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

i think it's extremely good, one of joel's loveliest melodies married to that really gorgeously-produced ebbing acoustic guitar arrangement. lyric is a little hokey but also how can you deny:

There will be miracles
After the last war is won
Science and poetry rule in the new world to come

Again, the plentitude of riches on what looked like a tombstone of an album has impressed the hell out of me

very pretty song

I remember some critic* taking shots at this song with something along the lines of "Billy Joel has a new song called '2000 Years' that is coincidentally the worst song of the last 2000 years," but whatever. It's not my favourite--sandwiched between my two favourite songs on the album, I always got a little impatient with it--but that little riff that sounds like either a synth or an accordion (the Wiki personnel list suggests it is the former, or at least that it is definitely not the latter), is nice.

*I thought it was EW, but when I went to look up their original review I remembered that they were quite fond of the record.

this is a cool track on first listen - the oomph coming in to support the pretty piano-and-voice stuff works, feels of a piece, not just dropped in by the producer. that, and the "it's been a long time and now i'm with you" part, are VERY classic billy. could have been on The Stranger.

i'm also in the right niche to find the synth riverdance riff charming - sounds like it should be in Sierra's Conquest of the Longbow - rather that obnoxious and cartoony. apparently he swaps it for traditional instruments live... bummer.

the riverdance bit sounds like "there's a hole in the bucket" with three orchestrated "ballad of billy the kid" chords as a cadence.

the song is a little corny and more than a little lovely. i swear i hear hints of george michael and michael jackson in this song, trying to heal the world with love and a big, sweeping melody. i think one of the reasons this album is so good is that a guy who's spent the last few years seemingly throwing random words on top of his melodies suddenly has things he wants to say. not sure if it's inspired by being in love or having a kid or being on the verge of divorce or being confused by the world or all of the above, but he just seems so *open* to things and ideas here, and so much less cynical.

btw "shades of grey" is CONSTANTLY in my head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtcu-l9wDo

Famous Last Words closes the album, and in terms of the canon and most fans, it also closes Billy Joel's pop career. In interviews, he says that he didn't sit down intending to write a final song, but that when he was done writing it, he realized "huh - I guess I'm done."

For those committed only to our original "Cold Spring Harbor through River of Dreams" remit, of course, this song also closes the project at hand. In case some folks are bowing out now, let me say thanks so much to everyone who participated over the past five months; it's been a blast rediscovering this artist with you all.

If you're up for it, I still have a list covering a smattering of digital-only singles, contributions to comps and soundtracks, tracks unique to Greatest Hits III, and the like. I'll also flag up Billy's classical album for a day's listening, and finally double back to give the Hassles and Attila their due.

I suppose we should endure his Dylan cover on Greatest Hits III.

I love this song. As perfect a final statement from an artist as could ever be hoped for, the difference being that Billy is writing from the perspective of middle age rather than old age. We've become accustomed to late-career statements from everyone from Leonard Cohen to Clint Eastwood that feel like summations of a life as well as a career; this isn't really that, but as a perspective on reaching a different stage of life--"comfort in my coffee cup" taking the place of the "cold beer in the shade" of the thirty-something Billy of "Keeping the Faith"--it is poignant, and all the more so for how unforced it comes across in its bittersweet sentiment. I don't know of another song that addresses middle age so gracefully.

I'm not finished with this thread of DC isn't. True, I'll likely sit out the classical stuff (and we'll see with Hassles/Attila), but as I have never knowingly heard any pop material he produced after this album, I'll be curious to hear what scraps he's had to offer us over the last 24 years. But this thread has been an absolute blast, and I feel an intense gratitude towards the good Doctor for running it. Thanks, and you rock.

Very pleased with River of Dreams. Really only one "meh" song in the bunch, which to be honest with myself, is par for any of his albums.

As far as Famous Last Words, my ears kept getting perked from some of the callbacks: last of the souvenirs, one final serenade... And I don't know, for some reason, I'd like to hear a Natalie Merchant cover of this. See if you can work that out for me, Dr.

And thanks, Doc, for compiling this over the past few months. It's allowed me to get to know better, for better and worse, a musician I've looked up to for the past 35 years or so. It's definitely been an easier journey than the one we took with the Eagles. Holy crap, was it an easier journey.

Looking forward to the Amplifier Fire/Brain Invasion we've got coming up.

Not a bad tune, but his singing is florid.

really? how so? i mean, it's billy, he's not exactly the most subtle singer

I really like this, can't imagine a better Billy song to go out on....kind of incredible, not even so much that he wrote a song that's final, but that he actually WALKED AWAY...

I'm trying to think of another time that another pop superstar walked away (not counting ppl like Syd Barrett or Skip Spence or w/e...or Sly Stone which was def more of a mental health/drug thing) in arguable maybe not their "peak" but not far off (big hit single, top 5 album, 5X platinum)

The Police?

Synchronicity is their worst album, but ILM is quite alone in thinking so

contributions to comps and soundtracks

One vote here for his cover of Cohen's "Light as the Breeze."

oh yeah shit, the Police definitely....that's even more walking away at your peak, that's retiring after your thriller

but bands breaking up is a different thing. none of the three walked away from making records. they just didn't want to do it with each other anymore.

my ears kept getting perked from some of the callbacks: last of the souvenirs, one final serenade

yes! this song is a perfect going-away gift, from the person who's going away. another callback, maybe maybe not intentional: the opening tom-tom hits, which make me think he's about to start playing "allentown." the yacht-rock breeziness of the tune and arrangement are a perfect soundtrack for this final scene in which we stand on a dock on long island sound and watch our middle-aged hero sail away for the last time, having learned from his mistakes, and now off to repeat them somewhere else over the horizon, out of our view.

damn this album.

damn you billy for sailing away.

thank you doctor c and everybody else i got to drink alone with and walk through bedford stuy alone with in this amazing thread. and yes, keep going, good doctor. we don't have to quit just 'cause billy did.

i love this song and i think it's a really unusual yet fitting final track of both the album and his career

if the classical stuff is getting covered then i'm sticking around bc i'm curious

personal ranking of billy albums:

an innocent man
glass houses
river of dreams
the stranger
if songs in the attic counts it goes here
the nylon curtain
the rest

which make me think he's about to start playing "allentown."

Swear for a moment maybe he'd add a little reprise of Allentown ala Where's the Orchestra?

will also extend big thanks to the good Doctor for running this and everyone else, this has been a very pleasant and fun thread

I'll stick around for anything including cassettes of Atilla band practice, I mean I'm in front of this computer all day anyway

Swear for a moment maybe he'd add a little reprise of Allentown ala Where's the Orchestra?

a little reprise of "she's got a way" would've been the perfect way to end everything.

It's poetry, it rhymes

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

You Picked A Real Bad Time was the B-side to "All About Soul" - by my count, the third and final Joel composition to come into the world as a non-album b-side. Today again I can't listen, so I must ask you: how does it compare to "Elvis Presley Boulevard" and "House of Blue Light"?

and btw thumbs up to all of y'all :)

Bluesy Billy. Blah.

oh this reminds me i never listened to "house of blue light," the reactions to it itt put me off

this song isn't the worst but is kinda whatever. the "ain't it the truth" bridge or chorus, whatever it is, is the most lively moment in it melodically

also this song is wayyyy too long, this man's got the bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues

oh wow "house of blue light" is way unendurable, "you picked a real bad time" is much better imo

real bad song, obvs. might've worked as a hassles b-side, though.

trying to figure out what bubblegum classic the bridge melody starting at 1:35 is cribbing from.

"Can't Take My Eyes off of You"?

hmmm i can sort of hear that, but i don't think that's the one that i think i'm remembering that i can't quite put my finger on dammit.

lol the intro

"the new Ford F150 - a truck that's tough enough to handle the toughest jobs. Now with our industry leading 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty. Get behind the wheel and feel the power."

hahaha

yeah wow this is lame. when it gets to the middle eight you can almost hear him writing it as it goes, struggling to find a tune for it... i think it's better than the last one of these though. the mix is making it shittier and more truck-commercialy. i like the vocals and beatlesy backing vocals on the chorus. but basically it's a kind of weak bar-band workout that was rightly left off the album. i guess it could have fit on storm front but certainly not river of dreams. i wonder if cuts like this were part of how billy got warmed back up for an album or something.

"You Wrote A Real Bad Song"

If I heard this on the radio, I'd go, Hey, pretty good effort from Paul Rodgers!

By the way, Netflix has a documentary now called "Hired Gun" with a lot of interviews with DeVitto, Stegmeyer, and Javors. They describe their unceremonius departure feom Joeldom with some bitterness.

hey sorry been running around a bit / recovering from travel / grading papers - next track coming later today tho!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TXpZDHiwL.jpg

http://www.freecovers.net/preview/1/3164427e08942e8f8b73ae16ad1ca0ae/big.jpg

A Voyage on the River of Dreams was an AUS/NZ/JP-exclusive three-CD box set containing River of Dreams plus a disc of Q&A and a six-track live album taken from the RoD tour. This might sound to you and me like a tremendous rip-off or at best a very lame stocking-stuffer, but like the unwieldy Souvenir from a few years earlier, it actually did okay, peaking at #33 on the Australian albums chart. I considered not bothering with it at all before discovering that one of the concert-exclusives, a Beatles cover, was actually issued as a single. Billy's Australian fans dutifully sent A Hard Day's Night (backed with a live "Piano Man") rocketing to #85. It sounds exactly like you'd expect, but the music video is kinda worth it for Billy's fashion sense and how into it the Frankfurt crowd seems to be.

The other cut that we haven't heard before, Billy's take on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, remained an exclusive for die-hard fans with money to burn on the box. I actually can't confirm that I've found it on YouTube, which is saying something given the dedication of the fans. 1994 did see the first "Face to Face" tour of Billy and Elton, so maybe the version on this disc is actually an Elton duet such as the one I've linked below. If so, it's weird that they don't mention that on the back cover. Anyway, they would do eight more such tours between 1994 and 2010, so maybe this is a good time to just talk about the pros and cons of that whole (very profitable) enterprise...

https://img.discogs.com/27LkWZzZSoH4qD8vLDSDVf0Z-DM=/fit-in/600x593/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7331890-1439100671-6904.jpeg.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdpoASVph2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1PqJ2-vpQ

hard day's night - a more than passable bar-band version, but six points for deducted for not using a 12-string guitar and six more deducted for not even trying to get that opening chord. the sea of overhead clapping arms in the arena is a little frightening.

goodbye yellow brick road - billy should have changed "vodka and tonics" to "tonic and vodkas" obviously.

hahahah otm

haha

In the bio, there's a pretty lengthy passage about these shows and how Billy got soused with U2 and flew around Northern Europe before getting the worst hangover in the world. He cancelled his show at Wembley, and Elton, being the pro's pro he is, was aghast at such poor showmanship.

I didn't realize that the two had been covering each other's songs for awhile, but in the book, picturing Elton performing "Piano Man" and "Uptown Girl" in Billy's absence was hilarious. "OH WE'RE ALL IN THE MOOD FOR A MELODY, SO WHERE YOU AT, BILLY?"

Billy got soused with U2

Better than drinkin' alone?

Between those two options?