Studio Albums Ranked - Billy Joel | bicyclelegs
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- Опубликовано: 11 ноя 2022
- Ranking the studio albums of iconic New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel. An artist that takes me back to my childhood, his witty lyrics, complex, melodic music, intelligence & wit will always make him a substantial musician imho.
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Super video. My favorite is the first album l heard and bought by him - The. Stranger. Then l bought 52nd Street when it came out. But sadly l didn't buy anymore until around 4 years ago. I have all but two now. Love your videos. Very relaxing. Thanks.
Awesome video. I only own The Stranger & 52nd Street on CD. I have heard Glass Houses and love it. The Stranger is amazing and most peoples number 1.
1. Stranger (You're right it's cliche but it's one of the best albums of all time.) Italian Restaurant my favourite song of his. Every song is genius.
2. Turnstiles (IMHO his most underrated album.) Should have been more successful. Although, it did pretty well in Australia, but not so well in the US. Angry Young Man agree is an amazing track. Some gems on here. He's happy to be back in New York.
3. 52nd Street. Until The Night his most underrated song IMO. Great follow up to The Stranger.
4. Nylon Curtain. Brilliant and very different.
5. An Innocent Man. Pop perfection. Uptown Girl's a bit overplayed but it's a great pop tune.
6. Glass Houses. I first saw him in concert at Brisbane Festival Hall in 1981 on this tour. He was fantastic in concert and still is. The album has great concert tracks.
7. Piano Man. Productions isn't great but some excellent songs. It's a shame Phil Ramone didn't produce the earlier albums.
8. The Bridge - This is album is pretty good but not great. It sounds like a decent sequel to 52nt street with the jazz and blues flavour to it. But sequels are never as good as the original.
9. Storm Front
10. The River of Dreams
11. Street life Serenade - I was interested to hear your thoughts on this. This album album doesn't really do it for me. It's still a good album but to me sounds like a New Yorker who's out of place in LA.
12. Cold Spring Harbor - Some really good songs. Tomorrow is today is a brilliant track. If the production was better, I might rank it higher. Even the re-release sounds like it was recorded in the loungeroom.
Excellent video. My introduction to Billy Joel was the Greatest Hits album which is fairly comprehensive. From there I investigated his whole catalogue. For me his dream run starts with Turnstiles and ending with The Nylon Curtain. I have to be honest I just could not get into the next album An Innocent Man-that doo-wop late 50's/early 60's style just isn't my cup of tea. Turnstiles is very nearly my favourite album mainly because of the instrumentation-he really shows off his piano chops especially on Prelude/Angry Young Man. So complex and sophisticated almost proggy. It also includes New York State Of Mind which sounds like a "standard. Not a single bad track.Also highly underated
The Stranger is also very solid but almost all the best tracks (five!!) are on the compilation so I rarely listen to it. The follow up 52nd Street is even better in some ways and includes one of my absolutely favourite tracks-Zanzibar-utterly brilliant and reminds me of Aja period Steely Dan with its labyrinthine melodies and jazzy cadencesThe next album -Glass Houses always seems a little lightweight and I really miss his piano playing but it does include the wonderfully bombastic song All For Leyna which was a single but surprisingly not a hit (therefore not included on Greatest Hits-shame)
I rank The Nylon Curtain higher than you. I remember buying it when it came out and I was totally blown away by the production especially and the instrumentation and just the experimental feel overall.It also reminds me of late 60's Beatles which is always a good thing!
I completely agree with your ranking street life serenade so high! I love all the deep cuts on that one!
Thanks!
Wonderful video.. I love the stranger but turnstiles will always be my no1.. my best mate gave me it to me on vinyl and it is brilliant!!
Thanks man, glad you liked it (the album and the video!).
It’s the differences from the consensus rankings (and mine) that makes these videos interesting to me.
I’ve got Stormfront and The Bridge higher than you, and Innocent Man lower. Agree on The Stranger being the best. This was the first produced by Phil Ramone and I think it’s also the first album where Billy nails the vocals. It’s like he finally learned to sing in the studio. Those 2 things, together with your point about recording with his own backing band, I think, are the reasons why Songs In The Attic is so much of an improvement over the original studio versions of the same songs. New York State of Mind and I’ve Loved These Days are marked improvements for mine.
Me and my college band were going to do a cover of “The Stranger”, however we ended up not doing it for some reason. 😅👍
1. The Stranger
2. 52nd Street
3. Turnstiles
4. Glass Houses
5. An Innocent Man
6. The Nylon Curtain
7. Streetlife Serenade
8. Piano Man
9. Cold Spring Harbor
10. The Bridge
11. River Of Dreams
12. Storm Front
As a native Noo Yawka, I’ve been a Billy Joel fan for 45 years now. In 1977, the first rock album l ever bought with my own money was Jelly Bowl’s ~ The Stranger. (Along with The Grand Illusion by Styx. But that’s another story for another time.)
Three years later, l attended my first live rock and roll concert: Billy Joel, live at the Nassau Coliseum, in Lawng Eyelind, Noo Yawk. It was the summer of 1980 and Mr. William Joel - and the Affordables 😉 - were promoting their Glass Houses album. Three friends (Gentle Giant reference?!) and l had one of their fathers drive us from Queens County to Nassau County, since we were too young to drive at the time. My dad picked us up, so l rushed us out to meet him, thinking the concert was over when the music ended. As a young novice, l had NO CLUE what an encore was! Little did l know we’d miss the “extra songs” he played at the tail end of the show… DOH 😖! 🤦🏻♂️ l never made that mistake again.
I’m off to visit pops at rehab (🎵”No, no, no!”🎵), so I’ll watch this video again later, and do a separate post on my ranking. Keep up your snazzy style of superb songs and sweet vids, DB! Hey, waitaminute! Those are MY real initials, too!
Cheers from Noo Yawk (State of Mind 😉) ova heyah!
~8^ )
PS: Before l split, l just wanna agree with you on one point. Unlike the great PP on SoT, I’m USUALLY not a huge fan of live albums. I’d rather see a live concert, for the most part, than listen to a live album; but that’s just me. 🎵”That’s just my style… “🎵 😉 However, Songs in the Attic has always been one of my favorite live albums! Stellar and sublime versions, of those songs, contained within those waxy grooves.
Awesome video! Billy Joel, one of my top musical heroes since I was twelve years old. An extremely rare triple threat--one of popular music's best songwriters, best vocalists and best instrumentalists. See how many others you can think of. Here are a few thoughts:
Cold Spring--not there yet, a bit of a low-energy affair. I agree about "She's Got a Way" and the amazing "Everybody Loves You Now," much better live.
Piano Man--in my top five, a songwriting clinic; no sane person can ignore Joel once this set is released upon the world. The melody to "If I Only Had the Words" alone would have put him on the map.
Streetlife--a lot of great songs here, but also some filler. A rag does not belong on a pop/rock album. I also love when the piano man plays synth, he's always got a creative part up his sleeve.
Turnstiles--a strange one. Side two is one of the all-time great album sides. Impossible to believe one man created all four of those tracks. Side two, though, is pretty weak. Can't stand "NY State of Mind."
The Stranger--in my top five. Guess there's nothing I need to add on this one. If anyone doesn't already love this album, well...
52nd Street--A lot of great individual songs on this album. Just doesn't quite hang together so well as an album. Maybe because it was a transitional moment in his career.
Glass Houses--the start of one of the all-time great three-album runs, all in my top five. Contains my favorite Billy Joel song (hint: it rhymes with your favorite.)
Nylon--super-genius level writing, arranging, etc. Remove the last song, "Where's the Orchestra?" which is very weak, and you have a straight-up perfect album.
Innocent--Billy does early rock and roll even better than the real thing. I know why people don't like "Uptown Girl": they couldn't have written a song that good in a million years. When I start my own country, "Keeping the Faith" will be the national anthem.
The Bridge--the only Billy Joel album that sounds like an 80's album. With better production, this would be a brilliant set.
Storm Front--still not the best production, but a lot of great songs. "Alexa" is a unique masterpiece.
River--I like it a lot, though it is over-arranged and over-produced.
Fantasies--kind of a failed experiment, but gets an A for effort.
Thanks for ranking one of my favorite artists. Have a great day!
My ranking from best to worst: 1) Turnstiles 2) Innocent man 3) The stranger 4) Stormfront 5) Glass houses 6) Piano man 7) River of dreams 8) 52nd street 9) Cold spring harbour 10) Nylon curtain 11) The bridge 12) Streetlife serenade
Thanks for your very interesting video.
Thanks for watching and for your ranking!
1. 52nd Street. *
2. The Stranger. *
3. Glass Houses
4. Turnstiles
5. Piano Man
6. The Nylon Curtain
7. Streetlife Serenade
8. An Innocent Man
9. Storm Front
10. The Bridge
11. River Of Dreams
12. Cold Spring Harbour #
* Top to bottom. Great Albums.
# Disastrous production.