Say Goodbye To POLLywood - Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II, THE POLL

and yeah, "scenes from an italian restaurant", completely forgot abt that one, listening now, flashback headspins :)

i vote for all of them lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcvVPuJVKcs

Allentown vs. Don't Ask Me Why

i doubt anyone would vote for She's Always A Woman, but for some reason it's not included here

It wasn't on the tracklisting

I got it off the CD list, but the MP3 list has it

ugh stupid

apparently there's a version that replaces "Don't Ask Me Why" with "Honesty" which is kind of a bummer

this fuckin thing, there's like 5 versions!

I love "Vienna" and "She's Always A Woman."

But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough information...

YAGOTTA NICE WHITE DRESS AND A PARTY ON YOUR CONFIRMATION...

otm

No "We Didn't Start the Fire" (I guess they wouldn't have been able to use the word 'Greatest' in the title if that had been on it!)

This comp was released years before that single.
'Piano Man' has to be easily the worst song on this ("and the microphone smells like a beer" oh FUCK OFF). Voted for 'You May Be Right' because a) I thought the lyrics were so clever when I was 13, and b) the breaking glass sound at the beginning is probably the greatest example of the sound of glass breaking in a song (better even than Kate Bush's 'Babooshka' although sometimes PSB's 'Surburbia' sounds better).

always thought it was weird how there hadn't been a Greatest Hits volume 1 to start with, but instead a 1 AND 2 released at the same time on one compilation!
pretty bizzare even for the wacky late 80s CD era. clearly a neat trick though cause it sold like crazy.

Voting "Movin' Out", just for a change.

nylon curtain is a really excellent album all the way through.

had to vote for Movin' Out (my song) over the Innocent Man troika

This guy isn't quite as bad as some people claim though. There are many really good songs on this compilation. Besides "Movin' Out" there's "Piano Man", "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant", "The Stranger", "Just The Way You Are", "Honesty", "My Life", "Allentown", "Goodnight Saigon", "Uptown Girl" and "Tell Her About It". All great songs.

It'll have to be "Allentown" or one of the Innocent Man hits, although it sucks the title track ain't one of them.

it's nice, btw, to see this much concentrated joel-love in one place, especially on ILX. i've received more disdain IRL for my timidly admitted joel feelings than for any of my many other sins of taste.

Oh it's on Mr Veg's list of near-dealbreakers with me, lol (closely followed by Liza Minnelli, WWE and Project Runway)

ha – opposite experience for me. Most of the Joel hate I'll see online. All my friends - especially the ones not interested in music – adore at least a chunk of his catalog.

I've only come across a few people irl who will cop to Billy Joel love. And one of them's my sister.

i like how The Entertainer is REAL cynical yet REAL catchy.

I swear I find that track nigh on unlistenable

Xgau I think compares that one to Rick Wakeman, presumably just because of the Minimoog. I like it.

Wish this collecion was more singles-oriented than it was - several good ones missing, and I never had any use for "Captain Jack" or "Goodnight Saigon". I'm gonna vote for the McCartneyish "Don't Ask Me Why" - for all I know, Joel got the idea for the Latinish touches from "Goodnight Tonight".

OMG - "You're Only Human" - the suicide song! It was so bad it couldn't even make it on an album proper or a Danny Devito soundtrack!

Hate to say it, but about half of this album is pretty great. The other half is total and absolute, irredeemable shit.

Pretty much BJ's career in a nutshell there.

Also, "An Innocent Man" should have been on this compilation, while one of those shit songs should have been removed.

snoball otm

and I didnt even include volume III

"iiiiiin the miiiiidle of the niiiiiight"

"An Innocent Man" might have been the best song on here, even

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPZ68Uc50iY

jesus, had completely forgotten that this even existed. so wretched. proof that the innocent man era should be destroyed.

Lou Reed: "I still am into doowop. When I can find it. I was amazed, we were in a restaurant the other day and they were playing this Billy Joel thing, where he does all the voices as acapella doowop, it was really good, I wish he'd do a lot more like that."

Lou otm, voted "The Longest Time"

I might end up voting for JTWYA
Because my heart is corn dipped in cheez-whiz

ohhhh Longest Time is pretty rad though

fuck you guys, I'm so confused!

god is it too late to hope for a Lou Reed/Billy Joel collab too?

Volume III is probably the least essential greatest hits album ever.

Least greatest, least essential, and most vomit inducing

xxp I think that there's a lot in common between LR and BJ, not least that people are still interested in them for reasons other than their music. Joel putting tracks on Rock Band just to spite a critic, for example.

I mean...jeez talk about pass the bucket

1 "Keeping the Faith"
2. "An Innocent Man"
3. "A Matter of Trust"
4. "Baby Grand"
5."This Is the Time"
6. "Leningrad"
7. "We Didn't Start the Fire"
8. "I Go to Extremes"
9. "And So It Goes"
10. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'"
11. "Shameless"
12. "All About Soul (Remix)"
13. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)"
14. "The River of Dreams"
15. "To Make You Feel My Love (B. Dylan)"
16. "Hey Girl (Goffin & King)"
17. "Light as the Breeze (L. Cohen)"

that whole Stormfront period was just uggggghhh so gross. I swear half the middle-age dudes I saw in that period were all wearing ponytails and Stormfront *sweaters* blehhh

I found this while I was looking up Captain Jack and it made me lolol, I had no idea this happened

The song entered the news again in 2000 when it was mistakenly used during Hillary Clinton's announcement that she would be campaigning for U.S. Senate. According to an NPR report on worst campaign songs, a staffer notes that the playing of "Captain Jack" was a mistake. It was played from the Billy Joel compilation CD Greatest Hits Volume 1, and the song intended to be played was "New York State of Mind", which was track five on the CD.[23] The Clinton staffer inadvertently played track two, which was "Captain Jack".[23] Her presumed opponent, Rudolph Giuliani, who ended up not running for the Senate, criticized the song's use because of its alleged glorification of drugs. Giuliani even read the lyrics to the song in a live press conference.[23] Joel replied in a statement, "There are a lot of important issues facing the voters in this Senate race. Is a politician's interpretation of a song I wrote nearly 30 years ago an issue to the voters of New York state? I do not think so."[24]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t-Sw6YZGi0

Billy is the root
Billy is the table

I'd like to see Billy hit "Sister Ray," Attila-style

Here's how corny I am - on my first ever trip to New York (a mere 5 years ago) I listened to New York State of Mind at least once a day on my ipod.

(however I should note I also drove Mr Veg crazy every time we walked somewhere and he'd ask what direction to go, I'd start singing 'New york new york it's a wonderful down, broadway's up and the battery's down'. He didn't appreciate what a great memory tool it is! Maybe bc I sing like a drain)

If I ever go to New York I will definitely do that.

I don't care what anyone says about that song, it SOUNDS like new york to me.

God, I fucking hate most Billy Joel. That said, you can't really grow up on Long Island without knowing most of his hits by heart and there are a couple I really love.

Movin' out (Anthony's Song)
Only the Good Die Young
My Life
Big Shot
You May Be Right
Tell Her About It
Uptown Girl
and
The Longest Time

Wait, maybe I don't detest BJ as much as I thought. :/

so Bernie Taupin is like proto-Elizabeth Fraser

Yeah, except the Leonard Cohen and Talking Heads song have menacing music that matches the lyrical mode. They're not some hoaky serenade set to some ersatz Elton boilerplate.

i know, i was defending joel's lyrics against aero's "worst lyricist of all time" slam. personally, i like his tunes too. "menacing" can be great, but i can't imagine that "miami 2017" would be any more appealing if they were less cheesily anthemic.

i have no real problem with taupin as a lyricist, either. a lot of his stuff is cringe-inducingly schmaltzy, sure, but sometimes the shmaltz just plain works. i've always found "daniel" quite moving, and that's a product of the lyrics as much as of the music and performance.

^ not to say that i really admire taupin as a lyricist...

nor billy neither

In Praise Of... Billy Joel's "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Down On Broadway)"

Even though it's not on the greatest hits, "Summer Highland Falls" is my POO. I don't think he ever did something that good again--almost a one-off sadly. Songs in the Attic and Turnstiles (as well as The Stranger) are my go-to Billy.

Yeah "Songs In the Attic" is like an alternate "greatest hits."

IMO "Stranger" -> "52nd street" -> "songs in the attic" -> "glass houses" -> "nylon curtain" was a decent run, even though they all contain songs I hate, but I'd rather listen to a mix of my favorite 20 songs from those 5 albums than the greatest hits collections.

The thing is that Summer Highland Falls is basically a Ben Folds song with all of the smugness and immaturity taken out, and since I love Ben Folds but hate that side of him just like everybody else, that song is basically an ideal for me when it comes to piano-led pop.

Voted Allentown in this one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

crap, never did vote in this - - - agggh!

Got it down to these:

Stranger
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Movin' out (Anthony's Song)
Only the Good Die Young
Uptown Girl

Still feel like in a way "Uptown Girl" is my straight favorite out of those but it feels weird not to pick one from the "classic" string of albums. Ahhhhh jeez.

btw,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ogFWISPuw

never knew this had a video. Don't think I've even listened to the song in close to ten years except maybe if I let the record keep playing and wasn't paying attention. Not as bad as I remember.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow...only 3 zeroes

Can I say I'm shocked by the result? I never knew "Allentown" really had a base of support anywhere. It sent a chill down my spine as a kid but it seems a little bit...heavyhanded and obvious? But I guess like I said above, dude's a populist and sometimes an unsubtle one, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Pretty great turnout!

Also - listening to Streetlife Serenade right now and really can't fathom having "The Entertainer" on this greatest hits. Don't think that's just being familiarity with the tracklist that we had growing up...I mean, I like the song a lot, it's just that it's so sonically removed from the other stuff. Really different vibe on the Los Angeles records.

Allentown and Movin' Out both the lead-off hitters on their respective albums.

Yeah, I don't think "Easy Money" really stood a shot.

Didn't see this poll at the time; the best song is clearly Movin Out.

This album, Graceland and the West Side Story soundtrack were the trifecta of childhood holiday car albums for me.

Ooh yay what great results! And I absolutley will concur to the 3 zeros. The Entertainer alone irritates the HELL out of me

she's got a way is incredibly lovely, no? must have been a poll malfunction.

veg, if you're out there, the listening thread needs your reaction to the "you're only human" video