Posts
(Author’s Note: This somewhat revised version has Amazon links where necessary. If you click on them, I might get some residuals and that could help this blog potentially expand in the future. This is a grand experiment, and if you click on them/purchase, an invisible man will tell you it was all appreciated :) . )
During Hangover Part II, I noticed that the crew took some inspiration from the catalogue from one Mr. William Joel.
Let’s count the ways: Alan’s room having a wall full of album covers, “Downeaster Alexa” being played on the plane ride, the “Allentown” parody that should NEVER be done again, etc.
It’s obvious that with a catalogue as long and deep as Joel’s, it seems like everyone knows the same 10-12 songs and nothing more. As a matter of fact, I’ll list those songs first, as to know what songs ARE NOT appearing on this countdown. Keep in mind, the songs are not in any order:
Piano Man; Captain Jack; The Stranger; Scenes from an Italian Restaurant; Just the Way You Are; Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song); Big Shot; My Life; It’s Only Rock and Roll to Me; Tell Her About It; A Matter of Trust; We Didn’t Start the Fire; and River of Dreams.
Technically that’s 13, but my point here is made: there are hidden gems waiting to be unearthed, and that is why I’m here. Whether you’re reading this because you just watched the ‘Hangover Pt. II’ flick, or for pure curiosity, here is the top ten list of underrated Joel songs!
(Author’s Note: These songs are listed in CHRONILOGICAL order.)
1. “The Ballad of Billy the Kid”; Piano Man; 1973 (also re-released/recorded on the 1981 album, “Songs in the Attic”):
Originally released on the monstrous hit LP “Piano Man” back in 1973, this song takes a backseat to typical songwriting. As a matter of fact, it sounds more like a story you’d hear going to sleep at night. The western imagery of a boy, turning into a “man” holding up tellers by surprise while riding alone in the desert with a Colt he hid is enough to make a long-running story out of. In addition, Bruce Springsteen would take some of those central themes and make a song called “Outlaw Pete”, which was released in early 2009 as part of the “Workin’ on a Dream” record. I put the ‘Attic’ version of this song here because Joel’s aging voice is a perfect compliment of a legend told by a younger man.
Yeah, the imitation of horse hooves grabs your attention, doesn’t it?
2. “The Root Beer Rag”; Streetlife Serenade; 1974:
A radical change of pace to say the very least. Instead of telling a story, this title sounds like as what Deems Taylor would say from Fantasia, "Music that exists only for its own sake.” It is COMPLETELY instrumental, not even a grumble from Joel’s vocals are heard. Also, it is a three minute blast that also accentuates the positives of Billy’s acclaimed (or some would say key-mashing) piano playing.
3. “All You Wanna Do is Dance”, Turnstiles, 1976:
Disco was all the rage in this time period. The bars, the clothing, the DRUGS! Yet this song feels like it should have been in ‘Scarface’, notably before that clown gets shot thirty bajillion times. This song has that “authentic” synthesizer sound (an oxymoron I know), one with enough 6/8 time notes to make it feel like a dance floor. Surprisingly enough, this is a song that when you give it a chance, it will grow on you.
That song title sounds like a movie that won 13 Golden Raspberries back in the 80’s, yet it doesn’t sound half-bad!
4. “Get It Right the First Time”, The Stranger, 1977:
(original)
(2-Disc Legacy Recording) (30th Anniversary big box)
Of all songs from that classically epic album ‘The Stranger’, no song gets more no-sold and unattended than this one. The message of the song is clear from the title, yet it’s beat really enforces that belief into you. Depending on which version you listen to, this song will sound completely different. The album version has a controlled menace to its tempo, while the live version sounds like Billy had a hit of speed before he went on stage and therefore sounds much more like a jam session. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially if you paid a ticket to hear everything go bonkers, but it feels like a total contradiction of itself. While a live version is in the 30th Anniversary box set, this is the album version below.
IT’S NOW OR NEVERRRRR!
5. “All for Leyna”, Glass Houses, 1980:
Yes, I skipped over 52nd Street. To be honest, I didn’t find much “underrated” stuff, besides the saxophone solo on “Zanzibar”, whose uncut version recently surfaced in a box set called “My Lives” . Back to the topic at hand, this song has a topic VERY similar to Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May”. The topic that is of a man struggling to get back into life after the hard break-up with the woman of their dreams. The sound of Joel’s song could not be any different than Stewart’s, as the former’s feelings of brash desperation are in stark contrast to the latter’s feelings of loss and stuff he can do without. The music video of this song however could not be any more comical, as primitive 80’s video-making abilities give us a literal classic.
Billy the Creeper makes his long-awaited debut!
6. “Laura”, The Nylon Curtain, 1982:
As with most material from its album of origin, “Laura” is a dark, dark song. The story behind the lyrics revolves a woman named Laura, a psychopath who also has a shade of bi-polar disorders making Joel’s character life a living hell. Also is the only catalog song of Joel’s to feature a long and loud f-bomb, referring to the word as a descriptor of how much of a fool he was in falling for this bitch. In all seriousness, this song is mostly on this list because as you can see from most of the other entries, it’s an accent. A hint of mental illness as opposed to mainly cheery songs. Don’t worry, this list may cheer up.
Like albums from his influence of youth The Beatles, this song is eclectic in contrast to most of the other songs.
7. “A Room of Our Room”, The Nylon Curtain, 1982:
(yeah, it’s pretty egregious, LOL)
As you can probably tell, this is the first time in the list where songs are back to back on the countdown. From the lyrics, this song sounds like distress from a divorce, which Joel was going through at the time from Elizabeth Weber Small. Hard, aggressive, and sometimes downright mean, it’s a creative outlet for Joel to get frustrations out on. This song also is a perfect metaphor to the hit “Pressure”, which completely expresses the lyrics of not being able to handle pressure because you have no scars on your face.
The sound quality is kinda crap, but the running .gif the whole way is amusing enough.
8. “Easy Money”, An Innocent Man, 1983:
Most of ‘An Innocent Man’ is a throwback to the 1950’s where the beginnings of rock and roll and doo wop were the name of the game. This song completely represents the former, as the song is properly timed to the fast pace of the main character who must surely have a big-time gambling problem. Fast-paced is also how a perfect opening song should be, and well, this kicked that album off. While it didn’t get a compilation album release, this song did play during the closing credits of the movie with the same name starring Rodney Dangerfield. Kind of like the movie, this song gets no respect at all!
This album definitely made some ‘Easy Money’ at the stores!
9. “Running on Ice”, The Bridge, 1986:
A song of tempos and pathos, the opening from ‘The Bridge’ is a very solid affair on what would have been one of Joel’s weakest albums. The song deals with the topic of hand, one of restlessness and needing to escape from the pressures of life. Needing to rest from said pressures of life maybe of the more endearing traits of the song, as very few of Joel’s works truly have that feeling of out-of-control like this one does. The album should have added a prefix of, “Water Under,” because nothing much of memorable was on it at all (besides Matter of Trust and This is The Time).
Sound quality is iffy again, but his face accentuates what must have been like to record this track.
10. “No Man’s Land”, River of Dreams, 1993:
To end this countdown, let’s feature a song that focuses on a beginning. The title track (notice a trend?) off
River of Dreams spends its attention on the politics on “modernizing” a town, whereas Joel sounds like one of those grumpy old men (that movie was released in the same year) who would sit on his lawn with a gun saying, “Hey punk, get off my lawn!” With lyrics of how untouched land is going to become “miles and miles of parking space”, the feeling at least upon this eye of the beholder is mutual. Back when I lived close to the Monroe area in New York, I noticed a revolution in the town, where vast lands upon the entrance of 17 and the NYS Thruway were suddenly going to become big shopping malls, full of restaurants and stores that people no longer had to travel 20 minutes to get access to. If anything, my reasoning of getting this song on this list is more of a personal stance, where I relate to the events of the track and that’s how I primarily grew up.
How poetic to end this, with a video of Billy on the David Letterman show singing this song. Could not get any more ironic! THERE’S CABLE NOW IN ZOMBIE TOWN!
In conclusion, we can all agree that sometimes the best stuff of a musician is not even a song that is agreed to be “great”. By going into the more obscure songs of artists, we can often find out unusual patterns of these people, but furthermore, also discover personal feelings that can often influence their work. With popularity of Hangover Pt. II and being a fan of this man’s work for many years, this list was a no-brainer for me, and I hope it broadens the outlook of his material for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment