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Billy JoelAlbums ReviewedTurnstiles (1976)52nd Street (1978) Glasshouses (1980) The Nylon Curtain (1982) An Innocent Man (1983) Greatest Hits (1985) The Bridge (1986) I've owned almost all of Billy Joel's albums at some point, but I got rid of quite a few during the great LP cleanout of 1998 and the great cassette cleanout of 2001. I'll try and review them from memory, but my opinions may be misleading. I'll mark the from-memory ones with an asterisk. Attila(1970)I've never heard Attila; one of my greatest regrets in music collecting is that I once passed up the opportunity to purchase an LP copy at a bargain price. Anyway, my opinion would be of little value, as there seems to be a general consensus that Attila is a strong candidate for the worst album ever made. Attila was a heavy metal group consisting of Joel on vocals and distorted organ and his friend Jon Small on drums; song titles include 'Godzilla', 'March of the Huns' and 'Brain Invasion'. According to Joel, the album was recorded with a German engineer who hated rock music and couldn't speak English. Shortly afterwards, Small divorced his wife and Joel married her, which kind of destroyed the group. Fortunately, you can read a scathingly funny review of Attila at the All Music Guide. * Cold Spring Harbour(1972)In a massive career shift, Joel switched from heavy metal to singer-songwriter, but the results weren't much better. I spun this a few times and nothing really grabbed me except 'She's Got A Way' (which is horribly sappy anyway) and, to a lesser extent, 'Everybody Loves You Now'. Joel was manipulated by a pop svengali named Artie Ripp, who forced Joel to spend a year recording. There were massive technical problems with original copies of the album; they were sped up so that Joel sounded like a chipmunk. 
* Piano Man(1973)'Captain Jack' and the sardonic western 'The Ballad Of Billy The Kid are the highlights, the title track's a love it or hate it job, and there's a whole bunch of uncharacteristic and not that great country type stuff. From memory I can safely vouch that it is the best of his pre-Turnstiles releases, but it's probably somewhere around the 3 star mark. Although the famous title track might make it seem that it's one of his most important releases, really Joel was still finding his feet at this point.
Feedback: from Gina * Streetlife Serenade(1974)Streetlife Serenade continues the uncomfortable singer-songwriter style of Piano Man, and it's filler-rama to boot. The sardonic 'The Entertainer' is easily the highlight; elsewhere there are a couple of instrumentals, the tossed-off title track, a Jackson Browne ripoff ('The Great Suburban Showdown', which is actually quite good) and a few more unmemorable songs. A quintessential completists only release.
Turnstiles(1976)While Billy Joel's commercial breakthrough didn't come until the following year's The Stranger, Turnstiles was where Joel came of age and finally put together a solid album. After suffering previous manipulation from managers and producers, Joel ensured a degree of artistic freedom for the Turnstiles sessions by self-producing the album and allowing his touring band to play on the sessions. The most important improvement, however, is the songwriting; Joel's work has finally taken on a distinctive east coast personality of its own, rather than imitating the singer-songwriters of the west coast. The best songs on Turnstiles are among the most credible of Joel's career as most of his lyrics indulge in social commentary on his love/hate relationship with New York; he's pleased to be back ('Say Goodbye to Hollywood', 'Summer, Highland Falls', 'New York State of Mind'), but he's aware that the city is in crisis ('I've Loved These Days' and 'Miami 2017(Seen The Lights Go Out on Broadway)'). In his biography, Joel states that "Gerald Ford made a speech saying he wasn't going to give federal aid to New York City and there was this headline in the paper: 'Ford To New York City: Drop Dead!' And that sparked off this vision of being a grandfather in the year 2017, living in Miami Beach, talking to my grandchildren saying 'I remember what happened in New York City when the gunboats came up and blew the whole place away." All the above songs are fantastic; Joel and his band are able to evoke a variety of moods successfully, while his lyrics are generally insightful. Joel's classical background shines through in the beautiful baroque-like 'Summer, Highland Falls' and the melodic themes of 'Prelude/An Angry Young Man', while 'Miami 2017' is one of Joel's best rockers (admittedly, that's not a particularly difficult achievement). In an unfortunate characteristic that would hound him throughout his career, Joel seems to have no editing capability; there's generally a song or two on all of his albums that brings enjoyment to a halt. On Turnstiles the two offenders are deathly boring; 'James' is a lacklustre McCartney ripoff, while 'All You Wanna Do Is Dance' turgidly explores a theme that has already graced the pop lexicon far too often. The other songs are pretty much fantastic though, making Turnstiles one of the most essential Joel albums if you already have a compilation.
* The Stranger(1977)I used to have a LP copy of The Stranger, but I seem to have given it away. While his other classic albums each have a distinctive style or concern (Turnstiles = New York commentary with a sound comparable to Springsteen's Born To Run, 52nd Street = jazz, Glass Houses = new wave, The Nylon Curtain = Beatlesque, An Innocent Man = fifties nostalgia), The Stranger can't be pigeon-holed as conveniently. If anything, it's the most quintessentially Billy Joel album. Five out of the nine tracks are on 1985's Greatest Hits, while the excellent epic 'Scenes From An Italian Restaurant' is included on the CD version, which gives an indication of The Stranger's strength. The title track, 'Scenes' and the melodic 'She's Always A Woman' easily rate among Joel's best work, but I'm not quite so keen on the Catholic-baiting 'Only The Good Die Young' or the ballad 'Just The Way You Are'. I can't remember the other three songs at all (including 'Vienna', which is often singled out as a highlight), so it wouldn't be fair to give The Stranger a rating, but it clearly stands up against the other albums in Joel's classic period and may even be his best. Joel originally wanted George Martin (the fifth Beatle) to produce but ended up with Phil Ramone (not the fifth Ramone), who hung round until The Bridge. 52nd Street(1978)52nd Street won a Grammy for best album in 1979, but isn't noticeably better than Joel's other albums from the period. Unlike those there are no obviously bad songs, but a lot of the tracks feel insubstantial and insignificant. Several of Joel's lyrics borrow liberally from Springsteen's street operas of The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle, using characters like Rosalinda and Angelina. However, Joel's vision is nowhere near as rich as Springsteen's; his characters merely play guitar, dance or sit around doing nothing. Strangely, the singles are the most personal (and therefore substantial) songs on 52nd Street: 'My Life' is a declaration of independence, although Joel isn't as feisty as he thinks he is, 'Big Shot' seems realistic (indeed, Joel writes that "I did a lot of personal research for that song") while 'Honesty' seems heartfelt. Interestingly, 'Honesty' appears to be a response to Paul Simon's 1973 album track 'Tenderness'; Joel reverses Simon's "there's no tenderness/beneath your honesty" to "If you search for tenderness it isn't hard to find....Honesty is hardly ever heard." This opening trio also provide the variety in 52nd Street; 'Big Shot' is an excellent rock song, 'Honesty' is a nice ballad while 'My Life' is a perfect slice of mainstream pop. The rest of 52nd Street is quite distinct from the singles, finding Joel exploring jazzier territory than anywhere else in his catalogue; obvious landmarks include lots of syncopation and horns. It works well musically, but as noted before, some of the lyrics are nondescript. 'Stiletto' is the standout, with rhythmically arranged lyrics and a punchy arrangements, while Joel's melodic tendencies shine through in the lyrically pedestrian 'Rosalinda's Eyes'. Joel also pulls of a reasonably convincing Righteous Brothers impersonation on 'Until The Night', eben though his vocals are a little too limited to pull it off completely. There's a bit of throwaway stuff on 52nd Street, but it's still a really enjoyable release. Billy Joel was a favourite of mine almost ten years ago and I started my Billy Joel review regime expecting to hand out a lot of two and three star ratings, but I've found the mid-section of his catalogue very pleasant.
Feedback: from Joe Glass Houses(1980)From D. Geller and T. Hibbert, Billy Joel: An Illustrated Biography, London, 1985, p 88: "Billy's intentions in making Glass Houses were clear. He was sick of people thinking he was MOR and wanted to "throw a rock at the image people have of me as a mellow balladeer."...Billy said: "we've been playing rock and roll for years and years and years. This album is hard rock heavy. No balance between the ballads and the harder stuff." Billy was excited about making rock, nothing but rock." Despite Joel's best intentions, Glass Houses is not a rock album. His attempts to gain rock credibility are hampered by his insistence in placing synthesiser solos in the middle of promising rock songs, and an expedition into the dangerous waters of French in 'C'Etait Toi'. While Glass Houses is not rock, it is more stripped down and less soppy than Joel's usual work. His lyrics are less ambitious than usual, which helps him to avoid embarrassments like the "Remember Charlie, remember Baker/They left their childhood, on every acre" fiasco from 1982's The Nylon Curtain. Instead Joel pretends to be a hormone crazed adolescent, in an attempt to gain elusive rock credibility: "even rode my motorcycle in the rain." While his intentions are astray, Joel's approach allows him to string together a solid collection of songs, apart from 'C'Etait Toi'. The forgotten 'All For Leyna' is one of his best singles, while the ridiculous 'Close to the Borderline' entertains with the misguided couplet "I shouldn't bitch, I shouldn't cry/I'd start a revolution but I don't have time." 'Sometimes a Fantasy' and 'Sleeping With the Television On' are fun, while the closer 'Through the Long Night' is a subtle charmer. Joel is opening himself up to ridicule here with his attempts to be young and rocking, and if you're so inclined there's plenty on Glass Houses to tear to shreds. But if you leave your preconceptions at the door, Glass Houses is good clean fun. Apart from 'Close to the Borderline', which promises that "We're gonna all go to hell/With the next big meltdown."
Songs in the Attic(1981)I've never owned a copy of this; it consists of live versions of songs from Joel's first four albums. The project certainly makes sense; Joel revisits the highlights of his back-catalogue with his established backing band, and enhanced confidence and showmanship. The Nylon Curtain(1982)The Nylon Curtain rates as Joel's most ambitious album, but surprisingly it's also his best. The Nylon Curtain addresses the themes of Joel's generation, such as Vietnam, unemployment and divorce, using Beatlesque music. Joel occasionally overreaches himself with his lyrics, especially in the often criticised 'Goodnight Saigon'. While 'Goodnight Saigon' hardly gives an accurate picture of the Vietnam War (Billy attempted suicide after the failure of Attila and checked into a mental institution, therefore avoiding the war), it does provide some genuine resonance in the same way that a national anthem should. While desperate rhyming like "they heard the sound of the motors/they counted the rotors/and waited for us to arrive" diminish the song's impact, the clever musical devices such as the slow build up, the rousing chorus, and the echoes and guitar crashes make 'Goodnight Saigon' one of Joel's best records. The other centrepieces of The Nylon Curtain are the pyschedelic 'Scandinavian Skies', which isn't compositionally spectacular but has an engrossingly creepy aura, and the social protest 'Allentown' which earned Joel a key to the city for drawing attention to the closure of the region's industries. Joel doesn't put a foot wrong in the latter; the central piano riff is magical, while he even gets away with making train noises. What really makes The Nylon Curtain a standout album is that almost all of the remaining compositions are of a comparable quality. 'She's Right on Time', 'Laura' and 'Surprises' are all lovely slices of pop but are also surprisingly skewed, particularly the delightful and overlooked 'Surprises'. 'Pressure' is enjoyable ("Psych 1, Pysch 2/What do you know?"), but it's also dated, showing the first signs of a 1980s edge to Joel's albums. This draws attention to Phil Ramone's excellent production on Joel's albums since The Stranger, as they rarely sound dated. Unfortunately, The Nylon Curtain wouldn't be a true Billy Joel album if it didn't have at least one clanger. 'A Room Of Our Own' is a complete shocker, neither fitting the album musically or being a remotely good song. Joel's rock songs are very hit and miss; sometimes he comes up with something wonderful like 'Big Shot' or 'Sometimes A Fantasy', while other times he misses completely with 'A Room Of Our Own' or 'Christie Lee'. It is fairly obvious from listening to The Nylon Curtain that Joel intended it to be something more substantial than his other albums; while he just falls short of an era-defining statement, he does succeed in creating a great pop album.
An Innocent Man(1983)In retrospect 1983's An Innocent Man stands as the last album in Billy Joel's golden period that had lasted since 1976's Turnstiles. Since An Innocent Man Joel has only created three further studio albums, and has now retreated into classical music. An Innocent Man was written when Joel was wooing supermodel Christie Brinkley, and was an attempt to recreate the light-hearted vibe of the late 1950s and early 1960s. "How can you go through puberty without hearing 'When A Man Loves a Woman' by Percy Sledge?" Joel asked. "I wanted to hear songs like that on the radio again. So I wrote my own." It would be conceivable to pigeonhole An Innocent Man as Joel's sellout pop album, but not sensible as Joel rarely enjoyed any degree of artistic integrity. In fact, emphasising his pop tendences doesn't hurt Joel at all; An Innocent Man isn't as long lasting as other Joel albums, but does provide an adrenaline blast in ultra-melodic tracks like 'Tell Her About It' and 'Uptown Girl'. The core of An Innocent Man runs from the second track to the sixth; five consecutive songs that make me feel almost as giddy as a schoolgirl. The title track is actually a little out of place with more serious thematic concerns; some of Joel's tightest lyrics build up to an impressively memorable vocal hook ("Oh yes I am/An innocent man"). 'The Longest Time' is one of Joel's best-known tracks, despite being completely acapella. 'This Night' is arguably the album's highlight, cunningly using a soaring Beethoven melody for its chorus. 'Tell Her About It' and 'Uptown Girl' (recently covered by Westlife) swagger with confidence; Joel's vocal delivery is assured, and his lyrics smoothly effortless ("She's been living in her white bread world/As long as anyone with hot blood can/And now she's looking for a downtown man/That's what I am"). Outside of his winning sequence, Joel isn't quite as convincing; opening track 'Easy Money' features some innovative horns, but Joel sounds as though he's still trying to emulate Springsteen. An Innocent Man's other rocker, 'Christie Lee', is similarly uncomfortable. 'Keeping the Faith' is intended as a grand summary, but doesn't totally work; the central hook is certainly memorable, yet Joel's lyrics seem forced like he's tring to establish glue sniffin' credibility ("Drank a lot of take home pay"). As the culmination of Billy Joel's classic era, An Innocent Man summarises all that was great and all that was frustrating about his career to date. He was never original and most of his albums have at least one outright failure (if not a lot more), but equally he could be relied upon to deliver regular doses of solidly composed and instantly hummable pop songs.
Greatest Hits Volume 1 & Volume 2(1985)Even though Joel's albums are generally entertaining, they tend to function as collections of songs rather than cohesive artistic statements. Therefore, Joel is a natural artist to anthologise; it's no surprise that plenty of his songs are still on overtime on pop radio, and I prefer Joel to almost any other mainstream hit maker of his late seventies-early eighties era. His best known songs, 'Piano Man' and 'Just The Way You Are', are too tacky and ubiquitous for my liking, but my cassette version has nineteen other songs to discover concentrating on his peak 1976-1983 period. The CD version has a few extra songs tacked on, mostly dating from before Turnstiles, but inexplicably omits 'Honesty'. The overview of Greatest Hits Volume 1 & Volume 2 reveals Joel as less one-dimensional than his detractors claim, ranging from perky pop and fifties throwbacks to rockier material and sophisticated pop epics, as well the piano ballads that Joel is most commonly associated with. While most of the songs here are highlights on their respective albums, the songs that stand out on this particular compilation are the aggressive title track with the whistling introduction from The Stranger, the lovely piano ballads 'She's Always A Woman' (hilariously misprinted in Joel's biography as 'She's Only A Woman') and 'Honesty' and the socio-political commentary of 'Allentown' and 'Goodnight Saigon' from The Nylon Curtain. If anything, Greatest Hits isn't big enough to hold Joel's pop libido; it's difficult to quibble with many of the inclusions, but highlights such as 'All For Leyna' and 'This Night' are inevitably omitted. As an inevitable consumer enticement Greatest Hits features two new songs, both drowning in 1985 production. The cringe-worthy 'You're Only Human' is the worst song on here, but 'The Night Is Still Young' is totally redeemed by a fabulous vocal hook that rubs in Joel's skill as a pop craftsman. Greatest Hits Volume 1 & Volume 2 is a good summary of the best part of Joel's career; even though there are plenty more pop nuggets to discover on his albums, this may be all the Joel you need.
Feedback: from TonyV The Bridge(1986)The Bridge, complete with big '80s production (the synthesiser doesn't just whine, it blares), far too many songs about Christie Brinkley, stacks of guest appearances and Joel posing in shades, helps us all to remember how unassumingly pleasant his previous output was. Instead of a bright-eyed kid trying to emulate McCartney and/or Springsteen, he's now an '80s mega-star married to a super-model and he's letting us all know about it. 'Modern Woman' isn't just set in the '80s, it is the '80s; "Rock and roll just used to be for the kicks/And nowadays it's politics/And after 1986 what else could be new?" Well Billy, it's only a few years later, but we've already seen huge advances in technology and markedly improved taste in fashion and record production. Joel even tries to capture a sympathy vote with the musically predictable and conceptually heinous 'Temptation'; about how he can't get any work done because he's too busy shagging his super-model wife. We all feel REAL sorry for you Billy. Elsewhere, we hear how 'This Is The Time' for Billy and Christie's relationship, which is 'A Matter Of Trust'. Joel defends his spouse in 'Modern Woman' and serenades her with Ray Charles on 'Baby Grand'. I have The Bridge on LP, which makes it easy to generalise that side one is virtually utter crap and the second side is mostly alright, apart from 'Temptation' which is about 1/56783th as good as the stellar New Order composition of the same name. If someone at CBS had been clever enough to swap 'A Matter Of Trust' and 'Temptation', there'd be almost no reason to listen to the first side at all. The second side kicks off with the jazzy 'Big Man On Mulberry Street', which would have been right at home on 52nd Street and features famous jazz musicians Ron Carter and Michael Brecker. 'Code Of Silence' is an entertaining collaboration with Cyndi Lauper; DeVitto adds some funky beats, while a harmonica adds some much needed grit. Album closer 'Getting Closer' threatens to be one too many mid tempo pop/rockers, but Steve Winwood's Hammond Organ works wonders, leading a nice improvisational section that improves the song no end. 'A Matter Of Trust' is a little too pedestrian to be a great rock song, but we all know that more guitars equals less synthesisers equals a good thing. Even Joel cites The Bridge as one of his least favourite efforts; it's certainly a large step down from The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man, and a rational explanation for Joel's position as a critical bean bag.
Feedback: TonyV writes Thanks for your even handed take on Billy Joel's work. You are entirely correct in your assessment of The Bridge as a transitional album. But ''Baby Grand'' is a great song! Not about Brinkley at all. It's a classic saloon song.
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
