br />
Captain Jack<br />
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I am not going to be that guy who refuses to say he doesn’t love the song “Piano Man” because it’s “too mainstream” or “overrated”. It’s perfectly rated, and the reason it is mainstream is because it is a good story, pleasant music, and a perfect sing along song. Now granted, it has been ruined at many a karaoke bar by folks who have taken too much advantage of the $1 shot/ $1 beer specials. But for me, singing “Piano Man” with Billy Joel in concert gives me chills every single time. When he puts on that harmonica and 20,000 people go crazy, it’s a special moment.<br />
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Actually the entire album is really a very strong one. It’s probably the first time I have gotten to truly enjoy Billy’s lyrics. He himself has said several times that he doesn’t understand how “Piano Man” became as big as it has, because the lyrics themselves are simply a limerick:<br />
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John at the Bar is a friend of mine/</div>
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He gets me my drinks for free./</div>
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He’s quick with a joke/</div>
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Or to light up your smoke/</div>
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But there’s someplace that he’d rather be.</div>
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“Captain Jack” is the other well known song on this album, and I frankly never understood anyone’s love for it until I heard it live. It simply does not translate well on the recording. Live it is outstanding. As an adult I always was a bit insulted by Billy’s lyrics in this one. Especially the “when you’re 21 and still your mother makes your bed, and that’s too long.” Um, excuse me Bill. We can’t all have mansions on Long Island.<br />
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This album is the also the first time I got to see the versatility in Billy’s song writing. As we’ll see once we get to “52nd Street” and beyond, most of his albums have a theme. A doo-wop album, or a jazz album, or a Beatles album. Piano Man has a little bit of everything. “Travelin Prayer” screams country, along with a banjo. “Ain’t No Crime” was stolen straight from a Sunday Gospel service, and “Ballad of Billy the Kid” sounds like an Aaron Copeland knock off. And of course, let us not forget the psychedelic imagery of “Captain Jack”, written just 3 years after the summer of love, and the fact that in addition to being a limerick, “Piano Man” is also a waltz. Lots of things going on here.<br />
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One of the things you might find out while reading this blog is that I am obsessed with lyrics. There are so many on this album that speak to me. I’ll give you a quick run down:<br />
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Piano Man: “But they know that it’s me they’ve been coming to see, to forget about life for awhile.” Hearing Billy sing those words live actually brings a lump to my throat, because, he’s right. It is him we came to see to forget about life for a while.<br />
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In “Ballad of Billy the Kid” Billy writes about the outlaw...Billy the kid. (Not historically accurate. He says he was a legend in his time east and west of the Rio Grande. The issue, of course, is that the Rio Grande runs east to west...so…). The first line of the song is “From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia, rode a boy with a six gun in his hand. And his daring life of crime, made him a legend in his time, east and west of the Rio Grande”. The final verse of the song begins “From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island, rode a boy with a six pack in his hand”, an obvious reference to himself. I always loved the creativity of that.<br />
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But by far the Billy Joel lyric I think about the most as I get older comes from “Somewhere Along the Line”:<br />
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Hey it’s good to be a young man, </div>
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And to live the way you please.</div>
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For a young man is the king of every kingdom that he sees.</div>
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But there’s an old and feeble man not far behind,</div>
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That surely will catch up to him</div>
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Somewhere along the line.</div>
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As I find myself struggling to make it to 10pm, I realize that the man is right. He always is. And whenever I am in the mood for a melody, he’s got me feeling alright.<br />
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Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-18693770164570017352018-05-21T13:30:00.000-07:002018-05-21T16:26:20.616-07:00Cold Spring Harbor 5/21/18<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Album</b>: Cold Spring Harbor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: 11/1/71</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Biggest Hit</b>: “She’s Got a Way”- Number 23 on the Billboard Chart</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Songs I have heard live in concert</b>: “She’s Got a Way”, “Everybody Loves You Now”</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Track Listing:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. She's Got a Way</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. You Can Make Me Free</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. Everybody Loves You Now</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4. Why Judy Why?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5. Falling of the Rain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">6. Turn Around</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">7. You Look So Good to Me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">8. Tomorrow is Today</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">9. Nocturne</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">10. Got To Begin Again</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Poor Billy. After all those years as a struggling singer/songwriter, here comes Billy with a record deal. He puts out a 10 song album, 30 minutes in length (it only feels like an eternity).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Problem number one with the album was that it was recorded at the wrong speed. Billy sounds kind of Chipmunk-like. I can hear Dave Seville yelling “Billy” after he yells “Alvin”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For me, I have a very strong connection to the idea of “Cold Spring Harbor”, but was never able to get behind it. During the height of my Billy fandom, it was my goal to collect every album. Hands down the hardest to find was this one. But, leave it to my friend John. For my 15th birthday, he arrived, CD in hand, and that CD was “Cold Spring Harbor”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The most recognizable song on the album is probably the one I most strongly relate to: “She’s Got a Way”. Written about Billy’s first wife Elizabeth, whose way was apparently not that strong, as she was replaced by 3 other ladies down the road, it’s your typical love song. I think of all of Billy’s sappy ballads, it is my least favorite, but it’s still pretty darn good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My strongest memory of this song comes from the first time I saw Billy live in concert: November 22, 1998. I remember the date for two reasons: One, it was the 35th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, and that was discussed during the intro of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” late in the show. Secondly, the show was scheduled for April, but Billy came down with bronchitis (likely brought on by pinot grigio, chardonnay, and chiante) and had to postpone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The concert is memorable for a million reasons, and by the time our little journey is finished, I am sure I’ll talk about it quite a bit, but let me paint this picture: I love my mother. I love my friend John (same John who was able to track down a copy of this album). The four of us went to dinner prior to the show, and all through dinner my nerves were at a record breaking high. I kept saying “I don’t want to be late. Please, we can’t be late.” And guess what happened? We were late. So for those of you who wonder why I’m always early, now you know. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As we walked into the Rosemont Horizon, the opening whistle of “Allentown” could be heard, and I moved faster than I knew possible to our seats. By the time we sat down and were settled in, it was time to really enjoy the show, and that song was “She’s Got a Way”. I remember sitting and looking at the stage amazed that this was indeed Billy Joel, sitting there playing a song he released almost 30 years earlier (now almost 50 years…). It’s a memory engrained. And one I look back upon fondly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Really the sleeper pick on this album is “Everybody Loves You Now”. Billy wrote the song about a self important friend of his, and the amount of biting sarcasm is stunning. Some of the lyrics are so fun to listen to, and one also gives a shout out to the title of the album itself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Overall, it’s my second least favorite Billy album (wait until we get to “The Bridge”. Oy vey). But I am glad that it flopped because it led Billy to the west coast to find another job. Once he got out there he wrote a little diddy about his time as the piano singer in a piano bar that changed his life, my life, and countless others. More on that next time. </span></div>
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Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285642258918886743.post-1919027560434914122018-05-16T13:18:00.005-07:002018-05-16T18:13:09.948-07:005/16/18- Introduction<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-bff5b218-6a9a-95b8-3093-ba8467929ec9" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why on Earth would anyone write a blog based solely on Billy Joel? Well first of all, because if I wrote it all about myself, it would appear self serving, even for me. Secondly, I was sitting with one of my friends at dinner the other night and he was saying how he would love to publish a book. He finds writing very relaxing and worthwhile. So I thought, “if I were to write, what would I write about?” There are a million Disney World blogs, so I can’t compete there. Wrestling podcasts have become a dime a dozen, so my knowledge is lost on that topic, so why not Billy? And why not now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now actually seems like the best time for a few reasons. My lifelong obsession...um, interest (lawyers could be reading, and we don’t want trouble) in Billy’s music began in 8th grade when I was 14, so 20 years ago. My friends and I had a fun tradition at grade school dances of always requesting “Piano Man” and then getting up on stage and leading the crowd in a sing along. In an even more frightening turn, we were considered cool for that. The late 90’s were a confusing time for us all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like many people the only Billy song I really knew was “Piano Man”. One day at Sam Goody (kids, look it up) the Greatest Hits 1 & 2 CD box set was on sale, so I begged my parents to let me buy it. I brought it home, and what do you know? I knew a whole bunch of these songs! “Just the Way You Are”, “Only the Good Die Young”, “She’s Always a Woman”, “Big Shot”, “My Life”, etc. I was hooked. And now, 20 years later, I am just as hooked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reason number two for the perfect timing is that 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Billy’s last studio album “River of Dreams”. To put that in perspective for you, I have been a fan for 20 years and in that time Billy has released no new pop albums. He released a Frank Sinatra like song written for his 3rd ex-wife in 2007, but it wasn’t my jam. To me this fandom based solely on music older than me, speaks volumes about how good the music is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just a side note on the above paragraph- the man was married to Christie Brinkley. If that doesn’t give every man in America hope, nothing does.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another reason for this blog is that, much like “Seinfeld”, the older I get, the more I understand it. The lyrics in the songs mean something very different to me now as a 34 year old than they did when I was 14. It’s not unlike 13 year old me really enjoying Alanis Morissette, and then 24 year old me wondering how on Earth my parents let me listen to that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The memories I have of Billy Joel are countless. From recommending “This is the Time” as our 8th grade graduation song (only to be outvoted in favor of “Time of Your Life” by Green Day), to the New Year’s Eve in Orlando when Billy shook my hand and wished me a happy new year, to hearing him sing “New York State of Mind” countless times at MSG, to watching him perform at Wrigley Field combining two of my favorite things, Billy has been a huge part of each walk of my life. He was even in a Disney movie for God’s sake!!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The blog serves as a countdown of sorts to July 18. On that date Billy will perform his 100th concert at Madison Square Garden. Elton John is in a distant second place with 64 performances at the world’s most famous arena. This show will be the 21st time I have seen Long Island’s favorite son live, and, much like the Garden, in my personal rankings, Elton John is a distant second with 14. Seeing Bruce Springsteen live is an experience. It is a 3.5 hour roller coaster of energy. In some ways, that experience can’t be beat. Seeing Billy live is almost a homecoming for me. Hearing the theme from “The Natural” hit, knowing the show is moments away. Knowing that when those lights go up, the man himself will be tickling the ivories, likely to “Angry Young Man” or “Miami 2017”, is a very familiar and comfortable evening. Kind of like a family dinner, except not as loud. (Trust me. If you ever come to a family dinner at my parent’s house, you will know that Billy’s sound system is set to a respectful volume.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the 10 weeks or so prior to that concert, I am going to review each of Billy’s studio albums one by one. It will be a lot of fun to revisit some songs I haven’t heard in ages, listen to some that I have heard a million times, and share the thoughts and memories that come from each one. I do truly hope you enjoy the blog, the stories and the memories, but frankly, I am writing this mostly for me. As Billy said at his Y2K concert “it’s kind of a culmination of things”, and I am looking forward to watching them all come together. Maybe you will discover some new songs, or re-discover some old ones. Maybe you are one of the people who just doesn’t like Billy Joel. If that is the case, first, I have no idea why you are reading this. Get a hobby. But secondly, I am not going to try to sway your opinion. I am simply trying to put down into words how wonderful life is while you’re in the world….wait no. That’s someone else. I am simply trying to put down in words what music can do to a life. How it can inspire and travel with you step by step.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People often talk about the soundtrack of their lives. Mine has been written mainly by one man. So, next blog we’ll start at the beginning with “Cold Spring Harbor”. And, spoiler, the first scene of the movie isn’t very good. </span></div>
Brendan Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211090559012624915noreply@blogger.com0