You think he can't hear his un-natural voice on the released version? He must be okay with it. Which is just sad ... very, very sad when the music lover and consumer cares more about this stuff than the (classic) artist. I would have expected much better from an artist like Billy Joel.
He was dissatisfied with the production of his first 4 albums , that's why he released songs in the attic - all recorded live One of my fav Billy albums
The human voice conveys emotion. Pitch correction strips out the emotion, turning a singer-songwriting storyteller into a Teflon-coated narrator. The live version is pure Billy Joel. Not sure who the corrected version is; could be anyone. Very sad.
@@SteveSingerFowkesI was going to say the same thing. I’d like to add that I do enjoy the studio albums . . . but Billy is most at home during live performances, which adds an extra special emotional element. I was lucky enough to attend one of the 12 Gardens Live shows on one of the two nights they recorded for the live albums and video concert. I actually enjoy those songs more than the original recordings because there’s just that element of Billy putting his whole heart into the songs and feeding off the audience. If you go listen to each of those songs vs the original recordings, it’s tough to disagree that the live performances aren’t better. I also find it interesting that Billy downtuned this Grammy’s performance, as Fil mentioned. Billy can sing in C like the original recording without any issue - I’ve heard him sing many songs in C at live shows that have been posted online, so I don’t think it’s an issue of his not being able to hit or hold the notes. I keep wondering if that was a logistical or creative choice and what was behind the decision. He’s done that before in the past, of course, and I find it curious. Why wouldn’t he just record it in a lower key and just record it live without all vocal tweaks? I think that’s why he doesn’t like hearing his own voice on recorded studio albums - they are missing the expression that he adds live. If I ever ran into Billy in NYC, that’s the question I’d be curious to ask about. It’s a beautiful song no matter how you slice it, even with gentle pitch correction.
I started listening to Gordon Lightfoot in the late 1960's. I heard him in concert about 2 years before he died. One might say his voice was gone. But I heard something different, something magical that only comes with age and with time, with experience and with living a rich, long life. It was a voice with years of memories,, adventures, successes and failures, loves gained and lost. It was real and it was beautiful. Some things need to be left honest and real. Billy Joel is one of those. I loved the live performance. Thanks.
John Prine was the same way. He was never a “perfect” singer, but after his cancer surgeries there was something deeper, wiser, maybe “real”, about his voice that made his old songs new again.
I had a similar experience listening to Burt Bacharach at a live concert. His voice was almost gone, but the feeling that came through was magnificent!
We saw Lightfoot live at University of Windsor 🇨🇦 when my husband was a student. It was such a wonderful experience. Also, whenever I see the ‘Black Day in July’ video, I get teary every time. Even when he was young, Lightfoot’s emotions came through and touched one’s heart, but I agree, he aged well.
Same applies for Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchel. Under normal circumstances everyone would complain about their voice being gone. But man, does that feel good when Joni Mitchell sings life now ....
Its really sad to realise that there are great vocal performances happening in recording studios every day, and the only people who will ever get to hear them are the producers and sound engineers who will then do their best to suck the life and soul out of them.
Engineers pouring their heart and soul to create an amazing recording and then weeping in pain when the producer forces them to blow the hell out of hit with processing.
@@franckdebank Music recording and plugins and everything has come so far in amazing ways. It has made the workflow so much better, and great, but of course people has taken to too far and abused it at times, just like this instead of using it for good ;)
It really feels like they were trying to make Billy sound 40 years younger in the recorded version. But they didn’t need to. The magic in this song is a 75 year old Billy Joel singing it!
The live version brought tears to my eyes. So much emotion in his voice. When you can hear the emotion/ expression, it is like you are being invited into the same perspective he holds
This was an excellent review and analysis of the differences between the live and the recorded version. I learned so much. You are awesome at analyzing and dissecting a piece of music. Great job! 👏👏
Maybe a generation used to pitch correction doesn't notice or mind the loss of emotion, but for those of us who are used to having an emotional connection with a song (even if it's a negative emotion) the lack of it diminishes the enjoyment. The first time I heard Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" I stopped whatever it was I was doing because the emotion she put into that performance demanded complete attention. Note to producers. I hadn't purchased any new music in years, but I not only immediately bought the album that song was on, but her previous album as well. Because she sounded amazing and yes, real. Turned out that "Rolling in the Deep" wasn't a fluke either, as she sounds real on her other songs as well. If more artists and producers understood this and bucked this trend...I'd probably be buying a lot more music.
Billy Joel is amazing. His "breakup" with pop music was very sad, but I'm glad he came back for a visit. Billy has the kind of microtonal vocal control you can't get out of a piano which is how he compliments it so well, and I think it comes from his early years of playing old, out of tune pianos and learning to play and sing around the notes. That microtonal control is a big part of what's missing from modern over-produced music, a lot of the emotion lives there, otherwise you may as well just listen to electronic instrumental music which is essentially what we've been doing.
Watching this I was trying to figure out why Billy Joel would let this happen. Then I remembered he said that he never liked his voice, but when he was played this, he didn't think it was too bad. He even indicated it didn't really sound like him! He is a brilliant lyrisist who does not value his lyrics, an amazing pianst who does not think he is very good and a wonderful emotive singer who does not like his own voice. He was raised in a family with a classical music background. So was I. The idea of the perfectly rounded tones etc. runs strong even if you love rock, R&B etc. I was not impressed by the music when I first heard the recording, but the words spoke to me. Hearing the two versions next to each other how little life was in the recording. The producer committed a crime by using the artists insecurities to destroy his art. Shame on him or her.
His longtime friend and producer, the late great Phil Ramone, once wrote that the only way he could get Billy comfortable in the studio was by making it feel as much like a live show as possible. That might explain why Billy never really stopped playing live, but hardly recorded for 30 years.
Louis Armstrong sounded old, even when he wasn't. It was so flawed, and that's what made it a perfect instrument. Can you imagine if someone went back and pitch corrected Satchmo's recordings? It would lose everything.
Age is a privilege and a good thing for the voice. Why is there so much ageism towards musicians? Actors can be in drama, films and theatre and you don't hear their age being used against them like singers when many improve their technique with age. Nobody says bad against Anthony Hopkins or Judy Dench.
Went to a concert at the Berkley indoor theater. Great sound quality in that theater. Billy Joel was opening for a popular, better known CA band called Pablo Cruz. Billy started with "seen the lights go out on Broadway". The theater was pitch black and the curtains were drawn. Suddenly a synthesizer started producing such a low low frequency sound that you felt it before you heard it and it slowly climbed in frequency until it was high-pitched note. Suddenly the curtains flew open, the lights went on and the band hit it. When the song was over there was a stunned silence for about five seconds as people just looked at each other in their seats, momentarily unable to comprehend what they had heard/experienced. The place then erupted into a standing, cheering ovation. Every song Billy and the boys played received a standing ovation. I felt sorry for Pablo Cruz. Half the audience left when Billy was done. Never seen anything like it.
I would have thought that Billy Joel was a bigger name than Pablo Cruz. I can’t remember even one of their songs. Billy Joel was never my cup of tea, but I can name many of his songs. Speaking of people leaving venues en mass before the main act, I saw that happen twice recently, and both were after Breaking Benjamin finished their set, once before Alice In Chains, and last summer, before Disturbed. I had decent seats for both shows, but got to move closer when so many of BB’s fans left.
@@SuziQ. At that time Pablo Cruz had a couple of hits one being "zero to sixty in five" and were on kind of a roll. Not many people knew of Billy Joel, yet. A couple of years later he was selling out coliseums and I saw him at the Oakland coliseum. Great show but terrible sound compared to the Berkley indoor theater.
@@danabuch324 , The LA Coliseum has horrible acoustics, too. I prefer smaller venues that were built for good sound. I don’t remember that Pablo Cruz song, but if I remember correctly, they were popular when I first got into metal. LA had a metal radio station, and several rock stations. I don’t think I would have heard any of their songs.
That's a great story. There is a similar story about Anne Murray headlining a concert in Central Park in1972. Opening for her was a young guy who had just released his first album... Bruce Springsteen. I have seen Bruce 20+ times and yes, I saw Anne Murray twice. Her version of this story is really funny. (Yes, more than 1/2 of the audience left by Anne's second song).
A weird aspect is the studio version sounds much younger, like Billy in the 80s. The grammy performance sounds like an older man, which actually fits the theme of the song with a deeper, gruffer, and more bluesy voice. Respect for Billy saw him live a few years ago and obviously their are compromises he makes such as leaning on his backing singers for some hard parts (hey that's why you hire Mike DelGuidice) but he still sings the hell out of his songs and puts on a great show.
Great observation! This is a song of regret and pleading which is also why the lower tone works better (and explains the trend of going slightly sharp). Producers need to stop sabotaging human emotions while singing.
If you see the official video you'll see why they have done this. It uses AI to de-age him and then slowly age him through the song until we get to today's Billy.
He was on Howard Stern's show on Feb. 14, and he even said "if you need auto tune, you are in the wrong business". The man, born in the Bronx, has talent up the wazoo, a fantastic set of pipes and the brains and the balls on how to use it! There is a concert video of him in front of the Colliseum which is great, like all his shows are, but the version of New York state of mind is just...spectacular, like him and Ray Charles combined into one performer! I grew up with Billys music but had drifted away from it, but his latest tune just elbowed me and reminded me that he is still here and he is still great!
I love Billy Joel - he really feels what he is singing no matter how many times he has sung it. He has kept it real all these years and it's wonderful.
I grew up on long island..🇺🇲 And actually coming from the same town as billy ,he was very big there. This is a great analysis. In the live performance you can hear the emotion. Like you mentioned, this is 25 years after his last release. On the studio version , I think they tried to inflect the voice of his youth in this song. And apply it to youthful images of billy In the video. I recently saw a interview with billy. And it seems the lyrics have a double meaning. Turning the lights back on in a relationship.. But can also be turning the lights back on To creating new music. And that's what in my opinion makes him one of the greatest song writers..🤔🤗👍🎼🎶🎙🎹🎵
That drift up is absolutely part of his charm. That float has so much emotion in it... Iused to get yelled at for using my harmony notes in songs instead of my lead but It just felt "Right" ....Singer know thyself
I saw him a few years ago. I wasn’t expecting much frankly. Man did he blow me away. Every musician on stage was amazing. Between songs he would just riff on Bach and the Beatles. Amazing performer live 👏👏👏
I especially love how he’ll start playing a completely different song (anything from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Tush”) during the break in “River of Dreams,” only to finish “River” after that. (To say nothing of his other famous Grammys performance from 30 years ago, when he used that same break to troll the network for cutting to commercials in the middle of Frank Sinatra’s speech.)
Thanks for this analysis - one of the greatest singer songwriters of all time. Why don't the music producers understand that it's the personality and real emotion of the artist that makes us love them so much?
They do, and that's why there are so many Live album releases. We want the pristine studio albums to appreciate for their sonic purity, but we love the live performances to capture the artists' vulnerability and raw emotion. Each is important to us as fans and ultimately, it's why we go to concerts.
The corrected version sounds way more like a younger Billy Joel. Thats exactly how his younger self would have sang this song. Not the older, seasoned Billy Joel of today...
As a Billy Joel fan since the 70's, this studio recording reminded me of Billy's voice back in the day, and assumed that was the intention. The official video seems to support this. He was a much better singer back then, as everyone is, and i think it was the right choice. You want the elderly Billy singing the song? There's plenty of performances of that, but at least there's one recording of Billy in his prime singing this great song.
I’m not sure you get that emotion in a 70/80’s Billy singing this song as it’s a song of an older man looking back. I can see what they’ve done but they’ve stripped out the colour from his voice that comes through age.
I’ve seen Billy live-40 years ago-and seen him and Elton live, together, maybe 35 years ago and the “corrected” Billy has had his SOUL removed. The line “unable to change” is what the “geniuses” have done to him.
I agree with the person who requested it. This actually is better than the studio version! What an an outstanding, heartfelt performance. Just... WOW! 😲
I've always liked Billy Joel because when he performs, he makes me think of his "Piano Man" start, when he was playing in bars. The live version of this one is the way he would sing it in a bar.
I love the grittiness and emotion of the live version, perhaps not all notes are “technically” perfect but I felt the sentiment so much more than the studio version. Literally brought tears to my eyes.
What an astonishing difference with no pitch correction or any other monkey business in editing! Thanks for doing this analysis. This is organic…. this is real. And this type of raw live performance is all but gone now. Pitch correction steals the soul from music. I’ve never been a huge Billy Joel fan, but this was incredible. Great analysis. Well done.
Great observations Fil, pointing out that honest compassionate art of emotional expression can't be pitch-corrected. When applied anyway the magic truth becomes a lie. ROCK !
I have to say, Fil, that this may have been one of your very best Wings of Pegasus reactions, not only because of your thoughtful analysis of both Billy's LIVE & studio performances, but because you address, with such love & heartfelt conviction, this very real issue that is now plaguing the music industry.
My reaction when I first heard this song on the radio was, this is a really great song, so well written. I would love to hear Billy Joel sing it. So glad to have the Grammy performance so we actually get to hear Billy Joel sing it.
Billy Joel's is one of those giiants of music. Not many can compare to him, or his music and lyrics. Honesty, You're my Home and Vienna are amazing examples of his immensity. The studio recording is simple cold.
Of you watch the Warren Fu video you can see why it has been done. To make each verse fit with the era. When modern Billy comes back toward the end, the voice is back! The video is a piece of art in itself. You need to see the video to understand the meaning of the piece of work. It is an evolution. The lyric, the song and the video need experiencing together.
Just seen the video and completely agree. The video and the recreation of the vocals are part of the whole art, and I'm pretty sure we do get the current Billy vocals when he is on screen, stood out at the very end.
I've said this before: Billy Joel is unique in that he manages to capture that special something "magic in a bottle" live performance that is so hard for most performers. There are fans who consider some of his live versions as the "standard" rather than the studio versions. I don't really know any other artist like that. It's pretty obvious that Joel has always had a problem with producers. Blame Wexler for this, he's firmly in the camp of being a "modern producer". Which means he breaks out the pitch correction tools even when not needed. But Blame Joel too, because he let it happen.
The studio version is like a radio news reader reading out the news; cold, distant, disconnected and emotionless. The live version is like Billy Joel has invited us to join in the experience he has had in his life. The ups and downs. The regrets and the hope. No prize for guessing which version I like more.
Watching the music video, I felt that the pitch correction in the beginning was to make him sound like he sounded when he was younger. I got that impression, so for me, it was effective. I felt like as the song advanced, it sounded more like he's sounded since the latter part of the 80s.
FIL, thank you for this one ! I loved his natural voice, so full of expression and emotion! Yes, it did touch me emotionally , but then came the pitch corrected version ! Why can't the person who applies pitch correction hear that they have taken all that was real away from the voice and made it sound unemotional as if someone else is singing ! Pitch correction needs to be outlawed, in my opinion !
This is a fascinating analysis. Such a world of difference. Fil, thanks for showing us the stark contrasts. Billy Joel’ s voice’s is so unique . It’s his real voice that we have always loved. He’s a wonderful story teller. We needed your comments on artistry!
I am extremely hard of hearing, and I often wondered why I did not lije certain songs/singers. After listening to Fil for so long, I now know it all has to do with pitch correction and how songs are mixed. Thank you, Fil, for all you've taught us. 😊
I believe that everyone is missing the gift that the video gives us! Not only do we see Billy sing at the different stages of his life, but if you listen, he also sings at each stage the way he sang then! Listen to 70’s Billy on the video, and you’ll hear him once again - just as he sang back in the 70s! Yes, it’s AI, but it’s fantastic how they put it together… The video with his different looks, but the music as well in those different times! Listen to the video again with this in mind, and tell me it’s not genius!
Yes! I noticed that when I first saw the video. I had almost been convinced that the pitch correction had simply meddled with the song, but you reminded me that it can’t have because they were trying for a different idea with the studio recording.
It's an artistic choice to recreate the different periods with the technology. He does sound like older Billy by the last verse and chorus. AI is with us and artists will be using it in different ways. For me it works as a piece of art. That's what recordings are. Ever since the Beatles and The Beach Boys, the studio and the technology became a tool of creation. Live performances are always more dynamic. The two performances serve different purposes.
rhaleymusic Yes!! This is the very first instance I've seen that uses A.I. to a truly artistic purpose. AFAIC that's what A.I. is *for*. and I agree .... the video concept is genius. I love it - even with the correction - for the art that it is. And for the gift of seeing and hearing Billy as I remember him throughout all the years I've loved him. yeah, it's totally different than the live Grammy performance - which blew my doors off, for all the reasons Fil points out here,- but even so, the more I hear it the more I love it.
Fascinating analysis, and greatly appreciated by this Billy Joel fan! Billy famously "hates" the sound of his own voice, he's said this so many times in interviews. He always wants to sound like someone else. That being said, he has also adamantly claimed he's never used autotune (I personally am not sure if that's different from pitch correction). For this recording he said specifically that it's the first time in a long time that he didn't hate the sound of his voice. Another thing, for his live performances, now that he's older he often has to lower the key of many of his hit songs (even Piano Man is lower in concert). So, all of this may be food for thought! Billy recently performed this song for the first time for a Madison Square Garden audience (the Grammys don't count to him, ahaha), and if you look up any fan videos, it does sound amazing live.
Pitch correcting is akin to plastic surgery. And it seems like producers watch the music with their eyes rather than use their ears to hear what a true human voice sounds like.
My impression of this live version is that I hear some of the honesty and and expressivness that you get with Leonard Cohen's later music. Even some of the "darkness" for lack of a better word. Not to compare them as artists and I really haven't been following Billy Joel's music for the last two decades. Also in regard to the ascending and movement in the individual notes beeing sung, it reminds me of your videos on Dean Martin & Sinatra and why their singing seems to hold a special magic that is missing from many contemporary recordings!
Fil, I can't begin to explain how much you have helped me understand pitch correction, and why i like/don't like certain performances today. I was so excited to hear of a new Billy Joel song, but was non-plussed by it, until i heard the live version. Same with so many other artists today, that have been performing for decades.
Great big huge Billy Joel fan here. And now I shall go back and listen to all his old songs again, more carefully, and hope that this was not always a thing.
Real voice. Brought a tear immediately. Lyrics are amazing Thanks Fil. 🌹Made my day ( Pitch corrected version could have been a pitch corrected Bono or anyone, IMO)
Hi Fil, This was a great analysis of Billy Joel today. His songwriting and storytelling abilities are second to none. One of the reasons I believe he is so loved is his take on real-life situations and putting them into song. Loved the comparison of the two vocals. Like two different worlds. Great job looking at this performance! Debbie☮️
Great analysis. This tuned artificial vocal makes more sense when you watch the new official video that has 'AI/CGi' versions of Billy from down the years, getting gradually older as the song progresses.
So glad you analyzed this, Fil! As a fan of Joel from his first album, this song instantly brought me back decades. He (and his band) always did amazing live performances. WNEW in NYC and others broadcast live concerts in the late 1970's, that we captured on reel to reel and cassette and enjoyed for many years. The pitch correction butchers the devil out of his voice.
I think the pitch correction and different key actually makes the official release sound more like his voice from the 70s and 80s, something he can no longer pull off now.
That's what sounds so incongruous with the song. It's about a guy who's done a lot of living- a guy who's made his share of mistakes over a long life and has his regrets. The voice should sound a bit like it's lived through whiskey and cigarettes, not like some tawdry imitation of a young man in his 'prime'.
@@Jasper_the_Cat Taudry? No way. Haha - Frankly, after relistening to his earlier stuff, the studio take sounds more like Billy at the end of his last album River of Dreams... I think it would interesting to analyze Billy's pitch from his heyday. One thing that always stood out was how edfoetlessly in-pitch he always was, and with almost no vibrato too.
His 74 year old natural voice! The fact that he’s still playing MSG twice a month is astonishing! You should watch the performance from the Garden the following week! It’s probably the best version yet! Great video and analysis.👍🏻
In September I saw Billy Joel at the garden New York City. A friend of mine is good friends with him. She kept telling me you got to go see him you gotta go see it now!!! I’ve seen Billy three time once in the 70s and twice in the 80s. He’s phenomenal. But when I went to see him last September I forgot the breath of his work it was truly staggering and he gave it all in that performance as he always does. His band has always been phenomenal
Some people have picked up on an important factor that you're completely missing regarding the official recording, and that is that in the accompanying video, Billy Joel has been cgi'd to look like his younger selves, aging as the song progresses, and the vocals have been corrected to match the visuals. Hearing current Billy Joel's voice coming out of the mouth of 1970s Billy Joel would break the illusion. It's clearly intentional, and I in no way believe they were trying to "fix" his voice. Based on his known feelings about autotune (along with the fiasco of the screwed up master of his very first album), I can't imagine that the "corrections" were done without his knowledge or approval.
Thank you!!! 👏👏I’m patting myself on the back because I heard what you’re saying before I watched this video. lol I feel like this song was a test and I believe many of us passed. And you’re responsible for the education. Thanks again!!!! 😃
Fil, thank you so much for your analysis. It makes a lot of sense now, why I thought his voice sounded weird on the original release! I wondered recently why today's recordings leave me totally emotionless and I can't feel/connect to the vocals and music like I used to. I still can with older music though. I thought it was because I'm 40, therefore becoming stuck in the past musically haha. I love music and always have and it makes me sad to see how the producers can think that it's OK to totally modify such a legend's voice like Billy Joel. Please let him express himself! He probably worked on that song for a long time and they just took most of the expression out of it. I feel like someone who did the tuning has no musical background. Music is art! It's not meant to be perfect. He just sounds like an AI version of himself on that recording. What is the point of releasing something like this? Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly that it's disrespectful towards Billy. The live version is a gift, very moving, as he intended it to be.
Billie Eilish also sang What Was I Made For live. accompanied just by her brother Finneas at the Grammys. It was extremely emotional and won song of the year. She is one of the few artists who doesn’t use pitch correction, even the studio release of this song wasn’t pitch corrected. For those who haven’t seen Barbie, it’s the story of a toy who leaves her perfect world to become a human being in the real world. This is a beautifully written song for an amazing, emotional movie. It’s absolutely nothing like I thought it would be.
I would assume the vocals were increased a key for the official version to match Billy's voice when he was younger in order to sync with the music video which shows 70s/80s Billy singing the song. The part of the video with older Billy singing is in a lower key to match his older voice. But still, the "younger" voice is as real as the deep fakes in that video. I would love if they released the original recording before the "corrections" were made. That live performance shows just how talented Billy still is, pouring emotion into the song. His voice has aged like a fine wine. I've loved the couple of his concerts I've been able to attend for that reason.
Im a massive Billy fan I saw him in Manchester in 2006 - simply THE best gig ive ever been to - he sang fantastic and the band were awesome and the sound crystal clear....and i nearly didnt go as it had been nearly 30 degrees that day and my old Escort hadnt got aircon! Saw him at MSG in Apr 2019 ( he was nearly 70!) - again brilliant concert Simply THE best singer/songwriter ever IMO - only surpassed by Lennon/ McCartney BTW - this song was a collaboration - not solely written by Billy like all his previous songs
I saw him in San Diego in 2016, was an absolutely masterful performance. The only shame is he has so many songs you want to hear that it would take a 12 hour concert.
As a lifelong Billy fan, I can say with some certainty that they made the album cut to sound like he did 40 years ago. (And it does). The problem is that they didn’t embrace Billy’s voice the way that it does now. Billy live - It’s the reason why my favorite album from him is ‘songs in the attic’. His best album and it’s all live.
I loved the new song, but didn't get super emotional until I saw the video. His aging reminds me of mine. He's never been gone for me, I listen to him all of the time. His connection in live concerts is incomparable, can't wait to hear it live July 12 in Denver!
Thanks for the analysis! It's amazing how much better his live performance sounds. It's such a shame. But seeing this brings back good memories for me. Billy Joel actually played at my university back in the 90s. It's hard to believe a performer of his caliber would play at a small university in western PA, but he did! Unfortunately, being a poor college student, I couldn't afford to attend. But it was ok because I was able to walk around the campus that night and still hear him perform from the auditorium.
I actually like his voice better now. Age, grit, wisdom, life experience, emotion. We dont eant Billy perfect, we want him as impergect as we are 50 years later.
One of my favorite musical artists! I saw him at Civic Arena in Pittsburgh on a revolving stage. He loves his fans and wanted everyone to feel included that night, not just watching the back of his head. He cares for his public and they care right back! Thank you for analyzing Billy Joel.🤗
I saw Billy Joel in Minneapolis. I had great seats but got up and was standing right in front of the stage with my arms resting on it. I was getting crushed by the crowd behind me when they surged forward. I had to take a breath each time the crowd pressure backed off a bit & hold it. On the plus side, I was right in front of Billy Joel & he was spitting on me as he was singing. Excellent concert but won't ever do that again.
On the assumption the official studio recording and official music video vocals are one and the same, criticism of the studio version against the live performance at the Grammys is unfounded. On the music video, not only do the AI enhanced versions of younger Billy progress to the Billy of today but his voice also progresses from younger to older. I'm not imagining this. When I first heard the song, I cried. I've been a Billy Joel fan since his start in the early 70's, so I'm very well aware of how he sounded back then. The first thing I thought at the start of the song was "OMG! His voice hasn't aged at all!"....until I watched the entire video through to the end where you hear his voice as it is today - more mature but still, unmistakably, Billy.
Awesome! People like me need to be pitch corrected (heavily lol) but great singers like Billy Joel do not need any correction. I agree that a lot of the emotion and story telling is lost with edited songs. I suppose I look at it like teeth. Seriously. At this time it is very common for people to want to have absolutely perfect teeth with the whitest of white for color. For the most part, perfectly aligned, perfectly sized and perfectly white teeth are very rare in nature. In the same aspect, perfectly pitched voices that are always bang on (yes, I like your expression and I borrowed it) the notes would be extremely rare in nature. Great analysis Fil!
The official video leads one to think that it's an old song but it really was just released the 1st of this month. It keeps making me cry. I'm 57 years old but still.
Exactly. I said it in a separate comment, then saw yours. I like the video because I feel like I’m watching him through the years. With some of the clips, it’s an emotional flash back. But I do like his real voice now. Keep going, Billy !
I have seen him live 4 times, over the last 40 years, and he's sounded fantastic every single time. His is a voice that expresses emotion and feeling. It's always been that way. And, considering he's 74 years old, his voice has lasted incredibly well.
yes my dear, I got socialized in the 70ies, when there was a lot of good and real music.. I turned my back on it in the last decades. I didn't even know there was something new out from Billy Joel. Glad that Van Morrison still plays and sings. Bless you and thank you
Billy Joel is a literal national treasure in the American songbook. Also to provide my own context in your critique of the studio versus live track. I’ve been a long time Billy Joel fan and listening to this studio track actually sounds like old Billy Joel to me in his vocal quality and production as in the 80’s or 90’s. Maybe that’s what he and the label was going for? I’m not sure but I know he has a big influence on the way his songs are released nowadays and what goes into them production wise. Live versions of songs will imo be always more emotional and raw because it’s live and usually people give a little different vocal performance on live tracks depending on how they are feeling a particular night too. I believe if you went back and looked at live performances from the 80’s or 90’s and compared the studio track with the live there, you will see the same thing and that’s before pitch correction tech. He’s older now yes and I agree the live is more raw and better in emotion but that might have been a constructive choice on his part for whatever reasons. I’ve seen people praise the studio track. Comparing it to some of his early hits “She’s Always A Woman” perhaps a little. I get what you are saying but it’s not unheard of for the live performances are almost always a different beast than studio releases no matter the era to a degree or an artistic choice by the artist for a live performance. Unrelated but have you done videos on Alicia Keys and if she’s as flat as everyone says? I’m curious. Especially on “No One” and perhaps some others. She does strain a lot in pushing her chest voice up which might be part of why people don’t like her but yeah like I’m just curious how flat she is.
Thanks Fil for providing this amazing analysis of Billy Joel's Grammy performance. I also appreciated your comparison between his live performance and the studio version. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that the pitch correction removed the EMOTION of the song. To me, the studio version sounded very mechanical and expressionless--an overall stark contrast from what I'm used to hearing from Billy. In his live performance, I heard the grittiness, emotion, and storytelling qualities that I believe contributed to his legendary status. Bravo, Fil for what you do! P.S. By the way, Chipper starting talking and whistling every time you played Billy's live version and got quiet when you played the studio version. I'm not joking! I guess he has good taste in music LOL!
Absolutely on spot Fil! The live version is full of expression and his natural gift of his fantastic voice! Naturally gifted ,one of the greats, he is best live and makes it look effortless! Genius ❤ Great analysis!!! Rock !!!! Jeff.... Los Angeles
As a Brooklyn girl who's loved Billy since since the 70s when he first started and has seen him in concert at least 20 times....nothing beats his live music. Concerts in the 70s up until now. He is perfectly imperfect just like rest of us, his voice is honest and real....and pretty damn incredible for his age. He sells out every show in MSG because we love him, we've grown and aged with him. He has been the storyteller of our lives. There is more grit and passion in his voice live. He could xare kess about being pitch perfect. That's an industry thing, which Billy repels. I personally don't love auto tune as i think it is dishonest and sounds fake. Nobody needs to sound perfect. People want authenticity and emotion, which is not always pitch perfect. This live performance was all those things that i love about Billy and feeling the weight of that moment for him and for us as his long time fans. I clapped from my living room with tears in my eyes from the emotion this live version grabs from your soul...pure pride of him knocking it right out if the park. The recorded version is good, but i know they auto tuned it. Billy's voice sounds younger, more perfect, less emotional, more overproduced. Billy is a no nonsense take the train to perform at The Garden kind of dude. His voice has aged, he's lost his hair, he's gained some weight, he has aches and pains...just like rhe rest of us who have been there since the beginning. He is real on that stage, perfectly imperfect and that's why we love him. 😎🎹💐💘🤗
Very telling that he wanted to perform live with his true voice & not try to match the manipulated version. I think the recorded take sounds kinda like Billy Joel … 30 years ago, but the song is about how he’s changed & grown since then. Ironic. Big ❤❤ to Billy and his journey.
! was always struck by Billy Joel's great musicality and songwriting. Pitch correction gives you a tune, real singing gives you a SONG. Artists like Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash and Billy Joel should keep the integrity of their real voices: they're something special.
I agree with you 💯. I can guess as to why they pitched him up and filtered him. His voice is so extremely growling now, that if you compare him to his previous albums, it doesn't sound like he did back in the day. So some producer made the decision to smooth out the roughness and pitch him up to give him his "older album sound" rather than just capture him how he sounds today.
As a long time Billy Joel. I totally recognize the voice on the official release! The recorded version sounds much more like his voice from the 70s and 80s. The corrected track gave Billy the ability to release a track with a voice he used to be able to pull off. Also, gotta remember the Billy gave the thumbs up on the release.
Thank you Fil; I was one of those (likely many) emails suggesting a live/studio comparison of this song. I like that you started with the live clip and pointed out some of Billy's signature characteristics or vocal "fingerprints" - ascending through notes, for example. Keep articulating the way you do, e.g., "Billy Joel doesn't DO this!" when analyzing even subtle pitch correction application in future videos. As an aside, since Glass Houses, my first record-store Billy Joel purchase, I always wondered what drew me to his voice. It's always been amazing how he can change his timbre to match the lyric, but every so often he just nails the center of the pitch and it sounds so sweet. And the live clips of the new song, even if they're down a step from the studio cut, prove he's still got it.
You're a very talented dude and spot on. This is a great music lesson as you graphically demonstate the difference between studio recorded pitch correction and live. Love the indepth play by play analysis. 👏👏
I have seen him three times live in small venues. There is nothing better than hearing his voice. His performance at the grammys was chilling! He still has it!!! Thanks, Fil for your analysis of the Master!
I wish Billy Joel could hear this analysis, Fil.
Hear this and put out the un-altered version.
You think he can't hear his un-natural voice on the released version? He must be okay with it. Which is just sad ... very, very sad when the music lover and consumer cares more about this stuff than the (classic) artist. I would have expected much better from an artist like Billy Joel.
Maybe link it to his daughter on IG?
@@RealGriz ooh, maybe?
Billy Joel’s live performance is what makes him such a legend, as he is a storyteller and the studio version does a disservice to his storytelling
He was dissatisfied with the production of his first 4 albums , that's why he released songs in the attic - all recorded live
One of my fav Billy albums
@@SteveSingerFowkes Song in the Attic is an absolute gem
The human voice conveys emotion. Pitch correction strips out the emotion, turning a singer-songwriting storyteller into a Teflon-coated narrator. The live version is pure Billy Joel. Not sure who the corrected version is; could be anyone. Very sad.
studio version is just fine
@@SteveSingerFowkesI was going to say the same thing. I’d like to add that I do enjoy the studio albums . . . but Billy is most at home during live performances, which adds an extra special emotional element. I was lucky enough to attend one of the 12 Gardens Live shows on one of the two nights they recorded for the live albums and video concert. I actually enjoy those songs more than the original recordings because there’s just that element of Billy putting his whole heart into the songs and feeding off the audience. If you go listen to each of those songs vs the original recordings, it’s tough to disagree that the live performances aren’t better.
I also find it interesting that Billy downtuned this Grammy’s performance, as Fil mentioned. Billy can sing in C like the original recording without any issue - I’ve heard him sing many songs in C at live shows that have been posted online, so I don’t think it’s an issue of his not being able to hit or hold the notes. I keep wondering if that was a logistical or creative choice and what was behind the decision. He’s done that before in the past, of course, and I find it curious. Why wouldn’t he just record it in a lower key and just record it live without all vocal tweaks? I think that’s why he doesn’t like hearing his own voice on recorded studio albums - they are missing the expression that he adds live. If I ever ran into Billy in NYC, that’s the question I’d be curious to ask about.
It’s a beautiful song no matter how you slice it, even with gentle pitch correction.
I started listening to Gordon Lightfoot in the late 1960's. I heard him in concert about 2 years before he died. One might say his voice was gone. But I heard something different, something magical that only comes with age and with time, with experience and with living a rich, long life. It was a voice with years of memories,, adventures, successes and failures, loves gained and lost. It was real and it was beautiful. Some things need to be left honest and real. Billy Joel is one of those. I loved the live performance. Thanks.
I loved your comment and its testament to the richness of experience. ❤
John Prine was the same way. He was never a “perfect” singer, but after his cancer surgeries there was something deeper, wiser, maybe “real”, about his voice that made his old songs new again.
I had a similar experience listening to Burt Bacharach at a live concert. His voice was almost gone, but the feeling that came through was magnificent!
We saw Lightfoot live at University of Windsor 🇨🇦 when my husband was a student. It was such a wonderful experience. Also, whenever I see the ‘Black Day in July’ video, I get teary every time. Even when he was young, Lightfoot’s emotions came through and touched one’s heart, but I agree, he aged well.
Same applies for Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchel. Under normal circumstances everyone would complain about their voice being gone.
But man, does that feel good when Joni Mitchell sings life now ....
Its really sad to realise that there are great vocal performances happening in recording studios every day, and the only people who will ever get to hear them are the producers and sound engineers who will then do their best to suck the life and soul out of them.
Engineers pouring their heart and soul to create an amazing recording and then weeping in pain when the producer forces them to blow the hell out of hit with processing.
@@NicholasAndre1Also true
@@franckdebank Music recording and plugins and everything has come so far in amazing ways. It has made the workflow so much better, and great, but of course people has taken to too far and abused it at times, just like this instead of using it for good ;)
It really feels like they were trying to make Billy sound 40 years younger in the recorded version. But they didn’t need to. The magic in this song is a 75 year old Billy Joel singing it!
Tampering with this wonderful live performance is like trying to improve the Mona Lisa with crayons.
Good one! 👏👏
Billy Joel is Honest(y)!
"Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard"
In acting, honesty is the most important thing. Once you learn to fake that, you've got it made --George Burns
@@fredbloggs6080 Billy Joel and his piano always turn out uniquely magic.
@@Claus-dx2qy Could this be the magic at last? It could be magic.
@@fredbloggs6080 Billy is already an Immortal!
@@Claus-dx2qy He become a member of the Norwegian black metal band?
Billy and Tracy Chapman saved the Grammys. True talent needs no augmentation. Fil...goosebumps for sure. Thank you for this!
And Luke Combs andJoni Mitchell.
The live version brought tears to my eyes. So much emotion in his voice. When you can hear the emotion/ expression, it is like you are being invited into the same perspective he holds
I wonder if this was about Christi. In this live version, his voice is congruent with his age. In the recording, it is strangely youthful.
This was an excellent review and analysis of the differences between the live and the recorded version. I learned so much. You are awesome at analyzing and dissecting a piece of music. Great job! 👏👏
Maybe a generation used to pitch correction doesn't notice or mind the loss of emotion, but for those of us who are used to having an emotional connection with a song (even if it's a negative emotion) the lack of it diminishes the enjoyment. The first time I heard Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" I stopped whatever it was I was doing because the emotion she put into that performance demanded complete attention. Note to producers. I hadn't purchased any new music in years, but I not only immediately bought the album that song was on, but her previous album as well. Because she sounded amazing and yes, real. Turned out that "Rolling in the Deep" wasn't a fluke either, as she sounds real on her other songs as well. If more artists and producers understood this and bucked this trend...I'd probably be buying a lot more music.
Billy Joel is amazing. His "breakup" with pop music was very sad, but I'm glad he came back for a visit. Billy has the kind of microtonal vocal control you can't get out of a piano which is how he compliments it so well, and I think it comes from his early years of playing old, out of tune pianos and learning to play and sing around the notes. That microtonal control is a big part of what's missing from modern over-produced music, a lot of the emotion lives there, otherwise you may as well just listen to electronic instrumental music which is essentially what we've been doing.
Watching this I was trying to figure out why Billy Joel would let this happen. Then I remembered he said that he never liked his voice, but when he was played this, he didn't think it was too bad. He even indicated it didn't really sound like him! He is a brilliant lyrisist who does not value his lyrics, an amazing pianst who does not think he is very good and a wonderful emotive singer who does not like his own voice. He was raised in a family with a classical music background. So was I. The idea of the perfectly rounded tones etc. runs strong even if you love rock, R&B etc. I was not impressed by the music when I first heard the recording, but the words spoke to me. Hearing the two versions next to each other how little life was in the recording. The producer committed a crime by using the artists insecurities to destroy his art. Shame on him or her.
His longtime friend and producer, the late great Phil Ramone, once wrote that the only way he could get Billy comfortable in the studio was by making it feel as much like a live show as possible. That might explain why Billy never really stopped playing live, but hardly recorded for 30 years.
Billy's voice may have aged, but man... he is such a master still. Goosebumps, yes, absolutely!
Louis Armstrong sounded old, even when he wasn't. It was so flawed, and that's what made it a perfect instrument. Can you imagine if someone went back and pitch corrected Satchmo's recordings? It would lose everything.
Age is a privilege and a good thing for the voice. Why is there so much ageism towards musicians? Actors can be in drama, films and theatre and you don't hear their age being used against them like singers when many improve their technique with age. Nobody says bad against Anthony Hopkins or Judy Dench.
Good grief…. you’d have to be the best music teacher I’ve come across. Your work is exceptional
Went to a concert at the Berkley indoor theater. Great sound quality in that theater. Billy Joel was opening for a popular, better known CA band called Pablo Cruz. Billy started with "seen the lights go out on Broadway". The theater was pitch black and the curtains were drawn. Suddenly a synthesizer started producing such a low low frequency sound that you felt it before you heard it and it slowly climbed in frequency until it was high-pitched note. Suddenly the curtains flew open, the lights went on and the band hit it. When the song was over there was a stunned silence for about five seconds as people just looked at each other in their seats, momentarily unable to comprehend what they had heard/experienced. The place then erupted into a standing, cheering ovation. Every song Billy and the boys played received a standing ovation. I felt sorry for Pablo Cruz. Half the audience left when Billy was done. Never seen anything like it.
And Pablo Cruz was amazing. The two would be so different- like 2 separate concerts. Wow!
I saw him in about 1982. Incredible show.
I would have thought that Billy Joel was a bigger name than Pablo Cruz. I can’t remember even one of their songs. Billy Joel was never my cup of tea, but I can name many of his songs.
Speaking of people leaving venues en mass before the main act, I saw that happen twice recently, and both were after Breaking Benjamin finished their set, once before Alice In Chains, and last summer, before Disturbed. I had decent seats for both shows, but got to move closer when so many of BB’s fans left.
@@SuziQ. At that time Pablo Cruz had a couple of hits one being "zero to sixty in five" and were on kind of a roll. Not many people knew of Billy Joel, yet. A couple of years later he was selling out coliseums and I saw him at the Oakland coliseum. Great show but terrible sound compared to the Berkley indoor theater.
@@danabuch324 ,
The LA Coliseum has horrible acoustics, too. I prefer smaller venues that were built for good sound.
I don’t remember that Pablo Cruz song, but if I remember correctly, they were popular when I first got into metal. LA had a metal radio station, and several rock stations. I don’t think I would have heard any of their songs.
That's a great story. There is a similar story about Anne Murray headlining a concert in Central Park in1972. Opening for her was a young guy who had just released his first album... Bruce Springsteen. I have seen Bruce 20+ times and yes, I saw Anne Murray twice. Her version of this story is really funny. (Yes, more than 1/2 of the audience left by Anne's second song).
A weird aspect is the studio version sounds much younger, like Billy in the 80s. The grammy performance sounds like an older man, which actually fits the theme of the song with a deeper, gruffer, and more bluesy voice. Respect for Billy saw him live a few years ago and obviously their are compromises he makes such as leaning on his backing singers for some hard parts (hey that's why you hire Mike DelGuidice) but he still sings the hell out of his songs and puts on a great show.
Great observation! This is a song of regret and pleading which is also why the lower tone works better (and explains the trend of going slightly sharp). Producers need to stop sabotaging human emotions while singing.
Studio version sounds like an AI clone of Billy's 80s voice.
If you see the official video you'll see why they have done this.
It uses AI to de-age him and then slowly age him through the song until we get to today's Billy.
@@LSwick-ss6nm I'm amazed how many people have missed this point.
He could be just saving his voice. In the studio he won't be using his voice that intensely like he does for a few hours
He was on Howard Stern's show on Feb. 14, and he even said "if you need auto tune, you are in the wrong business". The man, born in the Bronx, has talent up the wazoo, a fantastic set of pipes and the brains and the balls on how to use it! There is a concert video of him in front of the Colliseum which is great, like all his shows are, but the version of New York state of mind is just...spectacular, like him and Ray Charles combined into one performer! I grew up with Billys music but had drifted away from it, but his latest tune just elbowed me and reminded me that he is still here and he is still great!
He also said he doesn’t use autotune because he doesn’t need it!
I love Billy Joel - he really feels what he is singing no matter how many times he has sung it. He has kept it real all these years and it's wonderful.
I grew up on long island..🇺🇲 And actually coming from the same town as billy ,he was very big there. This is a great analysis. In the live performance you can hear the emotion. Like you mentioned, this is 25 years after his last release. On the studio version , I think they tried to inflect the voice of his youth in this song. And apply it to youthful images of billy In the video. I recently saw a interview with billy. And it seems the lyrics have a double meaning. Turning the lights back on in a relationship.. But can also be turning the lights back on To creating new music. And that's what in my opinion makes him one of the greatest song writers..🤔🤗👍🎼🎶🎙🎹🎵
I hope that he keeps on releasing new music until he passes 😢
matter How you Slice It Billy Joel is One Of The Greatest Of Our Time Period End Of Story ❤
That drift up is absolutely part of his charm. That float has so much emotion in it... Iused to get yelled at for using my harmony notes in songs instead of my lead but It just felt "Right" ....Singer know thyself
I saw him a few years ago. I wasn’t expecting much frankly. Man did he blow me away. Every musician on stage was amazing. Between songs he would just riff on Bach and the Beatles. Amazing performer live 👏👏👏
I especially love how he’ll start playing a completely different song (anything from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Tush”) during the break in “River of Dreams,” only to finish “River” after that. (To say nothing of his other famous Grammys performance from 30 years ago, when he used that same break to troll the network for cutting to commercials in the middle of Frank Sinatra’s speech.)
Thanks for this analysis - one of the greatest singer songwriters of all time. Why don't the music producers understand that it's the personality and real emotion of the artist that makes us love them so much?
They do, and that's why there are so many Live album releases. We want the pristine studio albums to appreciate for their sonic purity, but we love the live performances to capture the artists' vulnerability and raw emotion. Each is important to us as fans and ultimately, it's why we go to concerts.
So great watching you fight the fight for good, raw talent without technology and greed layered over it. Thank you!
The corrected version sounds way more like a younger Billy Joel. Thats exactly how his younger self would have sang this song. Not the older, seasoned Billy Joel of today...
As a Billy Joel fan since the 70's, this studio recording reminded me of Billy's voice back in the day, and assumed that was the intention. The official video seems to support this. He was a much better singer back then, as everyone is, and i think it was the right choice. You want the elderly Billy singing the song? There's plenty of performances of that, but at least there's one recording of Billy in his prime singing this great song.
I’m not sure you get that emotion in a 70/80’s Billy singing this song as it’s a song of an older man looking back. I can see what they’ve done but they’ve stripped out the colour from his voice that comes through age.
Sorry, can't agree, but I respect your opinion.
I’ve seen Billy live-40 years ago-and seen him and Elton live, together, maybe 35 years ago and the “corrected” Billy has had his SOUL removed. The line “unable to change” is what the “geniuses” have done to him.
thanks fil, billy joel really live and unedited, a true joy to listen to
Could you imagine the pitch correcting on Joe Cocker's live performances 😂😂😂
Or pitch correcting Lou Reed...
Does not compute.. Does not compute.. Beeeeeeeeeeep🔥🌋
Sorry, can't find an emoji for an exploding machine.
Oh that would be ghastly...
Love this live performance from Billy Joel! Yes, we get the "feel", the emotion.
Thank you for saying unadulterated communication through music. That is exactly what it is.
I agree 😊
Amen to that!
I agree with the person who requested it. This actually is better than the studio version! What an an outstanding, heartfelt performance. Just... WOW! 😲
I've always liked Billy Joel because when he performs, he makes me think of his "Piano Man" start, when he was playing in bars. The live version of this one is the way he would sing it in a bar.
I love the grittiness and emotion of the live version, perhaps not all notes are “technically” perfect but I felt the sentiment so much more than the studio version. Literally brought tears to my eyes.
"Look What They've Done to My Song!" Are you old enough to have heard that song?😁
Melanie, God rest her soul, was a wise lady with foresight. She nailed it with that song.
Ma!
What an astonishing difference with no pitch correction or any other monkey business in editing!
Thanks for doing this analysis. This is organic…. this is real. And this type of raw live performance is all but gone now.
Pitch correction steals the soul from music.
I’ve never been a huge Billy Joel fan, but this was incredible.
Great analysis.
Well done.
Great observations Fil, pointing out that honest compassionate art of emotional expression can't be pitch-corrected.
When applied anyway the magic truth becomes a lie. ROCK !
Your loss
I have to say, Fil, that this may have been one of your very best Wings of Pegasus reactions, not only because of your thoughtful analysis of both Billy's LIVE & studio performances, but because you address, with such love & heartfelt conviction, this very real issue that is now plaguing the music industry.
Thanks!
My reaction when I first heard this song on the radio was, this is a really great song, so well written. I would love to hear Billy Joel sing it. So glad to have the Grammy performance so we actually get to hear Billy Joel sing it.
"I'd love to hear Billy Joel Sing it." Ouch!! 😬
There is a video on here from MSG where he sings it for the first time at one of his concerts.
Billy Joel's is one of those giiants of music. Not many can compare to him, or his music and lyrics.
Honesty, You're my Home and Vienna are amazing examples of his immensity.
The studio recording is simple cold.
Of you watch the Warren Fu video you can see why it has been done. To make each verse fit with the era. When modern Billy comes back toward the end, the voice is back! The video is a piece of art in itself. You need to see the video to understand the meaning of the piece of work. It is an evolution. The lyric, the song and the video need experiencing together.
Just seen the video and completely agree. The video and the recreation of the vocals are part of the whole art, and I'm pretty sure we do get the current Billy vocals when he is on screen, stood out at the very end.
I've said this before: Billy Joel is unique in that he manages to capture that special something "magic in a bottle" live performance that is so hard for most performers. There are fans who consider some of his live versions as the "standard" rather than the studio versions. I don't really know any other artist like that. It's pretty obvious that Joel has always had a problem with producers. Blame Wexler for this, he's firmly in the camp of being a "modern producer". Which means he breaks out the pitch correction tools even when not needed. But Blame Joel too, because he let it happen.
The studio version is like a radio news reader reading out the news; cold, distant, disconnected and emotionless. The live version is like Billy Joel has invited us to join in the experience he has had in his life. The ups and downs. The regrets and the hope. No prize for guessing which version I like more.
How sad.
Watching the music video, I felt that the pitch correction in the beginning was to make him sound like he sounded when he was younger. I got that impression, so for me, it was effective. I felt like as the song advanced, it sounded more like he's sounded since the latter part of the 80s.
I even get the impression that in the video they made his voice younger to match the pictures of his younger self.
You know, I think you’re on to something!
FIL, thank you for this one ! I loved his natural voice, so full of expression and emotion! Yes, it did touch me emotionally , but then came the pitch corrected version ! Why can't the person who applies pitch correction hear that they have taken all that was real away from the voice and made it sound unemotional as if someone else is singing ! Pitch correction needs to be outlawed, in my opinion !
This is a fascinating analysis. Such a world of difference. Fil, thanks for showing us the stark contrasts. Billy Joel’ s voice’s is so unique . It’s his real voice that we have always loved. He’s a wonderful story teller. We needed your comments on artistry!
I am extremely hard of hearing, and I often wondered why I did not lije certain songs/singers. After listening to Fil for so long, I now know it all has to do with pitch correction and how songs are mixed. Thank you, Fil, for all you've taught us. 😊
Youre right, Losing expression is correct unfortunatrly with A.I.
I believe that everyone is missing the gift that the video gives us! Not only do we see Billy sing at the different stages of his life, but if you listen, he also sings at each stage the way he sang then! Listen to 70’s Billy on the video, and you’ll hear him once again - just as he sang back in the 70s! Yes, it’s AI, but it’s fantastic how they put it together… The video with his different looks, but the music as well in those different times! Listen to the video again with this in mind, and tell me it’s not genius!
Yes! I noticed that when I first saw the video. I had almost been convinced that the pitch correction had simply meddled with the song, but you reminded me that it can’t have because they were trying for a different idea with the studio recording.
It's an artistic choice to recreate the different periods with the technology. He does sound like older Billy by the last verse and chorus. AI is with us and artists will be using it in different ways. For me it works as a piece of art. That's what recordings are. Ever since the Beatles and The Beach Boys, the studio and the technology became a tool of creation. Live performances are always more dynamic. The two performances serve different purposes.
rhaleymusic Yes!! This is the very first instance I've seen that uses A.I. to a truly artistic purpose. AFAIC that's what A.I. is *for*.
and I agree .... the video concept is genius. I love it - even with the correction - for the art that it is. And for the gift of seeing and hearing Billy as I remember him throughout all the years I've loved him. yeah, it's totally different than the live Grammy performance - which blew my doors off, for all the reasons Fil points out here,- but even so, the more I hear it the more I love it.
Ok ok I nominate Fil as producer of B.J's next single!
Billy Joel still sounds great live. Thank you for sharing this insight.
Fascinating analysis, and greatly appreciated by this Billy Joel fan! Billy famously "hates" the sound of his own voice, he's said this so many times in interviews. He always wants to sound like someone else. That being said, he has also adamantly claimed he's never used autotune (I personally am not sure if that's different from pitch correction). For this recording he said specifically that it's the first time in a long time that he didn't hate the sound of his voice. Another thing, for his live performances, now that he's older he often has to lower the key of many of his hit songs (even Piano Man is lower in concert). So, all of this may be food for thought! Billy recently performed this song for the first time for a Madison Square Garden audience (the Grammys don't count to him, ahaha), and if you look up any fan videos, it does sound amazing live.
I remember seeing Billy Joel back in the 1990s at Madison Square Garden. He was so good. I still remember it.
Pitch correcting is akin to plastic surgery. And it seems like producers watch the music with their eyes rather than use their ears to hear what a true human voice sounds like.
Great analogy!
My impression of this live version is that I hear some of the honesty and and expressivness that you get with Leonard Cohen's later music.
Even some of the "darkness" for lack of a better word.
Not to compare them as artists and I really haven't been following Billy Joel's music for the last two decades.
Also in regard to the ascending and movement in the individual notes beeing sung,
it reminds me of your videos on Dean Martin & Sinatra and why their singing seems to hold a special magic that is missing from many contemporary recordings!
Fil, I can't begin to explain how much you have helped me understand pitch correction, and why i like/don't like certain performances today. I was so excited to hear of a new Billy Joel song, but was non-plussed by it, until i heard the live version. Same with so many other artists today, that have been performing for decades.
Great big huge Billy Joel fan here. And now I shall go back and listen to all his old songs again, more carefully, and hope that this was not always a thing.
Real voice. Brought a tear immediately. Lyrics are amazing Thanks Fil. 🌹Made my day ( Pitch corrected version could have been a pitch corrected Bono or anyone, IMO)
Hi Fil,
This was a great analysis of Billy Joel today. His songwriting and storytelling abilities are second to none. One of the reasons I believe he is so loved is his take on real-life situations and putting them into song. Loved the comparison of the two vocals. Like two different worlds. Great job looking at this performance! Debbie☮️
Yes, it was really different - night and day!
Excellent analysis!! Agree with you completely. I hope Billy Joel watches this and knows how much we want to hear HIM singing!
Great analysis. This tuned artificial vocal makes more sense when you watch the new official video that has 'AI/CGi' versions of Billy from down the years, getting gradually older as the song progresses.
So glad you analyzed this, Fil! As a fan of Joel from his first album, this song instantly brought me back decades. He (and his band) always did amazing live performances. WNEW in NYC and others broadcast live concerts in the late 1970's, that we captured on reel to reel and cassette and enjoyed for many years. The pitch correction butchers the devil out of his voice.
I think the pitch correction and different key actually makes the official release sound more like his voice from the 70s and 80s, something he can no longer pull off now.
That's what sounds so incongruous with the song. It's about a guy who's done a lot of living- a guy who's made his share of mistakes over a long life and has his regrets. The voice should sound a bit like it's lived through whiskey and cigarettes, not like some tawdry imitation of a young man in his 'prime'.
@@Jasper_the_Cat Taudry? No way. Haha - Frankly, after relistening to his earlier stuff, the studio take sounds more like Billy at the end of his last album River of Dreams... I think it would interesting to analyze Billy's pitch from his heyday. One thing that always stood out was how edfoetlessly in-pitch he always was, and with almost no vibrato too.
His 74 year old natural voice! The fact that he’s still playing MSG twice a month is astonishing!
You should watch the performance from the Garden the following week! It’s probably the best version yet!
Great video and analysis.👍🏻
In September I saw Billy Joel at the garden New York City. A friend of mine is good friends with him. She kept telling me you got to go see him you gotta go see it now!!! I’ve seen Billy three time once in the 70s and twice in the 80s. He’s phenomenal. But when I went to see him last September I forgot the breath of his work it was truly staggering and he gave it all in that performance as he always does.
His band has always been phenomenal
Some people have picked up on an important factor that you're completely missing regarding the official recording, and that is that in the accompanying video, Billy Joel has been cgi'd to look like his younger selves, aging as the song progresses, and the vocals have been corrected to match the visuals. Hearing current Billy Joel's voice coming out of the mouth of 1970s Billy Joel would break the illusion. It's clearly intentional, and I in no way believe they were trying to "fix" his voice. Based on his known feelings about autotune (along with the fiasco of the screwed up master of his very first album), I can't imagine that the "corrections" were done without his knowledge or approval.
Thank you!!! 👏👏I’m patting myself on the back because I heard what you’re saying before I watched this video. lol I feel like this song was a test and I believe many of us passed. And you’re responsible for the education. Thanks again!!!! 😃
Fil, thank you so much for your analysis. It makes a lot of sense now, why I thought his voice sounded weird on the original release! I wondered recently why today's recordings leave me totally emotionless and I can't feel/connect to the vocals and music like I used to. I still can with older music though. I thought it was because I'm 40, therefore becoming stuck in the past musically haha. I love music and always have and it makes me sad to see how the producers can think that it's OK to totally modify such a legend's voice like Billy Joel. Please let him express himself! He probably worked on that song for a long time and they just took most of the expression out of it. I feel like someone who did the tuning has no musical background. Music is art! It's not meant to be perfect. He just sounds like an AI version of himself on that recording. What is the point of releasing something like this? Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly that it's disrespectful towards Billy. The live version is a gift, very moving, as he intended it to be.
Billie Eilish also sang What Was I Made For live. accompanied just by her brother Finneas at the Grammys. It was extremely emotional and won song of the year. She is one of the few artists who doesn’t use pitch correction, even the studio release of this song wasn’t pitch corrected. For those who haven’t seen Barbie, it’s the story of a toy who leaves her perfect world to become a human being in the real world. This is a beautifully written song for an amazing, emotional movie. It’s absolutely nothing like I thought it would be.
I would assume the vocals were increased a key for the official version to match Billy's voice when he was younger in order to sync with the music video which shows 70s/80s Billy singing the song. The part of the video with older Billy singing is in a lower key to match his older voice. But still, the "younger" voice is as real as the deep fakes in that video. I would love if they released the original recording before the "corrections" were made.
That live performance shows just how talented Billy still is, pouring emotion into the song. His voice has aged like a fine wine. I've loved the couple of his concerts I've been able to attend for that reason.
Im a massive Billy fan
I saw him in Manchester in 2006 - simply THE best gig ive ever been to - he sang fantastic and the band were awesome and the sound crystal clear....and i nearly didnt go as it had been nearly 30 degrees that day and my old Escort hadnt got aircon!
Saw him at MSG in Apr 2019 ( he was nearly 70!) - again brilliant concert
Simply THE best singer/songwriter ever IMO - only surpassed by Lennon/ McCartney
BTW - this song was a collaboration - not solely written by Billy like all his previous songs
I saw him in San Diego in 2016, was an absolutely masterful performance. The only shame is he has so many songs you want to hear that it would take a 12 hour concert.
As a lifelong Billy fan, I can say with some certainty that they made the album cut to sound like he did 40 years ago. (And it does). The problem is that they didn’t embrace Billy’s voice the way that it does now. Billy live - It’s the reason why my favorite album from him is ‘songs in the attic’. His best album and it’s all live.
EXACTLY
I loved the new song, but didn't get super emotional until I saw the video. His aging reminds me of mine. He's never been gone for me, I listen to him all of the time. His connection in live concerts is incomparable, can't wait to hear it live July 12 in Denver!
Thanks for the analysis! It's amazing how much better his live performance sounds. It's such a shame. But seeing this brings back good memories for me. Billy Joel actually played at my university back in the 90s. It's hard to believe a performer of his caliber would play at a small university in western PA, but he did! Unfortunately, being a poor college student, I couldn't afford to attend. But it was ok because I was able to walk around the campus that night and still hear him perform from the auditorium.
I actually like his voice better now. Age, grit, wisdom, life experience, emotion. We dont eant Billy perfect, we want him as impergect as we are 50 years later.
One of my favorite musical artists! I saw him at Civic Arena in Pittsburgh on a revolving stage. He loves his fans and wanted everyone to feel included that night, not just watching the back of his head. He cares for his public and they care right back! Thank you for analyzing Billy Joel.🤗
I saw Billy Joel in Minneapolis. I had great seats but got up and was standing right in front of the stage with my arms resting on it. I was getting crushed by the crowd behind me when they surged forward. I had to take a breath each time the crowd pressure backed off a bit & hold it. On the plus side, I was right in front of Billy Joel & he was spitting on me as he was singing. Excellent concert but won't ever do that again.
I love the grammys one.
I love the song. Love Billy.
Cheers👍🏻
You are spot on Phil. We can only hope they’ll issue a live recording from his tour to hear the Billy we love
On the assumption the official studio recording and official music video vocals are one and the same, criticism of the studio version against the live performance at the Grammys is unfounded. On the music video, not only do the AI enhanced versions of younger Billy progress to the Billy of today but his voice also progresses from younger to older. I'm not imagining this. When I first heard the song, I cried. I've been a Billy Joel fan since his start in the early 70's, so I'm very well aware of how he sounded back then. The first thing I thought at the start of the song was "OMG! His voice hasn't aged at all!"....until I watched the entire video through to the end where you hear his voice as it is today - more mature but still, unmistakably, Billy.
So happy to have Billy's voice back in pop music.
"Give me the live version all day..." 👍
Awesome analysis - and your smile and enthusiasm here are contagious 🎶
Awesome! People like me need to be pitch corrected (heavily lol) but great singers like Billy Joel do not need any correction. I agree that a lot of the emotion and story telling is lost with edited songs. I suppose I look at it like teeth. Seriously. At this time it is very common for people to want to have absolutely perfect teeth with the whitest of white for color. For the most part, perfectly aligned, perfectly sized and perfectly white teeth are very rare in nature. In the same aspect, perfectly pitched voices that are always bang on (yes, I like your expression and I borrowed it) the notes would be extremely rare in nature. Great analysis Fil!
Love the emotion yes. Never heard this song so glad I heard it. Thanks Fil😊🌵🥤🌞🎶🎼
The official video leads one to think that it's an old song but it really was just released the 1st of this month.
It keeps making me cry. I'm 57 years old but still.
Exactly. I said it in a separate comment, then saw yours. I like the video because I feel like I’m watching him through the years. With some of the clips, it’s an emotional flash back. But I do like his real voice now. Keep going, Billy !
I have seen him live 4 times, over the last 40 years, and he's sounded fantastic every single time. His is a voice that expresses emotion and feeling. It's always been that way. And, considering he's 74 years old, his voice has lasted incredibly well.
yes my dear, I got socialized in the 70ies, when there was a lot of good and real music.. I turned my back on it in the last decades. I didn't even know there was something new out from Billy Joel. Glad that Van Morrison still plays and sings. Bless you and thank you
Billy Joel is a literal national treasure in the American songbook.
Also to provide my own context in your critique of the studio versus live track. I’ve been a long time Billy Joel fan and listening to this studio track actually sounds like old Billy Joel to me in his vocal quality and production as in the 80’s or 90’s. Maybe that’s what he and the label was going for? I’m not sure but I know he has a big influence on the way his songs are released nowadays and what goes into them production wise. Live versions of songs will imo be always more emotional and raw because it’s live and usually people give a little different vocal performance on live tracks depending on how they are feeling a particular night too. I believe if you went back and looked at live performances from the 80’s or 90’s and compared the studio track with the live there, you will see the same thing and that’s before pitch correction tech. He’s older now yes and I agree the live is more raw and better in emotion but that might have been a constructive choice on his part for whatever reasons. I’ve seen people praise the studio track. Comparing it to some of his early hits “She’s Always A Woman” perhaps a little. I get what you are saying but it’s not unheard of for the live performances are almost always a different beast than studio releases no matter the era to a degree or an artistic choice by the artist for a live performance.
Unrelated but have you done videos on Alicia Keys and if she’s as flat as everyone says? I’m curious. Especially on “No One” and perhaps some others. She does strain a lot in pushing her chest voice up which might be part of why people don’t like her but yeah like I’m just curious how flat she is.
My all time fav. ❤Billy Joel
Thanks Fil for providing this amazing analysis of Billy Joel's Grammy performance. I also appreciated your comparison between his live performance and the studio version. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that the pitch correction removed the EMOTION of the song. To me, the studio version sounded very mechanical and expressionless--an overall stark contrast from what I'm used to hearing from Billy. In his live performance, I heard the grittiness, emotion, and storytelling qualities that I believe contributed to his legendary status. Bravo, Fil for what you do!
P.S. By the way, Chipper starting talking and whistling every time you played Billy's live version and got quiet when you played the studio version. I'm not joking! I guess he has good taste in music LOL!
Absolutely on spot Fil!
The live version is full of expression and his natural gift of his fantastic voice!
Naturally gifted ,one of the greats, he is best live and makes it look effortless!
Genius ❤
Great analysis!!!
Rock !!!!
Jeff....
Los Angeles
As a Brooklyn girl who's loved Billy since since the 70s when he first started and has seen him in concert at least 20 times....nothing beats his live music. Concerts in the 70s up until now. He is perfectly imperfect just like rest of us, his voice is honest and real....and pretty damn incredible for his age.
He sells out every show in MSG because we love him, we've grown and aged with him. He has been the storyteller of our lives. There is more grit and passion in his voice live. He could xare kess about being pitch perfect. That's an industry thing, which Billy repels.
I personally don't love auto tune as i think it is dishonest and sounds fake. Nobody needs to sound perfect. People want authenticity and emotion, which is not always pitch perfect.
This live performance was all those things that i love about Billy and feeling the weight of that moment for him and for us as his long time fans. I clapped from my living room with tears in my eyes from the emotion this live version grabs from your soul...pure pride of him knocking it right out if the park.
The recorded version is good, but i know they auto tuned it. Billy's voice sounds younger, more perfect, less emotional, more overproduced. Billy is a no nonsense take the train to perform at The Garden kind of dude. His voice has aged, he's lost his hair, he's gained some weight, he has aches and pains...just like rhe rest of us who have been there since the beginning.
He is real on that stage, perfectly imperfect and that's why we love him.
😎🎹💐💘🤗
Very telling that he wanted to perform live with his true voice & not try to match the manipulated version. I think the recorded take sounds kinda like Billy Joel … 30 years ago, but the song is about how he’s changed & grown since then. Ironic. Big ❤❤ to Billy and his journey.
! was always struck by Billy Joel's great musicality and songwriting. Pitch correction gives you a tune, real singing gives you a SONG. Artists like Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash and Billy Joel should keep the integrity of their real voices: they're something special.
I agree with you 💯. I can guess as to why they pitched him up and filtered him. His voice is so extremely growling now, that if you compare him to his previous albums, it doesn't sound like he did back in the day. So some producer made the decision to smooth out the roughness and pitch him up to give him his "older album sound" rather than just capture him how he sounds today.
Joel has one of the best voices in popular music, so they meddle with it(?!)
As a long time Billy Joel. I totally recognize the voice on the official release! The recorded version sounds much more like his voice from the 70s and 80s. The corrected track gave Billy the ability to release a track with a voice he used to be able to pull off. Also, gotta remember the Billy gave the thumbs up on the release.
Billy has still got it. Awesome to hear this.
Thank you Fil; I was one of those (likely many) emails suggesting a live/studio comparison of this song. I like that you started with the live clip and pointed out some of Billy's signature characteristics or vocal "fingerprints" - ascending through notes, for example. Keep articulating the way you do, e.g., "Billy Joel doesn't DO this!" when analyzing even subtle pitch correction application in future videos. As an aside, since Glass Houses, my first record-store Billy Joel purchase, I always wondered what drew me to his voice. It's always been amazing how he can change his timbre to match the lyric, but every so often he just nails the center of the pitch and it sounds so sweet. And the live clips of the new song, even if they're down a step from the studio cut, prove he's still got it.
You're a very talented dude and spot on. This is a great music lesson as you graphically demonstate the difference between studio recorded pitch correction and live. Love the indepth play by play analysis. 👏👏
I have seen him three times live in small venues. There is nothing better than hearing his voice. His performance at the grammys was chilling! He still has it!!! Thanks, Fil for your analysis of the Master!