Hi,

a few weeks ago I started skimming through Billy Joel's back catalog...my mom got me his River of Dreams album in 1993...it was my only Billy Joel album for 18 years

But not because I didn't like it, far from it...I wore this sucker out! But somehow I never got round to get the rest of his albums...and boy, do I regret it!

In my opinion, this man is criminally underrated...ok, if you can call someone underrated who sold a gazillion records throughout his career!

But there is so much more to his music than just We didn't start the fire...

A few of my favorites:

I can totally see why some people write him off as pretentious or some kind of schmaltzy rip-off of Bary Manilow...but to me, if you brought tunes like Movin' Out, This is the Time, Miami 2017, Vienna or even The Downeater Alexa to this world, you at least earned a little bit of respect

Where you been?! Billy Joel got lots of accolades in the 70s and 80s. Check out The Stranger, among others.

purplethunder3121 said:

Where you been?! Billy Joel got lots of accolades in the 70s and 80s. Check out The Stranger, among others.

On the moon, apparently?

Yeah, The Stranger is a fantastic album...but I'd say my favorite is Turnstiles...Angry Young Man, Miami 2017, Summer, Highland Falls, New York State of Mind.

Even his 80s stuff is great...well, most of it anyway

Just a damn shame that he didn't release anything pop/rock oriented since '93...but with such a track record up to 1993, maybe he's just run out of ideas?

Doalwa said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Where you been?! Billy Joel got lots of accolades in the 70s and 80s. Check out The Stranger, among others.

On the moon, apparently?

Yeah, The Stranger is a fantastic album...but I'd say my favorite is Turnstiles...Angry Young Man, Miami 2017, Summer, Highland Falls, New York State of Mind.

Even his 80s stuff is great...well, most of it anyway

Just a damn shame that he didn't release anything pop/rock oriented since '93...but with such a track record up to 1993, maybe he's just run out of ideas?

I'd say that the driving creative forces of youth that inspired him dried up around middle age like it does for a lot of artists unfortunately. Then, if you have an amazing back catalogue you have to compete with yourself in the past...as Prince put so succinctly.

[Edited 3/26/12 15:21pm]

Billy was unique in the way that he is the ONLY person to say I QUIT and stick with it, Prince still plays the same hits he retired, CHER retired once a week, tina turner came back a few times, The Eagles get together everytime Don Henley has a gripe with the industry, and the list goes on and on. But i respect Billy because he simply said, im just not moved by popular music anymore, he is more into classical pieces and if you look into his deep catalog, he is greatly inspired by classical music much in the way that Barry Manilow is, chopin etc..

I dont agree that he is overlooked or underrated at all, i know some people dont mention him in convos of the greats, but thats mainly because he really did drop out of the whole game of recording in 1993 at the end of River of Dreams (which was not a good record). For me though Billy perhaps had the greatest run of albums, with Streetlife Serenader, Turnstiles,The Stranger, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man and the Bridge also was VERY underrated if we want to talk underrated works, that album i rate much higher than Stormfront and River Of Dreams even though it didnt sell anything near those 2 records.

In my book Billy is top 10 all time artist easily, and with Elton,Bowie,Queen and Stevie, Manilow and a few others the artists of the 70's that shaped that decade of POP.

lastdecember said:

Billy was unique in the way that he is the ONLY person to say I QUIT and stick with it, Prince still plays the same hits he retired, CHER retired once a week, tina turner came back a few times, The Eagles get together everytime Don Henley has a gripe with the industry, and the list goes on and on. But i respect Billy because he simply said, im just not moved by popular music anymore, he is more into classical pieces and if you look into his deep catalog, he is greatly inspired by classical music much in the way that Barry Manilow is, chopin etc..

I dont agree that he is overlooked or underrated at all, i know some people dont mention him in convos of the greats, but thats mainly because he really did drop out of the whole game of recording in 1993 at the end of River of Dreams (which was not a good record). For me though Billy perhaps had the greatest run of albums, with Streetlife Serenader, Turnstiles,The Stranger, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man and the Bridge also was VERY underrated if we want to talk underrated works, that album i rate much higher than Stormfront and River Of Dreams even though it didnt sell anything near those 2 records.

In my book Billy is top 10 all time artist easily, and with Elton,Bowie,Queen and Stevie, Manilow and a few others the artists of the 70's that shaped that decade of POP.

You are quite right when you say that Billy Joel became uninspired by popular music and moved on to other forms. I should have qualified my answer by stating this. And, like you, I do admire him for quitting popular music and sticking to it.

purplethunder3121 said:

lastdecember said:

Billy was unique in the way that he is the ONLY person to say I QUIT and stick with it, Prince still plays the same hits he retired, CHER retired once a week, tina turner came back a few times, The Eagles get together everytime Don Henley has a gripe with the industry, and the list goes on and on. But i respect Billy because he simply said, im just not moved by popular music anymore, he is more into classical pieces and if you look into his deep catalog, he is greatly inspired by classical music much in the way that Barry Manilow is, chopin etc..

I dont agree that he is overlooked or underrated at all, i know some people dont mention him in convos of the greats, but thats mainly because he really did drop out of the whole game of recording in 1993 at the end of River of Dreams (which was not a good record). For me though Billy perhaps had the greatest run of albums, with Streetlife Serenader, Turnstiles,The Stranger, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man and the Bridge also was VERY underrated if we want to talk underrated works, that album i rate much higher than Stormfront and River Of Dreams even though it didnt sell anything near those 2 records.

In my book Billy is top 10 all time artist easily, and with Elton,Bowie,Queen and Stevie, Manilow and a few others the artists of the 70's that shaped that decade of POP.

You are quite right when you say that Billy Joel became uninspired by popular music and moved on to other forms. I should have qualified my answer by stating this. And, like you, I do admire him for quitting popular music and sticking to it.

Yeah i just have total respect for him on that, and he should be commended for it, i didnt mention he did a few "standards" covers since retiring but that does not qualify as cutting new written rock/pop songs. Sure i wish he would break the silence, because he has dealt with alot of shit since 1993 and im sure theres great poetry in there, but he still does tour, so hes not dead and buried, and when you buy a tickeet you know you are getting old hits and thats it. But i remember him just saying in 1993 this is it, Im done! even the last song on that record "Famous Last Words" cant say more than that.

One of my all time favorites. The man is the truth. I rewatch his live dvd's frequently.

lastdecember said:

Billy was unique in the way that he is the ONLY person to say I QUIT and stick with it, Prince still plays the same hits he retired, CHER retired once a week, tina turner came back a few times, The Eagles get together everytime Don Henley has a gripe with the industry, and the list goes on and on. But i respect Billy because he simply said, im just not moved by popular music anymore, he is more into classical pieces and if you look into his deep catalog, he is greatly inspired by classical music much in the way that Barry Manilow is, chopin etc..

I dont agree that he is overlooked or underrated at all, i know some people dont mention him in convos of the greats, but thats mainly because he really did drop out of the whole game of recording in 1993 at the end of River of Dreams (which was not a good record). For me though Billy perhaps had the greatest run of albums, with Streetlife Serenader, Turnstiles,The Stranger, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man and the Bridge also was VERY underrated if we want to talk underrated works, that album i rate much higher than Stormfront and River Of Dreams even though it didnt sell anything near those 2 records.

In my book Billy is top 10 all time artist easily, and with Elton,Bowie,Queen and Stevie, Manilow and a few others the artists of the 70's that shaped that decade of POP.

I saw Billy playing his hits on an Australian tour about 2006.

....

I just pulled this old chestnut out, earlier today...

...

not really a fan. I find him cheesy, to be honest.