Streetlife Serenade

Billy Joel | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002539
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,265 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Streetlife Serenader

2. Los Angelenos

3. The Great Suburban Showdown

4. Root Beer Rag [Instrumental]

5. Roberta

6. The Entertainer

7. Last of the Big Time Spenders

8. Weekend Song

9. Souvenir

10. The Mexican Connection [Instrumental]

Editorial Reviews

Japanese remastered reissue of 1974 album packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. CBS. 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Written From The Soul, June 25, 2001

By 

G. J Wiener (Westchester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Streetlife Serenade (Audio CD)

I really appreciate all of Billy Joel's records. However his early releases: Cold Spring Harbor, Turnstiles, and this one are special probably because they are not so overplayed on the radio. The title track is so haunting its beautiful. Los Angelinos boogies along quite nicely as Billy's band adds nice support. And two instrumentals- the subdued Mexican Connection with its accentuated rhythms and the jolly bingo hall styled Root Beer Rag. The Entertainer may be the hit single with its catchy lyrics but overall this record is very consistent and quite varied.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good CD, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Streetlife Serenade (Audio CD)

I love Billy Joel's music, and am starting to collect his older CDs. I just got "Streetlife Serenade" and it's great! I especially like the piano/keyboard solos i.e. "The Mexican Connection". I can't pick a favorite because they're all great! And I love the painting on the cover, too! Hats off to Billy Joel, one of the greatest musicians EVER.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Album Really Grew On Me, November 21, 2003

By 

S. Heffer "argon78" (West Babylon, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Streetlife Serenade (Audio CD)

Somehow, this album escaped my notice initially when I was exploring the music of Billy Joel - it wasn't in my dad's record collection and none of my friends who were into his music had ever mentioned it. After having, I supposed, overlooked it at first in the record store, I finally discovered the record and brought it home with me sometime in the spring of 1985. My initial impression of this album was not necessarily a great one...There were only a couple of songs on here that I liked at first. Over the years it remained relatively ignored by me...but now, when I listen to Billy Joel, this is one of the albums I listen to most - probably because I didn't over-play this one when in High School.

Actually, most of the songs here are really very good and show a little bit of a broadening of style for Billy Joel. Favorites include "Los Angelenos" which is actually rocks a little bit and makes good use of the electric piano (which, for those who have read other reviews of mine, is one of my favorite instruments...). "The Great Suburban Showdown" makes interesting use of what I suppose is one of those early Moog Synthesizers. It's used to great effect, as sort of embellishment to a tale of middle-class weekend boredom. "The Entertainer" is a very catchy, cynical view of the music business. I also very much like the pretty instrumental "The Mexican Connection" which has a nice hook and which also makes good ornamental use of the Moog synthesizer...I suppose the one song I don't like that much is the other instrumental, the cornball "Root Beer Rag" - great piano playing and all, but just too corny for my tastes...The other two or three songs on the album to me are somewhat nondescript, if not pleasant typical early Billy Joel songs...

In sum, there are no real masterpieces on this album, but most of the songs on this album are really nice - pretty piano playing, good lyrics - biting at times - and well composed. A couple of others are neither here nor there - neither good nor bad...and one ("Root Beer Rag") which I just don't like. This is a better than average album and I give it 3.75 stars, rounding up to 4 stars. RECOMMENDED...