Know about breaking news as it happens. We follow the stories and update you as they develop. Custodians says short-staffing, lack of supplies and mismanagement are to blame. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Springfield Washington Elections.
People who write paeans to the suburbs, on topics that sit on the cusp between white-collar and blue-collar, are unfashionable these days. But the ranking draws on 30 years of soaking in these songs, plus multiple repeat playings of every one over the past three months.
That said, appreciation does not mean blindness, and Joel himself would agree that not every song on every album catches fire though he did light it, and we tried to fight it. A close listening to the Joel-ian canon reveals a couple of generous handfuls of greatness, forgotten cuts that deserve to be resurfaced, familiar hits that have aged poorly, and flat-out clunkers.
As fans know, Cold Spring Harbor was butchered on its release; I used the remastered boxed-set version to give those songs a fair shake. I omitted Fantasies and Delusions, the wordless neoclassical album Joel released in , because another pianist does the playing.
You gotta stop somewhere. A few general observations:. Billy Joel was was never a Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa, out to subvert the conventions of pop music; his strengths are plainspoken language, melody, and of course piano, and the songs that depend most on those qualities tend to be better than the ones where he gets artier.
Other times, we too often hear classical-music references or an awkward French lesson. Outrage can bring greatness to art; irritability, not so much. His Lawn Guyland worldview comes from an honest place, and when he writes about, say, Anthony who works in a grocery store, saving his pennies for someday , that guy rings true. Let the arguments begin. Fills up side two of the album, and does no more. Bernie Goetz? It gets one point for its classroom value: I will admit that I had to look up who Syngman Rhee was, and I learned interesting things.
Pretty bad, and on a pretty good album to boot. An album ballad, not worth resurrecting. Sounds like it was cut from River of Dreams. A song that exemplifies a recurring problem on this list: memorable hook paired with dull verses. Literally forgettable. Lyrically slack. Inauthentic, and it shows. A really solid performance of a not very interesting song. What would Mama Leone say? Could be Steve Winwood; could be the Traveling Wilburys; could be almost anyone.
Might benefit from a remix. Goes on forever, though. We wanted to see what the people in Israel were like instead of listening to the propaganda we get in our country. He tells a very similar story about a show in Cuba as well — his self-aggrandizement is not constrained by petty politics! It consists of Billy and his backing band performing an open-air basement concert while onlookers slowly congregate, the event eventually turning into an impromptu concert.
Specifically, his feeble attempts to emulate the irreverent and mischievous public persona of The Beatles come across as arrogant. They look just like me and my friends. Well I have just lost an hour and a half of work googling, listening, and looking at the music on my phone in the pleasant diversion of the songs of this latter day Gershwin.
I saw Billy Joel in the mids. It was in a small venue in the south where he opened for the Beach Boys and blew them away. He played Piano Man from cover to cover, and it will always be my favorite. I will agree to also enjoying The Stranger. There was a time at an old job, when every Saturday I was first to show up and I would start with this song. It reminds me of a certain girl I see from time to time. I have been lucky enough to know quite a few talented songwriters in my life, and every single one of them — at least the Boomer generation songwriters — have all said at some point in their careers that they wish they could write a song like Billy Joel.
Absolutely true. Every one of them. He wrote them, but Joo Hyung-Ki played them. What a talent. Thanks for this. Jim Kearney View Comment :. Interested in Group Writing topics that came before?
See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted. Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone. Forgot your password? Lost your password? Please enter your email address or username. You will receive an email with a link to set a new password. Join Ricochet Login. Get Your First Month Free. Listen to Our Free Podcasts.
0コメント