Tag: Billy Joel
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel’s albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would go on to work for all of his albums up until his 1986 album The Bridge.
The Stranger was released a year following Joel’s previous studio effort, Turnstiles, which had sold modestly and peaked low on the US charts, prompting Columbia to consider dropping Joel if his next release did not sell well. Joel wanted the album to feature his newly-formed touring band that had formed during the production of Turnstiles, which consisted of drummer Liberty DeVitto, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and multi-instrumentalist saxophonist/organist Richie Cannata. Seeking out a new producer, he first turned to veteran Beatles producer George Martin before coming across and settling on Ramone, whose name he had seen on albums by other artists such as Paul Simon. Recording took place across the span of three weeks, with DeVitto, Stegmeyer and Cannata being featured in addition to other studio musicians filling in as guitarists on various songs.
Spending six weeks at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, The Stranger is considered Joel’s critical and commercial breakthrough. Four singles were released in the US, all of which became top-40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, including “Just the Way You Are” (#3), “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, “She’s Always a Woman” (both #17), and “Only the Good Die Young” (#24). Other songs, such as “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “Vienna”, have become staples of his career and are frequently performed in his live shows. The album won two awards at the 1978 Grammy Awards, winning Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year for “Just the Way You Are”. It remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and surpassed Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water to become Columbia’s best-selling album release, with more than 10 million units sold worldwide. Rolling Stone later named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
1. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” 3:30
2. “The Stranger” 5:10
3. “Just the Way You Are” 4:52
4. “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” 7:37
5. “Vienna” 3:34
6. “Only the Good Die Young” 3:55
7. “She’s Always a Woman” 3:21
8. “Get It Right the First Time” 3:57
9. “Everybody Has a Dream” 6:38
Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizers, Fender Rhodes
Richie Cannata – organ, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute, tuba
Dominic Cortese – accordion (4, 5)
Richard Tee – organ (9)
Hiram Bullock – electric guitar
Steve Khan – six and twelve string electric guitars, acoustic rhythm guitar, high string guitar
Hugh McCracken – acoustic guitar (3, 4, 7, 8, 9)
Steve Burgh – acoustic guitar (3, 7), electric guitar (4)
Doug Stegmeyer – bass guitar
Liberty DeVitto – drums
Ralph MacDonald – percussion (2, 3, 8, 9)
Phil Woods – alto saxophone (3)
Patrick Williams – orchestration
Patti Austin – backing vocals (9)
Lani Groves – backing vocals (9)
Gwen Guthrie – backing vocals (9)
Phoebe Snow – backing vocals (9)
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The best music from 1970 – 1979 featuring tunes from: Billy Paul, Bonnie Pointer, Outlaws, Paper Lace, Diana Ross, Andy Gibb, Don McLean, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and more . . .
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The best music from 1970 – 1979 featuring tunes from: Raspberries, Elton John, Cheap Trick, Dave Mason, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Jackson 5, Jefferson Airplane, Kinks, Joe Hinton and more . . .
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Featuring tunes from Duran Duran, Animotion, Pointer Sisters, Ratt, Bob Seger, Billy Joel, and more and more . . .
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William Martin “Billy” Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer. Since releasing his first hit song, “Piano Man,” in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States. His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is the third best-selling album in the United States by discs shipped.
Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote himself. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner who has been nominated for 23 Grammy Awards throughout his career. He has sold over 150 million records worldwide.
Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). In 2001, Joel received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors, the nation’s highest honor for influencing American culture through the arts. With the exception of the 2007 songs “All My Life” and “Christmas in Fallujah,” Joel stopped writing and releasing pop/rock material after 1993’s River of Dreams. However, he continues to tour, and he plays songs from all eras of his solo career in his concerts.
| 1 | The River of Dreams |
| 2 | Uptown Girl |
| 3 | We Didn’t Start the Fire |
| 4 | My Life |
| 5 | Tell Her About It |
| 6 | You’re Only Human (Second Wind) |
| 7 | All About Soul |
| 8 | I Go to Extremes |
| 9 | Just the Way You Are |
| 10 | Honesty |
| 11 | An Innocent Man |
| 12 | It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me |
| 13 | All Shook Up |
| 14 | She’s Always a Woman |
| 15 | The Longest Time |
| 16 | A Matter of Trust |
| 17 | You May Be Right |
| 18 | Leave a Tender Moment Alone |
| 19 | Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) |
| 20 | Modern Woman |
| 21 | Allentown |
| 22 | Pressure |
| 23 | Piano Man |
| 24 | The Downeaster ‘Alexa’ |
| 25 | Don’t Ask Me Why |
| 26 | And So It Goes |
| 27 | This Is the Time |
| 28 | Keeping the Faith |
| 29 | Big Shot |
| 30 | Sometimes a Fantasy |
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Turnstiles is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on May 19, 1976.
Joel recorded Turnstiles in part as a celebration of his return to his native New York City. Three of the album’s tracks reference New York: “Summer, Highland Falls”, “New York State of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”. It begins with “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (inspired by The Ronettes song “Be My Baby”) and also includes “I’ve Loved These Days”, a tongue-in-cheek expression of regret at leaving behind Hollywood decadence. In an interview, Joel stated that the lyrics to the song “James” referred to various different people he knew in real life, with the title character being a “composite” of those people. In the song “Prelude/Angry Young Man”, Joel opens and closes the song rapidly hammering the piano, which was meant to simulate the drum part in the song “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris.
The songs were first recorded at Caribou Ranch (near Nederland, Colorado), with members of Elton John’s band (Nigel Olsson on drums and Dee Murray on bass) and produced by Chicago producer James William Guercio. Dissatisfied with the results, Joel took over as producer and returned to New York, where he re-recorded the album in its entirety, with his own touring band, which consisted of Long Island musicians Richie Cannata and the members of the band Topper: Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, and Doug Stegmeyer. Turnstiles marked the first time that Joel’s band played on one of his studio albums.
The album cover photo was shot in the uptown platform of the New York City Subway’s Astor Place station. According to Joel, each of the characters on the album cover was meant to represent a particular song (e.g., the girl in headphones for “All You Wanna Do is Dance”, the wealthy couple for “I’ve Loved These Days”).
1. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” 4:36
2. “Summer, Highland Falls” 3:15
3. “All You Wanna Do Is Dance” 3:40
4. “New York State of Mind” 5:58
5. “James” 3:53
6. “Prelude/Angry Young Man” 5:17
7. “I’ve Loved These Days” 4:31
8. “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” 5:12
Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, electric piano, Moog synthesizer, clavinet, organs
Howie Emerson – electric and acoustic guitars
Russell Javors – electric and acoustic guitars
James Smith – acoustic guitar
Doug Stegmeyer – bass guitar
Liberty DeVitto – drums
Mingo Lewis – percussion
Richie Cannata – saxophones, clarinet
Ken Ascher – orchestral arrangements
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Piano Man is the second studio album by American recording artist Billy Joel, released on November 9, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album emerged from legal difficulties with Joel’s former label Family Productions, and ultimately became his first breakthrough album.
The title track, a fictionalized retelling of Joel’s experiences with people he met as a lounge singer in Los Angeles, peaked at No. 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. “Travelin’ Prayer” and “Worse Comes to Worst” peaked at Nos. 77 and 80 on the Hot 100, respectively, while the album itself peaked at No. 27 on the US Billboard 200. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in 1975, but Joel received only $8000 in royalties (US$38,011 in 2019 dollars)
1. “Travelin’ Prayer” 4:16
2. “Piano Man” 5:37
3. “Ain’t No Crime” 3:20
4. “You’re My Home” 3:14
5. “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” 5:35
6. “Worse Comes to Worst” 3:28
7. “Stop in Nevada” 3:40
8. “If I Only Had the Words (To Tell You)” 3:35
9. “Somewhere Along the Line” 3:17
10. “Captain Jack” 7:15
Billy Joel – acoustic piano, organ, electric piano, harmonica, vocals
Michael Omartian – accordion, arrangements (tracks 1-4, 6-10)
Jimmie Haskell – arrangements (track 5)
Richard Bennett – guitars
Larry Carlton – guitars
Dean Parks – guitars
Eric Weissberg – banjo, pedal steel guitar
Fred Heilbrun – banjo
Wilton Felder – bass guitar
Emory Gordy Jr. – bass guitar
Ron Tutt – drums (tracks 1–9)
Rhys Clark – drums (track 10)
Billy Armstrong – violin
Laura Creamer – backing vocals
Mark Creamer – backing vocals
Susan Steward – backing vocals
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The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel’s albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would go on to work for all of his albums up until his 1986 album The Bridge.
The Stranger was released a year following Joel’s previous studio effort, Turnstiles, which had sold modestly and peaked low on the US charts, prompting Columbia to consider dropping Joel if his next release did not sell well. Joel wanted the album to feature his newly-formed touring band that had formed during the production of Turnstiles, which consisted of drummer Liberty DeVitto, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and multi-instrumentalist saxophonist/organist Richie Cannata. Seeking out a new producer, he first turned to veteran Beatles producer George Martin before coming across and settling on Ramone, whose name he had seen on albums by other artists such as Paul Simon. Recording took place across the span of three weeks, with DeVitto, Stegmeyer and Cannata being featured in addition to other studio musicians filling in as guitarists on various songs.
Spending six weeks at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, The Stranger is considered Joel’s critical and commercial breakthrough. Four singles were released in the US, all of which became top-40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, including “Just the Way You Are” (#3), “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, “She’s Always a Woman” (both #17), and “Only the Good Die Young” (#24). Other songs, such as “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “Vienna”, have become staples of his career and are frequently performed in his live shows. The album won two awards at the 1978 Grammy Awards, winning Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year for “Just the Way You Are”. It remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and surpassed Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water to become Columbia’s best-selling album release, with more than 10 million units sold worldwide. Rolling Stone later named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
1. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” 3:30
2. “The Stranger” 5:10
3. “Just the Way You Are” 4:52
4. “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” 7:37
5. “Vienna” 3:34
6. “Only the Good Die Young” 3:55
7. “She’s Always a Woman” 3:21
8. “Get It Right the First Time” 3:57
9. “Everybody Has a Dream” 6:38
Live at Carnegie Hall, June 3, 1977
“Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” – 5:11
“Prelude/Angry Young Man” – 6:05
“New York State of Mind” – 8:20
“Just the Way You Are” – 4:56
“She’s Got a Way” – 3:32
“The Entertainer” – 6:09
“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” – 7:35
“Band Introductions” – 2:02
“Captain Jack” – 6:51
“I’ve Loved These Days” – 4:29
“Say Goodbye to Hollywood” – 6:45
“Souvenir” – 2:09
Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizers, Fender Rhodes
Richie Cannata – organ, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute, tuba
Dominic Cortese – accordion (4, 5)
Richard Tee – organ (9)
Hiram Bullock – electric guitar
Steve Khan – six and twelve string electric guitars, acoustic rhythm guitar, high string guitar
Hugh McCracken – acoustic guitar (3, 4, 7, 8, 9)
Steve Burgh – acoustic guitar (3, 7), electric guitar (4)
Doug Stegmeyer – bass guitar
Liberty DeVitto – drums
Ralph MacDonald – percussion (2, 3, 8, 9)
Phil Woods – alto saxophone (3)
Patrick Williams – orchestration
Patti Austin – backing vocals (9)
Lani Groves – backing vocals (9)
Gwen Guthrie – backing vocals (9)
Phoebe Snow – backing vocals (9)
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Michael Leslie Jones is a British musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the sole remaining original member of the British-American rock band Foreigner. Prior to Foreigner, he was in the band Spooky Tooth.
Michael Leslie Jones was born on 27 December 1945 in Portsmouth, England. Jones started playing guitar at an early age, and decided to pursue a career in music. He began his professional music career in the early 1960s as a member of the band Nero and the Gladiators, who scored two minor British hit singles in 1961. After the demise of Nero and the Gladiators, Jones worked as a songwriter and session musician in France for such artists as Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, and Johnny Hallyday (“The French Elvis”), for whom he wrote many songs, including “Je suis né dans la rue” and “À tout casser” (which features Jimmy Page on guitar). When The Beatles toured France in 1964, they befriended Mick when Hallyday’s girlfriend and future wife Sylvie Vartan played on the same bill as they did. Between 1965 and 1971 Jones recorded in France with Tommy Brown (Thomas R. Browne) as State of Mickey & Tommy, as well as under other session names including the Blackburds, Nimrod, and the J&B.
After leaving France to return to his home country, Jones joined Gary Wright, formerly of the band Spooky Tooth, to form Wonderwheel in 1971. In 1972, Jones and Wright reformed Spooky Tooth, and after this Jones was a member of the Leslie West Band. He also played guitar on the albums Wind of Change (1972) for Peter Frampton, and Dark Horse (1974) for George Harrison.
In 1976, Jones formed Foreigner with Ian McDonald and recruited lead singer Lou Gramm. Jones co-produced all of the band’s albums and co-wrote most of their songs with Gramm. Jones wrote the band’s most successful single, “I Want to Know What Love Is”, by himself. Tensions developed within the band during the late 1980s, attributed to a difference in musical taste between Gramm, who favoured a more hard-edged rock, as opposed to Jones’ interest in synthesisers. Gramm left the band in 1990 but returned in 1992. In 1989, Jones released his only solo album titled Mick Jones on the Atlantic Records label. Jones is the only person to play on every Foreigner album.
In between his Foreigner commitments, Jones also started a side career as a producer for such albums as Van Halen’s 5150 (1986), Bad Company’s Fame and Fortune (1986) and Billy Joel’s Storm Front (1989).
He co-wrote with Eric Clapton the song “Bad Love” on Clapton’s Journeyman album, and in 2002 co-wrote the song “On Her Mind” with Duncan Sheik. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he played with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings.
He was married to socialite/writer Ann Dexter-Jones, mother of Mark, Samantha and Charlotte Ronson. Ann and Mick have two children, Annabelle and Alexander Dexter-Jones. Married for nearly 25 years, Jones and Dexter-Jones divorced in 2007. In 2017, the couple remarried. He also has two sons, from prior relationships, Roman and Christopher Jones.
In addition to the Foreigner albums, Jones has produced the following:
5150 – Van Halen (1986)
Fame and Fortune – Bad Company (1986)
Dead, White and Blue – Flesh & Blood (1989)
Save the Last Dance for Me – Ben E. King (1989)
Storm Front – Billy Joel (1989)
In Deep – Tina Arena (1997)
Beyond Good and Evil – The Cult (2001)
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Storm Front is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 17, 1989. It was Joel’s third album to reach No. 1 in the U.S. and features “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, a fast-paced song that cataloged a list of historical events, trends, and cultural icons from 1949 (when Joel was born) until 1989, which was Joel’s third Billboard No. 1 hit.
“I Go to Extremes”, a song describing the ups and downs of his emotional life, placed at No. 6. Other songs that placed in the top 100 were “And So It Goes” (No. 37), “The Downeaster ‘Alexa'” (No. 57), and “That’s Not Her Style” (No. 77). The album was also nominated for five Grammy Awards.[8] The album’s cover depicts the maritime storm warning flag indicating wind forces 10–12, the highest intensity on the Beaufort scale.
“That’s Not Her Style” – 5:10
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” – 4:50
“The Downeaster ‘Alexa'” – 3:44
“I Go to Extremes” – 4:23
“Shameless” – 4:26
“Storm Front” – 5:17
“Leningrad” – 4:06
“State of Grace” – 4:30
“When in Rome” – 4:44
“And So It Goes” – 3:38
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The Ultimate Collection is a double-disc compilation album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. It was first released by Sony Music Entertainment Japan in December 2000, and subsequently issued in the most of European and Oceanian countries with slightly different track listings (replacing Japanese top-3 charting hit “The Stranger” with live version of “You’re My Home”).
This career-spanning compilation features some of Joel’s early notable compositions and hit singles which were disregarded on his Greatest Hits series, although several fan favorites like “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, “Pressure” and “Big Shot” were excluded alternatively. It became a smash hit worldwide, entering top-5 on the charts in several countries including United Kingdom.
The Ultimate Collection was not issued in the United States, however Legacy Recordings released another similar compilation The Essential in October 2001.
O1. “Just the Way You Are” 4:50
2. “My Life” 4:43
3. “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” 2:57
4. “An Innocent Man” 5:18
5. “Piano Man” 5:37
6. “You’re My Home” 3:12
7. “Everybody Loves You Now” 3:11
8. “The Entertainer” 3:40
9. “Streetlife Serenader” 5:16
10. “New York State of Mind” 6:03
11. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” 4:38
12. “She’s Got a Way” 3:00
13. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” 3:29
14. “She’s Always a Woman” 3:20
15. “Honesty” 3:49
16. “You May Be Right” 4:12
17. “Don’t Ask Me Why” 2:57
18. “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” 5:09
1. “Uptown Girl” 3:16
2. “Tell Her About It” 3:50
3. “The River of Dreams” 4:07
4. “The Longest Time” 3:37
5. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” 4:47
6. “Goodnight Saigon” 7:02
7. “Allentown” 3:49
8. “All for Leyna” 4:12
9. “This Is the Time” 4:59
10. “Leave a Tender Moment Alone” 3:53
11. “A Matter of Trust” 4:08
12. “Modern Woman” 3:50
13. “Baby Grand” (Duet with Ray Charles) 4:04
14. “I Go to Extremes” 4:21
15. “Leningrad” 4:03
16. “The Downeaster ‘Alexa'” 3:43
17. “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” 4:48
18. “All About Soul” (Remix) 5:58
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William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the “Piano Man” after his first major hit and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released twelve studio albums from 1971 to 1993 as well as one studio album in 2001. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, with over 150 million records sold worldwide. His 1985 compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2, is one of the best-selling albums in the US.
Joel was born in 1949 in The Bronx, New York, and grew up on Long Island, both places that influenced his music. Growing up, he took piano lessons at the insistence of his mother. After dropping out of high school to pursue a musical career, Joel took part in two short-lived bands, The Hassles and Attila, before signing a record deal with Family Productions and kicking off a solo career in 1971 with his first release, Cold Spring Harbor. In 1972, Joel caught the attention of Columbia Records after a live radio performance of the song “Captain Jack” became popular in Philadelphia, prompting him to sign a new record deal with the company and release his second album, Piano Man, in 1973. After releasing the albums Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles in 1974 and 1976 respectively, Joel released his critical and commercial breakthrough album, The Stranger, in 1977. This album became Columbia’s best-selling release, selling over 10 million copies and spawning several hit singles, including “Just the Way You Are”, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, “Only the Good Die Young”, and “She’s Always a Woman”; another song on this album, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, is Joel’s favorite of his own songs and has become a staple of his live shows.
