Customer Reviews

The Essential Billy Joel

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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...

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.

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.

I give this 5 stars because it is PRIME Billy Joel but, only 3 stars as a compilation because it lacks what most die-hard fans would consider truly essential work. Hence, the (averaged) 4 star rating. Where are, "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," "The Stranger," "Highland Summer Falls," "Prelude/Angry Young Man" and "Big Shot"

For anyone who watched "Billy Joel in His Own Words" on A&E, which also served as a promo piece for this compilation and for his "Billy Joel: Fantasies & Delusions," you heard Highland Summer Falls ... a wonderful yet, underrated work.

But hey, it's 2001 and many of us can burn our own compilations to CDs (I hear the record industry cringing at the thought). DO buy this title. Then burn a third CD from the rest of your Billy Joel collection to include the missing tunes (if they're important to you). Add the new CD to this jewel case ... and you WILL have the ultimate Billy Joel compilation.

Billy Joel is truly a cornerstone in the foundation of contemporary music ... what IS on this compilation will not disappoint!

Billy Joel is an artist that belongs in your collection of notable pop singer/writers, but I am not sure that this is your best choice. Look over the selections in Volumes 1 & 2 of his greatest hits, because that may well be more what you're looking for.

This collection does emphasize his development through a chronological arrangement of the pieces, and it does bring one right up to date with a taste of his classical composing. And it has his basic early signature hits such as "Piano Man", "Captain Jack", "New York State Of Mind", "Only The Good Die Young", and "Just The Way You Are". and a fair taste of later popular radio hits including "Uptown Girl", "Allentown", "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "River of Dreams". So along with two excerpts from the classical "Fantasies & Delusions" CD, the high spots are covered, but much is missing. So compare what you're getting with this one with what you'll get with the two greatest hits albums.

In all, definitely not a bad set, just one that you might not find the best.

One of the biggest complaints I've always had about greatest hits CDs...is that they're full of greatest hits. Often an artist's best material is the album stuff, the never-heard-on-the-radio stuff. This collection addresses that issue well for the most part, adding Miami 2017, a lesser-known gem from Turnstiles. This collection would truly be essential, if not for the unforgivable sin of omitting Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, perhaps Billy's greatest album track and a steadfast favorite of Billy Joel enthusiasts. Scenes, in my opinion, is a far more essential Billy recording than fluff like We Didn't Start the Fire or Uptown Girl.

The best solution? If you want a true chronicle of Billy's best work and some of his lesser-known material, buy the Complete Hits Collection (Greatest Hits Vols. 1-3, and a bonus cd with live stuff), and Songs In the Attic, which offers energetic live performances of Billy's older material.

Essential is good overall, but could have been much better.

I do agree with many here that many of his timeless pop hits are missing for some reason, such as Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, The Stranger, among others. I feel that if it was because of space restrictions, Sony could have perhaps released this on a 3-cd set. Indeed, it would inevitably cost more to buy, but then, Billy Joel fans I suspect will still go for it, provided that it was an intensely good collection.

The tracks included though are not bad at all and a very good introduction of Billy's music to the younger generation. The sound quality is also very good with all the tracks digitally remastered.

Where I differ from most reviewers is that I think that it is quite a good idea to include those two classical tracks onto this collection. They provide a good snapshot of what his classical work sound like. The word Essential essentially means everything that matters, everything that is, and in this case, everything Billy Joel is about. And classical music has played a very important role in his life and his development as a musician, not to mention the release of his first classical album, Fantasies and Delusions, which by the way, is also very highly recommended.

All in all, The Essential Billy Joel is a must buy for all die hard Joel fans and stronly recommended for those who have yet to get their first Billy Joel album.

It surprises me how many of Billy's fans here are so angry about this collection. It's simply a collection of good songs. SO what if it doesn't have one song that they like better than some of the songs on this one. It's Billy Joel!!! All the songs on this collection typify the kind of work he did. It's basically a nice long trip through his music. It seems to me that many people here are seeing the glass as half empty. So one song isn't included....so what. The majortity of the songs in this collection are his greatest songs. FOr someone who doesn't know Billy Joel all that well...this is an excellent way to introduce him to them. So ignore the whining of these other people. If they were really as die hard as they claim to be they would support this collection simply because they want to support Billy's career. Great 2 CD set. I highly recommend it.

This is in fact the essential Billy Joel collection. The songs are well chosen and they are in a chronological order. Which is a plus because it makes a great overview of an amazing career. Billy is absolutely one of the very best pop artists of all time. I won't say that I love everything he has done, but when you thought he had lost it he always returned with something quite amazing. I think his venture into classical music on the last two tracks is yet another of his successes. He is of course best known for his pop songs and the greats are all here. They are too many to mention, though most of them are on the first CD.

Of course, there are different opinions about the song selection, but these really are the essentials. However, I do miss The Stranger, This Night, Sometimes A Fantasy and All For Leyna. I would have preferred these to some of the later tracks like Downeaster Alexa or All About Soul.

Some of his best albums are; The Stranger, An Innocent Man and Glass Houses. If you buy these as well as this collection you don't need much else.

This is a decent summation of Billy Joel's career, especially for newcomers, but to say that it's "essential" is false advertising. First of all, where is "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant"? This is Joel's finest song, and it was wisely included on his first hits package. For some reason it is discarded on this one for lesser tracks such as "Leningrad" and "You're My Home". Those songs weren't even majors hits on the radio, so their inclusion here is a rather odd happening.

And why is "Storm Front", one of Joel's weaker albums, represented in greater number over "The Stranger" and "Turnstiles"? Any album that disregards "Summer, Highland Falls", "Pressure", "Angry Young Man" and "Big Shot" for a lot of mediocre later-day Joel songs is running into trouble. Despite these shortcomings, it does hit on a lot of high-points. And it's nice to see "Miami 2017", a great bit of satire, getting the recognition it deserves. As a sampler of Joel's considerable talent, it does its job well. But its glaring ommissions deem it far from "essential". It would be best to stick with "Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II", as it gives a better overview of Billy's finest work.