No Whammies, No Whammies….Stop.
By Brian | March 14, 2006
This guy died.
Bummer…
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on No Whammies, No Whammies….Stop.
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 4
By Brian | March 7, 2006
This is the fourth in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
I can sum up my feelings on Disc four with one word: Meh.
This disc is basically representative of what Joel has been doing for the last ten years or so (except for his current tour which, not accidentally, harkens back to the previous 3 discs). It contains live versions of those songs that he most often performs live, a couple of benefit performances he’s given recently, and some of his more recent, classical music.
The live stuff comes primarily from his Millennium concert in Madison Square Garden (12/31/99). Don’t get me wrong – these are entertaining and energy-filled versions of the songs, but since the Millennium Concert has already been released on CD, none of it is new. The exceptions here are You May Be Right which comes from a Face-to-Face concert and is a great (new!) version of the song, and Los Angelenos, which sounds like it’s from an older concert and could very well be the version that was on Songs in the Attic (in which case, it’s out of place on this disc).
The benefit numbers include The Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry, Baby from a tribute to Brian Wilson, which may be the best track on the disc. He dedicates it to his daughter, Alexa, which is sweet when the lyrics are “Everything will turn out alright; Don’t worry baby,” but gets kind of creepy when he gets to “Oh what she does to me; When she makes love to me.” I guess we can give him a pass, since the song he wrote for her is much more appropriate. There’s also the September 11th tribute version of New York State of Mind, which is about as soulful as Billy Joel gets (and with good reason, of course).
Finally, there are three selections from Fantasies and Delusions. I have a great respect for those who compose (and perform) classical music, but I have to be in precisely the right mood to want to listen to it, and can’t honestly claim to ever enjoy it, so I’ll refrain from commenting further on these.
The disc also has a hidden track, containing a mock interview with Billy Joel (probably by someone in his band), which purports to be promotional material for Glass Houses, circa 1980. It’s basically Joel kidding around with his buddy, making fun of the concept of promoting an album. He plays a couple of joke songs, including one in the New Wave style that was hot back then (classic moment: he stops in the middle and says, “Oops – too many chords” and plays it again – all on the same chord). He also runs through potential promotional slogans for the album which I greatly enjoyed (examples: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t listen to the Stones” and “People who buy this album shouldn’t get stoned.”)
So, to summarize: the box set was a nice dose of new Billy Joel material to listen to, which was refreshing for someone who’s been listening to the same old stuff for quite some time now. There are some great nuggets in there, along with a bunch of repeats from previous discs to fill out the mix. I think it’s a must-buy for the “rabid fan,” which is likely why they released it in the first place. The casual fans should probably stick with the studio albums, though, unless they enjoy rarities of any kind, in which case this is certainly a treasure trove.
I also feel obligated to note (for completeness’ sake) that there’s a DVD included in the box. When I get around to watching it, maybe I’ll post something about it too, but I’m assuming it’s just a collection of concert videos. The big exception there is the two UMixIt tracks at the end, which allows you to remix the songs (and even add your own tracks) if you play the DVD on your PC. At the very least, I look forward to isolating the piano part on these tracks and re-learning them on the piano based on what he’s actually playing, rather than what the sheet music says he’s playing. More to come on that front…
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 3 Comments »
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 3
By Brian | March 6, 2006
This is the third in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
Disc 3 of the series basically showcases Billy Joel as a kick-ass cover band and movie soundtrack contributor. As a cover artist, Joel offers up the Isley Brothers’ Shout (recorded live at Yankee Stadium), two Elvis Presley tracks from the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack (All Shook Up and Heartbreak Hotel), Duke Ellington’s In a Sentimental Mood from the soundtrack of A League of Their Own, the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night (a staple of his Face-to-Face setlist with Elton John), Leonard Cohen’s Light As A Breeze, the Disney classic When You Wish Upon a Star, and two Bob Dylan tunes: To Make You Feel My Love and Highway 61 Revisited. It’s been said many times that Joel is quite an impressionist, and putting all of these covers on the same disc highlights that fact. He not only does a pretty good job imitating the voices (especially Presley and Dylan), but also has an uncanny ability to capture the style of the original tune while still providing his own take on the material.
As a soundtrack contributor, there are the songs mentioned above, but also a couple of originals: Why Should I Worry from Disney’s Oliver & Co. and Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day) from Runaway Bride, both of which, in my humble opinion, are good enough to have made it on their own as singles if they weren’t already part of a movie soundtrack.
The real gems on this disc, though, are the live (Yankee Stadium) version of I Go to Extremes and the alternate version of River of Dreams. In the former, Joel’s piano playing exceeds even his own high standards, particularly on the improvisational riffs near the end (over the years, these settled into a scripted few, including the one where he bounces down the keyboard on his backside), and some clever variations in the lyrics (“Darling I don’t know why I go for ice cream…”). The latter has a lot more featured piano than the released track, including a swing-style version of the Goodnight, My Angel theme right in the middle of the piece. In retrospect, they probably cut it down for timing so they could release it as a single, but this version is much, much more entertaining.
Motorcycle Song, a demo that eventually became All About Soul, and the unreleased You Picked a Real Bad Time are the only “rabid fans only” tracks on this disc. I liked Motorcycle Song because the lyrics are such obvious placeholders (they describe Joel riding his motorcycle around various Long Island highways), in much the same way that Allentown was originally written as Levittown (“Well we’re living here in Levittown; The grass is green the dirt is brown…”). You Picked a Real Bad Time is roadhouse blues in the spirit of Big Man on Mulberry Street, and while I like it a lot, it’s not as good as the released material.
The only original album cut on the disc is The Downeaster “Alexa”, the first track on the disc, which I’m sure is there because it has some sentimentality to Joel (“Alexa” is his boat, which he named after his daughter), but given the rest of the material, I think it sticks out like a sore thumb.
All in all, this was my favorite disc so far. The first two discs show Billy Joel, rock & roll hopeful from Levittown, hungry for success and working hard to prove himself to everyone. This disc shows BILLY JOEL – SUPERSTAR, spending some of his hard-earned capital to branch out in different directions, lend his name to smaller projects, and have some fun with the music, rather than trying to create the next classic rock song every time out.
I look forward to Disc 4…
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | Comments Off on A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 3
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 2
By Brian | March 2, 2006
This is the second in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
For the rabid Billy Joel fan, Disc 2 will not be as exciting as Disc 1, primarily because it contains more album cuts that the rabid fan already has in his/her collection. The casual fan will be happier with it, though, since the album cuts are generally not obscurities, but songs that were released as singles and received some decent radio air play. Examples include An Innocent Man, Easy Money (which was the title song for a 1983 movie of the same name, starring Rodney Dangerfield and Joe Pesci), Modern Woman (which was on the Ruthless People soundtrack in 1986), and Baby Grand (the duet with Ray Charles).
Like Disc 1, this collection also includes some live performances, although Captain Jack sounds basically like the album version, and The Times They Are A Changin’ was already released on the Russian album. The golden nugget of the live tunes on this disc is I’ll Cry Instead, a Beatles cover that Joel did with Elton John at one of their Face-to-Face concerts. I always enjoy hearing Joel cover the Beatles – his attention to detail and his ability to do various musical styles (increasingly rare in today’s artists) make these versions good imitations of the original, but still come across sounding fresh and energetic.
The demo tracks on this disc are also interesting to the rabid fan. The End of the World eventually became Elvis Presley Blvd., which was released as the B-side to Allentown, back when records had B-sides. Elvis Presley Blvd. is also included, so you can hear how the lyrics went from intricate and cheesy to clever and catchy.
The Prime of Your Life eventually became For The Longest Time. This track is most interesting for the music, since he had very few words written when it was recorded (most of the track has him simply humming along). The music, though, is a very dense piano arrangement, and sounds very much like classical music. It’s funny to listen to the classical piano and hear the doo-wop in your head that it eventually morphed into.
Also of note is Christie Lee, his most explicit ode to Christie Brinkley (now referred to as “Ex #2”). The unreleased version is a swing number, but eventually became straight rock & roll when it appeared on the Innocent Man album.
There are other unreleased songs, including a version of Getting Closer with Steve Winwood (although Winwood never sings a note, so you wouldn’t know he was there unless you read the liner notes), and And So It Goes, which also sounds very much like the released version.
Then there’s the Roadhouse Blues number, House of Blue Light and the Beatles-esque Money or Love, both of which have nostalgic value to the rabid fan, but probably wouldn’t be appreciated by too many others.
All in all, I enjoyed Disc 2, but with a few exceptions, much prefer Disc 1. Stay tuned for more on Discs 3 and 4.
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 2 Comments »
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 1
By Brian | March 1, 2006
My posts about Billy Joel have been getting hundreds of hits (helped along, I’m sure, by Google and the fact that he’s touring), but people are clicking through, so who am I to not respond with more content?
First of all, a backhanded compliment to buy.com. I ordered My Lives on Saturday night, and chose Budget Shipping (5-7 days), which is free, as opposed to Standard Shipping (3-5 days), which would have cost me a few bucks. The discs arrived at my door Monday afternoon. So, first, wow – that’s incredibly fast service, especially given there was a weekend involved. But then, hey – good thing I didn’t pay money to have it delivered faster, since I got it within one day anyway.
That aside, on to the music (I’ve only listened to Disc 1 so far (1960’s – 1980), so I’ll post more as I go). Bottom line: this material is for the real Billy Joel fan. The ones who know all the songs, not just Greatest Hits 1 through 3. As one of those fans, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I weren’t one of those fans, though, I think I would have hated it. Passionately.
The first two tracks are from The Lost Souls, Joel’s first band. I’ve heard him say on his college lecture tours that My Journey’s End was the first song he ever wrote, so here’s your chance to hear studio version of the first ever Billy Joel song. That said, the recording quality is awful (so much so, that I originally thought something was wrong with the CD). The quality improves as we move toward the 1970s, with a couple of tracks from The Hassles and one from Attila (a Jazz Ensemble and Heavy Metal band that Joel experimented with before going solo). The insert warns that the Attila tune, Amplifier Fire is loud enough to be scary, but I didn’t mind it in the least. There’s even a rather clever mixing technique in the middle, where the keyboard is vamping in the left channel and the drums are in the right, and then they gradually switch, then switch back, then switch again, etc. At the time, that was probably high technology. Today it’s so easy to do that folks don’t bother doing it, making it unique once again.
After that, we get back to what we all know as Billy Joel music. Piano-centric, melodically interesting tunes ranging from ballads to full-blown rock & roll. Basically, the songs can be broken down into three groups: album versions of lesser known songs, unreleased studio and/or live versions of popular songs, and unreleased demos.
For the rabid fan, the album versions are nice, but nothing new. For the more casual fan, I think they’d probably highlight why these songs were never hits (with the possible exception of She’s Got a Way, which is a gorgeous ballad no matter how you slice it).
The unreleased versions of popular songs will probably sound exactly the same to the casual fan, but to the rabid fan, they’re fantastic bits of musical trivia. The highlight for me was the unfaded version of Zanzibar, where you get to hear a whole lot more of that fantastic trumpet solo at the end. The reggae version of Only The Good Die Young is fun as well, although I’ve heard it before elsewhere.
The rest of the tracks (seven in all) are demos. These were never released and, in many cases, not even finished (he hums his way through verses he hasn’t written yet.) The best of these tracks are songs that were eventually released under different titles or with different lyrics. For example, Piano Man is there with an extended harmonica part, an extremely annoying echo effect on Joel’s voice, slightly different lyrics, and a different melody for the bridge (the “La Da Dah” part). There’s also These Rhinestone Days, which became I’ve Loved These Days, New Mexico, which became Worse Comes to Worst, and a version of Miami 2017 that remains a ballad all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed these tracks for two reasons: first, the sparse arrangements show off Joel’s piano playing more than the final cuts, and second, because they give a fantastic insight into his writing process – how the music gets set first, and the words come gradually, often getting rejected and rewritten (sometimes scrapped entirely, sometimes tweaked only slightly). The other demos on the disc are songs that were never released under any title, including Only a Man, Oyster Bay and Cross To Bear. The rabid fan would be interested in these because they are, to most people, new Billy Joel songs, which is something we haven’t been treated to in a very, very long time. The casual fan will likely think of them as bad Billy Joel songs, lending no weight to the fact that the artist went on to do much more interesting things.
So, overall, I’m very pleased with Disc 1. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 1 Comment »
Trump Rediscovers The Wharton School – and then goes to far…
By Brian | February 28, 2006
Of special note to UPenn alums who missed the debut of Apprentice #5 tonight:
Trump picked the project managers for the first task himself. One of them was a Harvard MBA, to which he said, “I have great respect for Harvard Business School. It’s the second best school in the country, behind Wharton, which is where I went.” I assure you, cheers went up around West Philadelphia when he said that.
Later in the show, the reward for winning the task was lunch with Donald Trump in (what he called) “The Wharton Club.” Turns out, the “Wharton Club” is actually the Penn Club in midtown Manhattan. The slip probably would have cost him all the goodwill he built up on the Penn campus from the first remark, except for the fact that most students probably don’t know the Penn Club exists (after all, it targets alumni, not students).
At any rate, for a guy that hardly ever talks about where he got his education (or, for that matter, his money), it was nice to see him recognize his roots for a change…
Categories: Primetime TV, University of Pennsylvania | 2 Comments »
Plain Text is the Answer!
By Brian | February 26, 2006
A major Hat Tip to Michael Weinmayr Starr, who correctly suggested a Plain Text post from the Outlook client. The plain text eliminates all of the HTML spaghetti code in the previous test, and uses the “mobile-post” class I had originally identified. “MsoNormal” apparently not only refers to Microsoft Outlook, but also to the “normal” HTML mode of posting.
Now, not only is the HTML cleaner, but the font settings are properly applied and all is well. The only thing I’m noticing at this point is the automatic line breaks that plain text defaults to in Outlook (every 76 characters or so). I’m sure this is something I can turn off in Outlook – I just have to play with it. Other than that, though I think the mailing problems are solved.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
OK, one more test…
By Brian | February 24, 2006
Well, the first test went pretty well.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
Finally, a test of mobile posting…
By Brian | February 24, 2006
Excuse the interruption, folks.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
Upgrading to the Video iPod – A Dilemma
By Brian | February 23, 2006
Categories: Tech Talk, Words about Music | 9 Comments »