{"id":27057,"date":"2024-05-05T05:30:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T09:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27057"},"modified":"2024-04-09T14:35:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:35:13","slug":"take-five-overlooked-billy-joel-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/05\/take-five-overlooked-billy-joel-tracks\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Overlooked Billy Joel Tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Singer, songwriter and pianist Billy Joel has a staggering list of achievements. In addition to winning five Grammy Awards, he was a 2013 recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors; he has been bestowed no less than seven honorary doctorates; he placed two albums on <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time countdown. And the New York City native has countless other well-earned honors. His flawed debut album, <em>Cold Spring Harbor<\/em> was released in 1971; a speed-corrected version was released just over 40 years ago, in December 1983.<\/p>\n<p>After a massively successful career as a recording artist, some 30 years ago Billy Joel left behind the part of his career that focused on pop music recording; after releasing 1993\u2019s <em>River of Dreams<\/em>; he turned his focus to live performance; prior to \u201cTurn the Lights Back On,&#8221; a new track that debuted in February 2024, his only release of new music since that time has been <em>Fantasies &amp; Delusions<\/em>, a 2001 collection of original classical compositions.<\/p>\n<p>The 4th best selling recording artist of all time, Joel has landed more than 30 songs on the U.S. Top 40 charts (as well as many hit singles abroad), and at least 20 of his albums have gone Platinum (1 million or more units sold) or better in the U.S. But even against that high profile backdrop, there are great songs in Billy Joel\u2019s catalog that are sometimes overlooked. Here are five songs from the \u201cpiano man\u201d that you might have missed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cShe\u2019s Got a Way\u201d from <em>Cold Spring Harbor<\/em> (1971)<\/strong><br \/>\nOne of Billy Joel\u2019s most beloved non-hit single tracks, \u201cShe\u2019s Got a Way\u201d would be a highlight of his 1981 live release, <em>Songs in the Attic<\/em>. But the tune was originally featured as the opening track on Joel\u2019s solo debut, the critically-maligned <em>Cold Spring Harbor<\/em>. That record didn\u2019t sell, in part because of a mastering error that raised the key of the music, making Joel sound (in his words) \u201clike the Bee Gees.\u201d But the song itself was strong enough to remain in Joel\u2019s live set.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rOPm_Zoaj9k?si=DtksP6K_XwszLHNq\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSouvenir\u201d from <em>Streetlife Serenade<\/em> (1974)<\/strong><br \/>\nBilly Joel\u2019s third studio album sold modestly in comparison to its predecessor, 1973\u2019s <em>Piano Man<\/em>. By most stands, though, it was still a major commercial success, earning the Platinum designation in 1997 (some 23 years after its release). The album would provide a bounty of beloved songs that found their way into Joel\u2019s live set; for many years he closed his concerts with this brief and lovely number.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RuTvAvzB3TY?si=mL2aIs2zHcrv-sRS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSummer, Highland Falls\u201d from <em>Turnstiles<\/em> (1976)<\/strong><br \/>\nOften cited among serious Joel fans as one of their favorite of his albums, <em>Turnstiles<\/em> was in fact his poorest-selling release, reaching only #122 on the U.S. album charts. Only his pre-fame debut <em>Cold Spring Harbor<\/em> fared worse in the marketplace. But <em>Turnstiles<\/em> still managed to earn a Platinum disc, and it contains some of his best songwriting. A highlight of the record is this song, with a rapid-fire stream of emotionally resonant lyrics set to a delightful melody.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1tQKW9aquT0?si=CH51xFDzivqSKVyu\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cGet it Right the First Time\u201d from <em>The Stranger<\/em> (1977)<\/strong><br \/>\nJoel\u2019s breakthrough album, <em>The Stranger<\/em> sold so well that it pulled much of his back catalog back onto the cart in its wake. Four singles would be released from <em>The Stranger<\/em>, and every one of them found their way onto the U.S. Top 40 singles chart. In light of the album\u2019s success, it\u2019s counter-intuitive to single out an \u201coverlooked\u201d song, but this song, placed near the end of the original LP\u2019s second side and also featured as the b-side to the smash hit single \u201cJust the Way You Are\u201d isn\u2019t nearly as well-known as the a-side singles from the record.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ccdC_EPih2E?si=WoQxo8kWDLX262PC\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPressure\u201d from <em>The Nylon Curtain<\/em> (1982)<\/strong><br \/>\nA facile and expressive keyboardist, Billy Joel\u2019s skill on instruments other than the piano are sometimes overlooked. His catchy and memorable Prophet-5 synthesizer lines on this tune off the smash LP <em>The Nylon Curtain<\/em> deserve praise. Joel hasn\u2019t always been the most credible rocker \u2013 he\u2019s more of a balladeer\/troubadour \u2013 but this foray into new-wave-leaning styles works for him. \u201cPressure\u201d was indeed a hit \u2013 soaring to #20 on the <em>Billboard<\/em> singles chart \u2013 but it was somewhat overshadowed by an even bigger smash hit single from the album (\u201cAllentown\u201d) and a track that came in for notable critical praise (\u201cGoodnight Saigon\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Iyv905Q2omU?si=RSKe6p6Rgz7P-G_z\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Singer, songwriter and pianist Billy Joel has a staggering list of achievements. In addition to winning five Grammy Awards, he was a 2013 recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[321],"class_list":["post-27057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-billy-joel","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27058,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27057\/revisions\/27058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}