Tagged: billyjoel

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man * * recently picked up on vinyl.

• Billy Joel - An Innocent Man

I could understand someone feeling this is over-sentimental, particularly with the dodgy video, but I think it's a real gem. There's no doubt that he's written a number of truly memorable songs.

I could understand someone feeling this is over-sentimental, particularly with the dodgy video, but I think it's a real gem. There's no doubt that he's written a number of truly memorable songs.

December's headline death probably is that of the great Cesária Évora , who emerged from the tiny West African island of Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony. But as a soul fan, percussion maestro Ralph MacDonald is my headline departure of the month. He wrote some stone-cold classics and appeared on an impressive catalogue of soul and fusion albums, including those released in their heyday by Bill Withers, George Benson, Donny Hathaway, Ashford & Simpson, Brothers Johnson, Margie Joseph, Patti Austin, Grover Washington, Maynard Ferguson, The Crusaders, Michael Franks, Eric Gale, Bob James, Herbie Mann, [...]

Piano Man is still a crowd-pleaser 30 years after its debut.

The unexpectedly verbose Craig Greenberg was kind enough to do an interview for RCSC, so let's see what he had to say... How do your songs get written? Is it ever a collaborative effort or are you the musical mastermind behind it all? About 95% of the time I start with a musical idea, whether it be a melody, chord progression, riff/groove. Sometimes I'll just have a melody circling around in my head, but most of the times it comes sitting at the piano. From there I generally [...]

I love watching great performances or well-made documentaries featuring my favorite artists from the comfort of my couch. In 2011 a number of fantastic music-related films came out and it was nearly impossible to pick the 10 best efforts, so for 20112s list of my favorite concert films of the year, I expanded the list to 15 and there were still a few fine efforts which didn't make the cut. So with that in mind, we continue our long-standing tradition of detailing my top music-related DVDs/Blu-Rays of the year... 15. [...]

A minor album, this reissue is worth it for the second disc of live material.

After releasing his first album, Cold Spring Harbor , in 1971, Billy Joel decided he wanted to hideout, so "he headed out to California." Los Angeles to be exact. The album was mastered at the wrong speed making Joel sound like a chipmunk. Needless to say, it was a disaster. Desperate to get out of his record contract with Family Productions to sign with Columbia Records, he hid out in a bar playing under the name Bill Martin while his lawyers worked behind the scenes. From that six month experience came the song "Piano Man," a song as much [...]

Billy joel & Rosie O'Donnell from A Rosie Christmas I'm not going to lie... when this came on my holiday Pandora station I thought "Dear God, is this Zooey Deschannel and Billy Joel!?!?!" I'm still a little shocked to find that a duet like this exists... but then upon further research I found out that [...]

Filed under: News , R.I.P. Courtesy of Columbia Records Don DeVito, an influential and respected record producer best known for his work on two of Bob Dylan 's finest albums -- 1975's 'Blood on the Tracks' and the following year's 'Desire' -- has died of prostate cancer , the AP reports. He was 72. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., DeVito started out as a musician, playing guitar for organist [...]

Today while I was listening to Mary J. Blige's new album, My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) , my mind began to wander -- which is never supposed to happen when l'm hearing a new Mary joint for the first time. As my brain wandered, I wondered, "What's with that unwieldy title?" Is it meant to make what is a fairly average collection of songs (and most notable for being a sequel to My Life , Blige's 1994 second album and an enduring hip-hop soul classic) sound more important than it actually is? [...]

Billy Joel Piano Man (Legacy Edition) Columbia/Legacy Recordings [2011] (2CD Set) Fire Note Says: Billy Joel's Columbia Records debut gets the Legacy treatment with an excellent bonus disc. Album Review: Have you ever been to a college bar and heard "Piano Man" or "Captain Jack" playing in the background? Have you ever noticed that all of the youngsters know the words and sing along? Did you ever wonder why? [...]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame presents the music and nothing but the music on CD.

Naya Rivera shines during her duet with Lea Michele, and Curt Mega leads the Warblers through a Billy Joel classic.

¿Cuántas veces no nos hemos preguntando cómo le hacen algunas estrellas del rock o deportistas para andar con modelos tan guapas? Pues simplemente por eso: son Rock stars y tienen al alcance de su mano la capacidad de componer una canción famosa, estar bajo los reflectores, dedicarle un gol en la TV a su novia y claro, por que les sobran también algunos millones de dólares en su cuenta. En realidad, el misterio sigue ahí, pero si hacemos una encuesta con las susodichas, seguro la mayoría prefiere a ese repelente cantante que está en boga, que a ese wey de [...]

Rejoice! A $200 deluxe edition of Billy Joel's classic catalog is the latest sweepstakes on the Stereogum prizewagon. To enter, you need be a fan of Stereogum on Facebook and comment with your favorite Billy Joel album via Facebook Connect (do not use your 'Gum user account on this post — we'll have to be able to check if you are a fan of Stereogum on FB when the sweepstakes ends). US entrants only. The set includes: Read More...

Filed under: News , Video , Exclusive Sony Legacy This week marks the release of ' Billy Joel : The Complete Albums Collection' and the two-disc Legacy Edition of his landmark album, 'Piano Man' (click below for a link to the full-album stream). In honor of these career retrospective, Spinner has two exclusive videos of Joel discussing two other LPs from his discography, 1977's 'The Stranger' and 1983's 'An Innocent Man.' Check out both [...]

McKinley High finally opens their production of 'West Side Story' and we get a bevy of songs from the classic musical, plus one number originally by Billy Joel for some reason.

Classic Billy Joel album and a stunning 1972 live concert Billy Joel had a long career in music before his first commercial break with this 1973 album and its title hit single. He'd played piano as a studio sideman and recorded with several rock groups, including the Hassles and Attila, before settling into the singer-songwriter style that began with 1971's Cold Spring Harbor . With his solo debut having stiffed commercially, and label problems keeping him from recording a follow-up, he relocated to Los Angeles where he spent six [...]