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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Early in his career, Billy Joel seemed cynical about fame, even as that distrust bore strange fruit: mainstream superstardom (thanks to "Just the Way You Are," "Honesty," and "My Life") and multiple Grammy awards, as well as the critic's-whipping-boy status that went with them. Maybe it was that restlessness--or undiluted cynicism--that inspired left turns into roots and nostalgia (the spunky "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me," "You May Be Right," "Uptown Girl," and "The Longest Time") as his career peaked. Perhaps not surprisingly, not long after Joel's songs seemed to find their most satisfying balance of angst and mature reflection on songs like "Storm Front" and "River of Dreams," he threatened to bolt the pop music business altogether. The 2001 recordings of "Waltz No. 1" and "Invention in C Minor" that round out this set are the unlikely products of Joel's commitment to classical music. Billy Joel remains both a true, if oft-lambasted, American pop icon and that rarest of animals: a bonafide crowd-pleaser with a serious case of 'tude. Both are well chronicled here. --Jerry McCulley
Product Description
JOEL BILLY THE ESSENTIAL (2CD)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
115 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Quite Essential.,
This review is from: The Essential Billy Joel (2CD) (Audio CD)
While this "Essential" collection has some positive qualities to it, the negative qualities are far more glaring and prevent this from being of any use to an already dedicated Billy Joel Fan. Let's look at the problems:1) Every song on these two CDs is available in the exact same format on another CD - none of which is hard to come by. To any fan who has collected all of Billy Joel's albums - this album is entirely useless. 2) As many people have pointed out, this album has failed to include what is arguably Billy Joel's best song, and certainly one of his most popular songs in live performances - Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. There is no way, and I stress NO WAY, that any "essential" collection of Billy Joel material would omit this song. 3) This album has also removed key hits from Billy's repertoire including Big Shot, Pressure, and This is the Time. Although the album does try to make up for this by adding some classic, often overlooked gems (such as Miami 2017), it fails by not only adding some less essential material (You're My Home), but failing to add some more deserving fare (Angry Young Man, No Man's Land). 4) The inclusion of the two classical pieces on the end is less a problem than an enigma. Why are they there? Die hard fans who don't want to buy the full classical album will probably not need to buy this collection just to sample those two songs. Casual fans probably are buying this album for the pop material, and have no need for the two samples. While the classical tracks hold their own merit and help to display the versatility of Billy Joel, they don't fit on an essential collection. So, why this collection? It's cheaper than buying all of his albums. It's also cheaper than buying either the 4-CD Box set or the three Greatest Hits albums separately. If I had to recommend a greatest hits option, I would strongly recommend the 4-CD box set. In that case, there are only mild omissions (I would still love to see Miami 2017 and Angry Young Man) and the fourth CD of discussions and live performances is an excellent addition. As for the material that actually is on this album - it still shows the wide variety in music that Billy has created throughout his career and it is a testament to his well-crafted songwriting skills that he has honed throughout the years...
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great combination of the 3 volumes of greatest hits,
By jasenao (Dothan, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Essential Billy Joel (2CD) (Audio CD)
For a few years, I had been looking for a great collection of Billy Joel's best songs, but all I could find was his three volumes of greatest hits. I didn't really want to shuffle out the loads of money needed to buy both of the albums, so I figured I'd wait and hope that a more complete compilation would be available one day. Last Christmas my wish was granted when I saw an album entitled The Essential Billy Joel on the store's shelves in the electronics section. I saw that it had two cd's included and that it was a little cheaper than buying Billy Joel's three volumes of greatest hits. The second I picked it up, it was like my fingers were glued to the album and they refused to let go until I walked over and paid for it. The reason The Essential Billy Joel is so great is that it has almost all the best songs from Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2, and Volume 3, with 'almost' being the key word. Most of his greatest hits are here in this compilation, all the way from the early storytelling songs ("Piano Man", "Captain Jack", "New York State of Mind", etc.), the radio-friendly classics ("Just The Way You Are", "My Life", "Uptown Girl", "The Longest Time", and so on), and the later gems ("A Matter of Trust", "We Didn't Start The Fire", "River of Dreams", etc.). As with all compilations, The Essential Billy Joel has its ups and downs. By getting THIS compilation, you'll get some hits that are not in his other compilations, such as "Leave A Tender Moment Alone" and the sorely missed "Honesty". Also included are a couple of brand new classical tracks from the new path that the classic performer has taken. But the album does have its flaws. Missing are some 'essential' songs such as "Big Shot", "Pressure", and "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant", among others. But that's what it comes to, if you don't have all his albums and you're looking for a comprehensive Billy Joel compilation from his stellar career, you can shell out the money needed to buy both of his previous Greatest Hits albums or you can save a few dollars and get The Essential Billy Joel. I recommend getting this one, The Essential Billy Joel, myself, but either way you can't go wrong; you'll be spending your well-earned money to get yourself some of the best music ever made from one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Most up-to-date career overview, BUT...,
By Jeremy Ulrey "Bangyrmfhead" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Essential Billy Joel (2CD) (Audio CD)
Hmm. An interesting animal we have here. Ostensibly this is an abbreviated version of Joel's greatest hits box set compressed by one disc, but there are just enough omissions and semi-obscure album cuts to throw that description off just a hair. Most of the album cuts come at the very beginning and the very end of his career. "You're My Home" and "Miami 2017" pop up early on to the bewilderment of most casual listeners, and disc two ends with a pair of Joel's classical numbers. In both cases these songs sound out of place on a collection otherwise chock full of recognizable classics. Since most people purchasing "The Essential Billy Joel" are going to be those looking for the hits, it's worth taking a look into what's available here in that regard.
With three volumes of Greatest Hits collections already under his belt (the first two only available on a 2CD set, like this one), there's certainly room for confusion in the Billy Joel discography. To simplify things, since "Essential" is more or less a condensed version of those previous collections we need only concern ourselves with what's missing. The following songs from the first two volumes of "Greatest Hits" are omitted from "Essential": The Stranger Scenes from an Italian Restaurant Big Shot Pressure *You're Only Human (Second Wind) *The Night Is Still Young * These latter two songs are not available on other Billy Joel studio albums as they were recorded specially as an incentive to buy the original "Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2". For this very reason these are serious omissions as both songs should be familiar even to casual fans. Unless you can live without them you'll inevitably find yourself backtracking and picking up the previous collection anyway, so buyer be warned. Moving on to "Greatest Hits Vol. 3", these tracks from that collection are omitted from "Essential": Keeping the Faith (why???) This Is the Time Shameless *To Make You Feel My Love *Hey Girl *Light as the Breeze * These last three were also recorded specifically for this collection, so as before, buyer beware. Even if you plan on fleshing out your Billy Joel collection with his studio albums later on, you still won't find these songs on those albums. Now, on the other hand, the only songs on "Essential" that aren't available on the "Hits" albums are those listed in the first paragraph, NONE of which were big hits and ALL of which are available on other albums. For this reason it's hard to recommend "Essential" for anything other than the price, which won't matter much unless everything you want is already right there.
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