Thursday, 9/25

The Billy Joel Project is now finished.

I don't think I had mentioned one of my latest quixotic adventures, but this one came about after Loraine and I finished watching the two-part (five-plus hour) documentary on Joel last month on HBO Max. (And, as an aside, if you haven't watched it yet, do so. If you like his music, it's amazing. And even if you're not a big fan, the sheer volume of work the filmmakers put into it really shows up on the screen).

Anyway, once the show, which covered all phases of his career, was over, I thought it might be an interesting to listen to all of his albums, starting with "The Stranger", in order, on the mornings when I lift weights. In the show he talked about his growth as an artist in the seven albums he did once he became "Billy Joel", and I was curious to see what I noticed myself

And I ended up being kind of surprised at what I DID notice myself.

Now, this is gonna get really deep into musical nerd-dom, so feel free to tune out now and then come back Monday when, I promise, there won't be a word at all uttered about "The Billy Joel Project”. But here are some topline thoughts on my part--

1. "The Stranger" is an almost perfect album and, as he said himself, anything else might pale in comparison to it. After listening to them all, I kinda have to agree. That doesn't mean that his other works are bad (in fact, they aren't) but none of them, not even "Innocent Man", come close to having the sheer breath, depth, and quality of each and every track as does "the Stranger". In fact (and this surprised me a little) the one that came the closest was "The Bridge", and that kind of surprised me. But if I had to pick one that came in second in the pantheon of Joel, that would be it.

2. I also noticed that on the albums following "The Stranger" he & producer Phil Ramone sequenced the works so that the strongest songs, the one that would end up as singles, always appeared as the first tracks on the album. Back in the 70s and 80s, you'd usually stick those songs as the first and last tracks of each "side" of the album, so that people would want to flip over the record or the cassette and listen to the other side.

But not them.

3.  Finally, I had to laugh at something both he and his ex-wife (and ex-manager) Elizabeth said happened more than one time in his career--that when record company executives listened to a works like "The Stranger" or “An Innocent Man”, the first thing out of their mouths was "we don't hear a single"... despite the fact that both albums were pretty much nothing BUT singles (and number one singles, in some cases).

So that's my report on "The Billy Joel Project". I realize no one asked for the project nor asked for the results, but it's interesting what happens when you watch a TV documentary, listen to a few albums, and then let thoughts run unfiltered through your head.

*****

Tomorrow's a corporate holiday, which means I'm off and there won't be a new one of these. Back on Monday, though, with the story of how Loraine and I are embarking on a strange new journey, even for us.

And that's saying something!

(jim@wmqt.com)