― jazz odysseus, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 18:34 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0416/catucci.php
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0416/eddy.php
― chuck, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 18:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 19:12 (twenty years ago) link
I don't detest Costello, but he really hasn't ever done much for me. Unlike Joel, I can only name ONE Costello song I ever really liked, and the title won't come to me now. There's black female backup singers in the video. Maybe someone can help me here so I don't have to leave ilx to figure out the name of that damn thing.
Disintegration, on the other hand IS perfect.
― bimble (bimble), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 05:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 18:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― sexy waitress connie stevens (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 23:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 23:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 23:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:48 (nineteen years ago) link
I mean, where else are you going to find these sounds all done by the same artist?
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 04:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:20 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0606,wood,72051,22.html
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 6 February 2006 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 4 May 2007 18:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Charlie Howard, Friday, 4 May 2007 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link
I'd also like to note that Billy Joel claimed to be a Suede fan in a Rolling Stone article. -- Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 16 April 2003
WOW! good man. where can i read the article in question i wonder?
― pisces, Thursday, 12 July 2007 01:07 (sixteen years ago) link
i like the use of the word 'claimed'. as if saying you like a particular band still leaves room for a jury's verdict :)
― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 12 July 2007 19:31 (sixteen years ago) link
All For Leyna and Sleeping With the Television On are eternal classics.
I live happily without Piano Man and Just the Way You Are, which are about MOR songwriting skills. But the horny, nerdy teen on side two of Glass Houses (I was 14 at the time) . . . that's the real truth about Billy, me, and a lot of other Queens/Long Island boys who'd rather not admit it!
― Kenny, Monday, 30 July 2007 20:44 (sixteen years ago) link
I apparently have never weighed in, so since the opportunity arises: Why such a hatred for songcraft and production values?
(Me in Hongro mode)
If recording enough standards to make for an extremely solid Greastet Hits Vol I & II (that woulda been even solider with a few substitutions) is enough for classic status, then Classic it is.
(Not to mention fucking ATTILA!)
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 30 July 2007 21:49 (sixteen years ago) link
I, always being in Hongro mode, have to say that in terms of songcraft and production values, Billy Joel is only average. He has a long way to go compared to, say, Crowded House or 10cc.
― Geir Hongro, Monday, 30 July 2007 22:50 (sixteen years ago) link
He has a long way to go compared to, say, Crowded House or 10cc.
Or ABBA or KISS or Andy Gibb or INXS or Biz Markie.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 30 July 2007 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link
he's no elton john either, to take the most obvious example.
be that as it may, here are arguments in favor of billy joel's songwriting craft:
travelin' prayer new york state of mind scenes from an italian restaurant root beer rag (assuming instrumental craft counts as craft) sometimes a fantasy sleeping with the television on don't ask me why all for leyna the longest time tell her about it a matter of trust river of dreams all about soul
and arguments against:
there are a lot.
but, come on, the dude could write and sing songs.
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 00:18 (sixteen years ago) link
I, always being in Hongro mode,
quote of the day!
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 00:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I like "Movin' Out" when it plays on the soft rock station!
― Tape Store, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 00:28 (sixteen years ago) link
such thick fingers
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 00:31 (sixteen years ago) link
the dude could write and sing songs.
Sure, sure. Look, I could add to your list of songs that show off Joel as a good, sometimes inspired songwriter, e.g., Pressure, Allentown, She's Right on Time, among others.
But, as you imply, much of the time he's just coasting or operating on formula. Billy Joel is like the NBA player who almost exclusively takes very high-percentage shots: He has a good shooting percentage, it makes him a desirable player, but not a superstar among other players? Or, to draw another analogy, he's like a director who makes reliable action, hack-ish action movies but is capable of occassionally -- when the mood strikes him -- making a real highbrow film.
But Spoon apparently likes Billy Joel a lot, so maybe he isn't as big a dud as I thought.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 31 July 2007 01:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Whoa, my grammer was terrible! Posting and parenting apparently don't mix. Off to parenting.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 31 July 2007 01:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Posting and parenting apparently don't mix Probably not, but that's how I got my start.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 02:01 (sixteen years ago) link
when i hear billy joel, particularly the 80s stuff, it always transports me back to my childhood. "Allentown," "Innocent Man," and "Uptown Girl" are, for that reason, classic.
Even though I know he's kind of schlocky, I have to echo the sentiment that I'm not sure why he is the brunt of so much hatred. He's not great, and he's probably a prick, but that applies to just about everyone in the music industry.
― Richard Wood Johnson, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 16:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Billy Joel is hard for me to listen to, and though I agree that he's a good technical songwriter and probably a good performer (I've never seen him live), he just seems like a big cornflake to me. He's like the really hard working jingle writer who keeps pushing the importance of melody and a songs that are "timeless" or whatever because he knows that persistence pays off, and even though he's famous and all, I can't help but think of him as kind of a runtish, underdog guy. It's really not a fair criticism, I know, and I'm still not totally sure what it is I hate about him. I don't mind forumla, I just hate the hammy, headfirst dives into such pleasant, middlebrow material. He's a throwback to "classic" songwriting in the worst possible way, the way that reminds me why songwriting didn't stay like that forever.
that said, I like the background harmonies in "It's My Life"
― Dominique, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:00 (sixteen years ago) link
haha I started this thread?!?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:01 (sixteen years ago) link
lol that people supposedly hate Billy Joel for his songcraft and professionalism, like what else is there to hate?
― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:05 (sixteen years ago) link
drunken assholishness?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:06 (sixteen years ago) link
the list is endless...
― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link
playing guitar?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link
i can say i like a few of his songs, when he kept it simple: "it's still rock'n'roll", "you may be right", "don't ask me why" are pretty good pop tunes, imo.
neither classic nor dud
― outdoor_miner, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
"rocking out"?
― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
haha I started this thread?!? Apparently. More importantly, you started the "Billy Joel is the American Elvis Costello" meme
quote of the day! Now I'm picturing a sci-fi book called I, Hongro, but I can't work out the Three Laws of Hongrobotics.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
I hate the whole Everyman know-it-all persona, but I don't hate across the board like I used to. Also, there are specific songs of his that I associate with particular assholes I've known in the past, or with particular unpleasant experiences, so there's a fair amount of negative associational freight that goes along with hearing his music.
― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:22 (sixteen years ago) link
RS OTM
I think he might be easier to appreciate from the midwest, or even the west coast, but here in the Northeast he typifies a sensibility that for lots of us it's hard not to be conflicted about.
His interviews, however, are hilarious.
― Martin Van Burne, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:24 (sixteen years ago) link
amuse us and post some
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Billy Joel's songcraft is way better than INXS'. INXS was mostly about way too much repetition.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 19:34 (sixteen years ago) link
PETER CETERA
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
I recall one in which he was unconvincingly defending himself before a journalist who suggested that Joel was unable to make music that actually rocked. He was heard to say: "I-I-I don't have a soft cock. I have a hard cock."
― Richard Wood Johnson, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 21:13 (sixteen years ago) link
waht
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 21:17 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess he was trying to says that just because he churns out ballads doesn't mean he is cursed with a flaccid penis.
― Richard Wood Johnson, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 21:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Maybe he's got a flaccid penis but likes to bottom.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 21:31 (sixteen years ago) link
I saw him on a PBS special or something where he was talking about writing "Only the Good Die Young" and he showed how it started out as a Reggae song- he started clanking out piano chords on the offbeat and singing in a vaguely Jamaican accent. But the guys in the band hated Reggae, so they re-arranged it.
I can identify four things in the preceding 'graph that make me dislike him. And yeah, the personification of a Northeast type that's really annoying.
― bendy, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 22:38 (sixteen years ago) link