M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 0 6Billy Joel SmackdownPriv8pete and I got into words over Billy Joel.</p><p> They ran so long, Idecided to liberate them from the comments section.</p><p> It was all sparkedby a passing reference I made to Billy Joel's An Innocent Man as "hisbest album."PRIV8PETE: You are daft.</p><p> Innocent Man is not Billy's best album.</p><p> Thatwould have to be The Stranger, although I prefer Turnstiles or ColdSpring Harbor (I know, his voice is all screwed up, but I like the songs).ME: I'm daft? YOU'RE daft! I think Billy Joel is primarily a songwritermore than a performer, which he would probably happily agree with.</p><p> Ithink many of his tunes will be covered for many years to come.</p><p> Sothough he's had huge success in album sales, I don't really approachhim that way.</p><p> It's more one big body of work.</p><p> That said, most peoplewould agree with you that "The Stranger" is his best album. (RollingStone gives two Joel albums -- and his Greatest Hits -- four stars. "TheStranger" and of all things "Storm Front." Huh?) I like The Stranger alot.</p><p> I probably blasted out "Glass Houses" even more.</p><p> And maybe themost-played -- thanks to a massive early lead -- is "Piano Man.' Ofcourse, Cold Spring Harbor has some good songs but for many obviousreasons doesn't even come close as far as being a satisfying album.</p><p> Butsong for song, "An Innocent Man" is the most complete and cohesivealbum.</p><p> We know them so well that obviously it would be jarring --buthonestly, couldn't you take the songs from "Stranger" and "52ndStreet" and "Glass Houses" and put them in a bowl, mix them up andthen put them randomly on three CDs and hardly tell the difference?It's not a knock on the songs; just pointing out the fact that they're notreally ALBUMS so much as collections of individual songs.</p><p> Not so with"An Innocent Man," which obviously harkens back to doo-wopstylistically.</p><p> Those songs could ONLY appear on that album and thatcohesiveness makes it hold together as a single album better than anyother.</p><p> And yeah, I love "Turnstiles" too.PRIV8PETE: So, your rationale for Innocent Man as his "best album" isdue to the fact that it seems more cohesive? What if instead of TheLongest Time, Uptown Girl and the rest he just had an album full ofyodeling? That would still fill your qualification of being moreNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Billy Joel Smackdownhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/09/billy-joel-smackdown.html 1 of 37/28/09 6:55 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SMichael in New YorkAaronBiboy POPSURFING.COM: Billy Joel Smackdownhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/09/billy-joel-smackdown.html 2 of 37/28/09 6:55 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Billy Joel Smackdownhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/09/billy-joel-smackdown.html 3 of 37/28/09 6:55 PM
