IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKIN' ALONE: The Official ILM Track-by-Track BILLY JOEL Listening Thread

Yeah gotta say I am loving "Glass Houses" so far too. Probably my favorite album cover of his as well

really love the guitar stings in Sleeping With Television On

last 2 have been a little Elvis Costello-y especially i. his delivery... I Dont Want To Be Alone also reminded me a bit of Bruce Springsteen? i cant put my finger on why tho. Maybe just bc he seemed a tiny bit more laid back or something

now imagine Don Henley singing it

NO

well, nah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um9Cxp87nmw

C'était Toi (You Were the One), with its extended sections in French prepared by a translator-for-hire, is Billy's attempt at a "Michelle" type number. In describing how it went over in front of French audiences, Joel compares it to the initial reception of "Springtime For Hitler" in The Producers, and claims the promoter told him "they thought you were singing in Polish." It's probably the closest thing on the album to a 52nd Street track, suggesting an alternate, yachtier course Billy could have charted into the 80s.

the french is pointless, the hook should be better (or there should be more of a hook in general), but i really enjoy the yachty riff and the way it meets with the chorus ("you were the onlyyy one" dunna dun dun dun!)

freaks and geeks seems to be the primary generator of youtube comments for this song

The electric piano brings this closer to H&O territory than the last song, and the French part is another tip of the hat to McCartney.

Between this and the "now you parlez vous francais" line in Don't Ask Me Why, I'm glad he got over his "lol French" phase.

Not the worst thing he ever cut but boy does it throw off the momentum of the album for me. Should have been a b-side or set aside for another draft and another album - unfortunately we face Joel's apparent unwillingness to ever write one minute of music more than strictly required to fulfill an LP order. I think the album as a whole would feel tighter and more exciting if he'd just knocked out a completely generic three-chord rocker about getting dumped, or a Ramones cover, or a fired-up remake of one of the "songs in the attic." Or, maybe best fitting the spirit of the album: a "Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey" type medley, stringing together rockabilly, girl group and garage-band classics in a new wave style. Throw some real energy into it and that'd make a fine album closer. Oh well.

You say that now about the French phase, but wait until we get to "Nous n'avons pas Allumé le Feu!"

I could listen to this dude all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeEhwlazthg

Another vote for "doesn't feel like it belongs on Glass Houses."

this is more curdled McCartney without the hooks

Not the worst thing he ever cut but boy does it throw off the momentum of the album for me. Should have been a b-side or set aside for another draft and another album - unfortunately we face Joel's apparent unwillingness to ever write one minute of music more than strictly required to fulfill an LP order. I think the album as a whole would feel tighter and more exciting if he'd just knocked out a completely generic three-chord rocker about getting dumped, or a Ramones cover, or a fired-up remake of one of the "songs in the attic."

totalement otm

agree with everyone,

this feels "70s" to me like it was a leftover

which, is one thing if the song is so undeniable as a hit you just have to be fuck it this has to be on, but obviously this isn't good enough to justify it

If this was on side B of 52nd Street, I'd probably like it as much as anything else on there. It's pleasant. But here it's really out-of-place. I think with a more uptempo, "Movin Out" arrangement, it might have worked here, but maybe it just doesn't make sense on Glass Houses

god what a wet fart of a song

bleh

No, you're thinking of his other French number, "Deux Étaient Toi".

schlocky and pompous

and is it really cold enough to warrant wearing those gloves?
also dude looks like he's never thrown a ball in his life.

brandy eyes

If the "you were the onlyyy one" dunna dun dun dun was guitar instead of the piano, would be closer to a power ballad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1fntXx2I4s

Close to the Borderline gets us close to the end of the album and is obviously a favorite with some parties around here. I actually have to dash out for my commute, so I'll let y'all take it from there; if I survive the inflation, the boom boxes, and the general nightmarish barrage of sensory information that characterizes New York life, I'll be back to check in later.

The way the choruses finish reminds my of Hendrix's My Friend. Loving this one, although yeah, the latest in a long line of douchebag Billy Joel song narrators.

• All that Bernie Goetz talk, ending with him holding "back the tears until it's closing time." Not so much of a tough guy after all!

• Liberty saves that bridge with ... whatever it is he's doing back there. Also love the dueling guitar solos.

• And that wail in the last :00.5!

And here's another reminder to check out my long-neglected photo blog, http://closetotheborderline.tumblr.com/ . It never bought me a Roomba like those movie scenes did, but it's still my favorite.

Also, intro was great for radio bumpers.

I'm not sure what this song is about besides its own aggression, but it's fun. Glass Houses is by far BJ's best album to date – a solid B+ or B in the end.

All that Bernie Goetz talk

Total Bernie Goetz anthem!

So Doc Casino mentioned earlier that he sees this as the song where Joel tries to go for the "angry young man" / Joe Jackson sound and I disagree! I think this is Joel's attempt to understand and perform what he sees as "punk rock." Important tell is the Johnny Rotten - style rolled "r" on "Rich man, poor man, either way American." I think Joel listened to "Anarchy in the UK" and was like, "I get it, everything's gone to hell, let me write from the persona of a man who SEES THROUGH IT and is READY TO SNAP."

But listening to it again today I see it as more one part Sex Pistols and one part Styx, a combination which would have made no sense to either of those two acts but which makes perfect sense to Joel, to whom all of it is, as mentioned above, still rock and roll. "I'm a good guy but I can't take all this dirty nonsense around me" is much more Dennis DeYoung than Johnny Rotten. Listen to the guitar in the bridge 2:25-2:40; this kind of back-and-forth "we're rocking out but it's also kind of honky-tonk" business is pure Styx.

Also I will never ever not love the opening of this song, the way it sounds like the guy just trips over the drums and falls into the song.

Hmm! Styx comparison is interesting... Actually I think I may have brought up this album when "Too Much Time On My Hands" came around on my classic rock education thread - 70s veterans excited to find in new wave an authorization to turn back to the garage rock of their 60s teenage years.

I was thinking Jackson more in terms of arrangement/backing track than vocals, tho obviously Doug Stegmeyer is no Graham Maby. (Frankly I would struggle to think of more than one or two memorable bass guitar parts anywhere in Billy's catalog. Usually Billy's handling the low end, and he'll freely admit he's not much for melodic left-hand playing... One of the things that produces the odd hybrid sound of this album maybe.)

Memorable bass parts... probably the jazzier numbers like the Stranger intro, maybe Mulberry Street. Honesty has a nice slide in it. Only Human maybe?

I was going to compare the politics of this song to the politics of "Rockin the Paradise" but Paradise Theater actually came out a year after Glass Houses! It would be interesting to understand if there's a common "I don't know why I'm still a nice guy but I'm getting close to the borderline" ancestor. Note that "Paradise" is actually a lot more anthemic "Young America listen when I say" stuff -- you're right, "Too Much Time On My Hands" a much better comp. But really, this is Joel TRYING to be hard-edged and cynical but then he admits that he cries a lot and wishes he had someone to talk to. I think it's kind of a good look actually!

I think this is Joel's attempt to understand and perform what he sees as "punk rock."

Yeah, my thought was always, "Billy had obviously heard at least Johnny Thunders and/or Bowie by this point."

The only other human being I had ever heard use the phrase "a buck three-eighty" -- before owning this album -- was my dad, also a New Yorker.

Wait is "a buck three-eighty" an actual phrase a native English speaker might say? I thought it was another "right number of syllables, song sounds fine, let's move on it's good enough" Joelism. What does it even mean?

Can't find anything solid but this link appears to date it to at least the 1930s: http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/a_dollar_three_eighty

New semester and heavy mid-week workloads mean I'm falling behind with Billy, so here goes:

"I Don't Want To Be Alone" - sneaky of Billy to give his cover of "Watching the Detectives" a different title, huh? But seriously, the thing that I'm finding revelatory about Glass Houses is the influence of Costello, et al. Because Billy is one of the quintessential artists of my childhood, and Costello was a big part of my formation as a teenage music nerd, it would have never occurred to me that there could be any connection between the two. Billy is Establishment and EC is Punk--something that was made clear to me not only by the Rolling Stone Album Guide but also the first Elvis Costello fan I ever knew--a "cool" friend of my parents who impressed 15-year-old me with his taste in music and films and literature (not only had he read John Irving, he had THEORIES about him!) and who, though I don't recall if the subject ever explicitly came up, surely would have hated Billy Joel. Even if I still cared about such posturing, it is comforting to discover that the pop music world is smaller and more interconnected than I ever thought it when I was younger.

"Sleeping With the Television On" - In a similar vein as the above, but actually a stronger and more distinct song. For all of the talk above about Billy's approach to lyric writing, I gotta say that I'm impressed by his phrasing here: its urgent, clever and I particularly love the way he sticks the name "Diane" on the end of the first lines of each verse--these types of lyrical addresses tend to invert this approach, introducing the subject as early as possible in the lyric (there are a million examples, so you'd think I could come up with one...), but Billy's tagging of the name at the end of the line makes the song-as-address feel more authentic as a conversation (albeit a one-sided one). It's a small thing to get hung up on, but it the kind of touch that really makes the song, for me.

"C'était Toi (You Were the One)" - Yeah, Billy shouldn't do French, but the song was already a bore before it got to that point.

"Close to the Borderline" - Alfred's comment, "I'm not sure what this song is about besides its own aggression," pretty much nails what I'm hearing (or not hearing) here. A tight vocal and musical performance, but nothing about it--lyrically, melodically--sticks with me much.

When I Get to the Border > Borderline > Down by the River > Down to the Waterline > Close to the Borderline

Don't Stand So Close to the Borderline

You shouldn't play –
with my heart.
You know you gotta finish what you start.
If you want me –
Gotta let me know.
Because, Honey, don't you fool aroooouuuuunnd...

don't push him 'cause he's close to the edge

this sounds a little more like a songwriting exercise to me than the rest of the new wavey moments on glass houses. bar band having fun with punk. but it's a really good bar band and the fun translates. and the lyric is pure billy, lawn guylander who just can't take it anymore. he could sing the same thing over a piano ballad or a ronettes homage and it would make perfect sense on turnstiles.

solid post, cuz.

Would like to hear a GnR cover.

funny thing is, the ostensible premise of Turnstiles was that BJ felt obliged to be at new york's side through its time of crisis, stand up for its qualities against those who would let it burn, proclaim a new york state of mind. now he commutes from a glass house in long island and gripes about all the street hassles driving him crazy just like some tourist.

Weird to hear the genesis of this as it goes from 52nd Street sitcom theme to sneery UK "punk" wannabe.

"the ostensible premise of Turnstiles was that BJ felt obliged to be at new york's side through its time of crisis,"
I really don't think was in the city during this time ...

nice link pplains, wow. i kinda like the sitcom theme one better! worth scrolling back in that youtube for some other treats. the dinky little "drum program built into the organ" demo of "the stranger" is real cute. the take of "stiletto" reminds me of whoever it was on this thread who said that the released version sounded like the vocal came in from a different approach to the song.

meanwhile: The Stranger turned 40 today. Rolling Stone has a little track-by-track feature, tho not much we haven't heard already here.