Greatest Hits Vol.1 & 2 [Remastered] - Billy Joel > Reviews > Sing Us A Song Youre The Piano Man

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Most of Billy Joel's best - known songs are here in one user - friendly package, likely to appeal to casual fans
Disadvantages:	Now that a more complete retrospective is available, the fact it only covers up to 1985 counts against it slightly

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There are some singer-songwriters who just never get quite the critical respect or general recognition their work deserves. Billy Joel is one such artist.

While he may have enjoyed a handful of generously-proportioned hit singles in the UK (Just The Way You Are, Uptown Girl, We Didn't Start The Fire, River Of Dreams), Billy Joel's profile here has never quite moved beyond a grudging acknowledgement that he's been responsible for some fine examples of AOR (Adult-Orientated Rock) down the years.

Few may realise just what a versatile and enduring talent the man actually has. It's all here, though, on this double CD set that covers the first half of his recording career - from 1973's Piano Man (nothing from his 1971 debut, Cold Spring Harbour, makes the grade) to 1985's brace of tracks that gave the second part of the album some (then) new matreial. Pop, soul, jazz, gospel, rock, doo-wop, new wave.....Joel has been almost chameleon-like in his absorption and integration of every mainstream genre of the last 50 years.

The early releases were characterised by lyrical vignettes of city life, and in particular the type of characters who've fallen on harder, troubled times. Piano Man itself, which kicks off CD1, best displays this empathetic side to Joel's writing which has become something of a trademark.

Comparisons with Elton John were inevitable - it was the era of John's rise to superstardom in both Britain and America - yet Billy Joel wrote the words as well as the music on his records - would it be heresy to claim that they were superior to anything from the Elton/Bernie Taupin team? On the whole, it's not an unreasonable argument.

The mid-70s consolidated his early promise, as the hits kept on rolling...Say Goodbye To Hollywood, the langourous New York State Of Mind, and The Stranger - which introduced a more rock-orientated approach to great success.

Then came the real breakthrough with the classic ballad Just The Way You Are, still revered as an all-time great in the lovesong stakes. Joel returned to similar territory with She's Always A Woman, She's Got A Way and This Is The Time (which would crop up on Greatest Hits Volume 3) during subsequent years, but none of them could match Just The Way You Are's graceful melodic beauty and down-to-earth, heartfelt emotion.

Movin' Out, My Life and Big Shot rounded off the decade (and Volume 1) in style, along with the deceptively upbeat Only The Good Die Young and the madcap You May Be Right.

The New-Wave explosion had taken hold by the start of the Eighties, and as ever Joel took elements of the style on board.....even making a commentary on the movement - It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me - his first hit of the new decade (it went all the way to #1 in the US).

A clutch of underrated and less commercial singles followed - the frenzied synth-heavy Pressure, Allentown's wonderfully-constructed lament to an ailing Industrial Community, and Goodnight Saigon, one of the earliest Vietnam Veteran songs. The tone was bleaker now, less personal. Joel's gaze had turned global, moving outisde the confines of urban chaos.

Perhaps as an antidote to this, 1983's An Innocent Man took a much lighter tone. The album was a lovingly assembled collection of original material that used the music of the 50s and 60s as both inspiration and stylistic touchstones. Joel's love-letter to the sounds of his youth. Massively popular, and a creative triumph, An Innocent Man featured many of his best-known (and most-loved) songs - Uptown Girl (glorious Motown), Tell Her About It (ditto), and The Longest Time (assured a-capella Doo-wop harmonies).

An Innocent Man stayed on the charts for nigh on 2 years, by which time this compilation was ready for release, embellished by two fresh recordings - the breezy You're Only Human, and the slightly cumbersome ballad The Night Is Still Young.

It was an odd move at the time to release his "Greatest Hits Volume 1" and "Greatest Hits Volume 2" as one package...14 years without a Billy Joel collection, and then two joined together. The likelihood of such a thing nowadays would be extremely remote, to say the least.

21 hits over two discs left several other outstanding songs out in the cold (some of them would eventually crop up on a Limited-edition 4-CD "The Complete Hits Collection" boxset in 1998), but as a condensed guide to Billy Joel's output during those first 13 years it's hard to fault.