CD Odyssey Disc 1603: Amanda Shires

Yesterday was a snow day, or at least the first couple of hours was. Where I live this causes general panic and mayhem and I took the bus to work. This meant I had a nice walk home (in the freezing rain as it turned out) and got a long listen in of this next record. Then, exhausted from all the excitement (snow!) I fell asleep on the couch. So one more day and one more listen…here we are!

Disc 1603 is…Take It Like a Man

Artist: Amanda Shires

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Amanda Shires stares you down in a way that could burn the topless towers of Ilium. I’m not saying I bought this album for the cover, but it didn’t hurt.

How I Came To Know It: My interest in Amanda Shires’ music has come and gone over the years. I like her work with husband Jason Isbell, and she is one-fourth of all-woman supergroup the Highwomen, which is also a fine record. Every now and then one of her solo records catches my attention and I give it a shot, but so far none have stuck.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Amanda Shires solo album, so can’t really stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

When I first heard “Take It Like a Man” I felt certain that it was going to be the one. The record that encouraged me to go back and give all those previous Amanda Shires records I’d passed over a second chance. Sadly, a few listens later it was not to be.

There is plenty to like about this record, starting with the way Shires explores desire from the darkest part of the room. This album isn’t skulking or guilt-filled either; it invites desire, erotic truth and a touch that makes you shiver. There were times it felt so intimate it felt awkward to listen, but you keep listening anyway. “Hawk for the Dove” gets us started strong with these opening lines:

“I’m well aware of what the night’s made of
And I’m coming for you like a hawk for a dove.”

It is a great line, and while the record doesn’t consistently land such dead-shot brilliance, she does well overall. If anything some of her better lyrics are drowned in an excess of pop production, where they would have fared that much better with some sparse country hurt.

The other standout is “Don’t Be Alarmed” which has the added bonus of Jason Isbell’s guitar as accompaniment. Shires shows her range of emotion here, starting with a reassuring whisper and raising up to a head-voiced peel that perfectly captures the no man’s land between being resolute and having a good cry.

Shires vocals won’t blow the barn door down but she has a tone that lends access to a lot of different approaches. On the title track she has a sweet warble that made me think of Kim Carnes, only with two sugars added. On “Empty Cups” she goes for a lot more traditional country sound. Gone is that vibrato, replaced with the sharpness of new country. “Empty Cups” reminded me a bit of Suzy Bogguss in both style and structure although I admit if I had to choose, I would go with Bogguss.

In other moments Shires calls forth the ghost of Olivia Newton John, particularly the version of her where she’s in a musical and pining for some boy. Partly it is the tone and partly it is this undercurrent of joyful optimism in her delivery, even when she’s being sad or sexy.

While I admire all of these different approaches, the album feels over the top in places, particularly where she tries to drag in a flourish of horns. The worst is what I think is a French horn on “Lonely at Night” which is evocative of fifties Sinatra, but just made me want to go put on “In the Wee Small Hours”.

The record focuses on relationship challenges and a lot of very raw and honest sexuality. I love the way Shires opens herself up on this record, and it is the main draw on my initial listens. Unfortunately, with the exception of “a few tracks, I wasn’t consistently drawn in. A good album should catch you up in its emotion, and instead I kept falling out of my reverie.

This record is good, but I don’t love it enough to pull it down and play it very often. And so I must reluctantly admit that once again I have passed Amanda Shires in the night. Close enough to hear and appreciate her music, but not enough to make a lasting connection. Maybe next time.

Best tracks: Hawk for the Dove, Don’t Be Alarmed, Fault Lines

CD Odyssey Disc 1602: Beastie Boys

It's the second straight review this week from the eighties! Do I love the eighties? When it comes to music, I like all the decades. Picking one just shows narrowness of thinking - something that almost prevented me from getting to know this next record.

Disc 1602 is…Paul’s Boutique

Artist: The Beastie Boys

Year of Release: 1989

What’s up with the Cover?  The titular clothing store (note – not a real place). This looks like the kind of place I would buy a pack of gum, but I doubt I’d find a shirt I liked.

On an unrelated note, I’ve always found it fascinating how a store can put its goods out on the sidewalk, knowing that 99.9% of people who walk by will not snatch, grab or shoplift anything. It just goes to prove that line from Rush’ “Second Nature”, “Folks are basically decent/Conventional wisdom would say.”

It’s true, and don’t let a few awful people make you forget all the decent ones.

How I Came To Know It: I was not into the Beastie Boys in 1989. Sure I thought “License to Ill” was solid, but it was mostly the hard rock samples and “Fight for Your Right to Party” that led me there. I was not a rap fan.

So this one came to me much later after I corrected the error of my ways and was digging through the Beastie Boys catalogue. I want to say late nineties, but the exact date is lost in the mists of time.

How It Stacks Up: I have (or had) eight Beastie Boys records. Of those, I put “Paul’s Boutique” in at #2, just narrowly behind “To the 5 Burroughs”.

Ratings: 5 stars

When I first heard “Hey Ladies,” the first single off Paul’s Boutique, I thought, “what nonsense is this?” Of course it was 1989 and I had a lot of growing up to do, musically speaking.

When I finally got over my anti-rap bias and started exploring the Beastie Boys, I bought a used copy of “Paul’s Boutique” and hoped for the best. But those first few listens were a bit too much. Samples were flying fast, and rhymes even faster, and the album was stretching itself in a dozen directions at once. I felt like the sonic equivalent of the victim of Track Four’s “Egg Man” getting egged at such a furious pace I could only duck, yolk-stained forearms showing like defensive wounds. I declared the album “OK, with a few good tracks.” Once again, I had a lot of growing up to do.

Like any great record, over the following years and decades “Paul’s Boutique” has gotten better on every listen. My gateway drug was “Shake Your Rump” with its mix of furious rock-style delivery, funk samples and that deep bass drop that gets right down into…well, into your rump.

From here it was a natural step to forgive “Hey, Ladies” and forgive myself for so seriously misjudging how exceptional a song this is. That opening drum beat and guitar sample is absolutely sick, and that’s before the boys even come in with their singular style, trading off line for line and never missing a cue. Plus, more cowbell in the best possible way.

Other bands making rap in 1989 have also won my heart, and my collection is now festooned with albums from that year by Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Gang Starr, LL Cool J and many others. These bands all feature serious (and equally good) MC talent, but none of them are doing what the Beastie Boys are up to on “Paul’s Boutique”. The sheer volume of samples and styles is at first bewildering, and then intoxicating. At every listen there is something new to dig down to, some new easter egg of a sample to get hit with. The way to listen to “Paul’s Boutique” is to revel in that egging.

And as has been said often, this record would not be possible three years later, after 1991’s Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., put an end to sampling for free. Because samples now cost a lot of money, hip hop artists are more likely to sample way less and when they do grab an entire hook, rather than five snippets of sound that are combined into something new like you’ll find on “Paul’s Boutique”.

I get the importance of copyright protection, but there were some serious unintended consequences to musical creativity.

But back in the golden age, when you could sample to your heart’s content, few bands did it with the artful eye of the Beasties. Outside of Public Enemy, they have no peers. The artistic freedom could’ve led a lesser band astray, but the Beasties capered and gamboled their way through an unfenced playground of options. The result is sheer unbridled brilliance.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1601: Blue Oyster Cult

Greetings and welcome to this rarest of events – a mid-week review! I guess I’m needing some escapism, and I know of nothing better than delving into some music.

This next one is a live record. I’m not one for live albums generally, but I have five by this next band.

Disc 1601 is…Live ’83 (also known as Nail You Down)

Artist: Blue Oyster Cult

Year of Release: 1992 but originally recorded in…wait for it…1983

What’s up with the Cover?  The boys of BOC, cleaned up and looking sharp. None sharper than Buck Dharma (centre). How I longed for Buck’s hair when I was a kid, but alas, it was my brother who was thus blessed.

I ended up with Eric Bloom’s hair (left) which I hated then but would learn to love as I got older and discovered the alternating joy of both a fully teased out afro, and the invention of styling gel. 

How I Came To Know It: My buddy Ross bought this for me. This is the second time he’s bought me an album of BOC’s live music out of the blue (the previous one was “Setlist: The Very Best of Blue Oyster Cult” reviewed back at Disc 1333). Thanks again for the gift of music, Ross!

How It Stacks Up: I don’t stack compilation albums up, but I have been known to do so for live albums if they’re all from the same show or tour. While “Setlist” doesn’t make that cut, “Live ‘83” does, and I’ll put it 4th. And here’s the full list of them for you to revel in, or vehemently disagree with (I am good either way).

1. Some Enchanted Evening: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 391)
2. Extraterrestrial Live: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 930)
3. On Your Feet or On Your Knees: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 716)
4. Live ’83: 4 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 4 stars

You know when you’re at a show and some doofus is standing in front of you holding up his phone and recording it all, so he can release a shakey-cam, tinny rendition of the show on Youtube later to prove he was there? Well, that’s the image I get when I think “bootleg.” So knowing that this Blue Oyster Cult performance, was a bootleg of a show held in 1983 at the Pasadena Perkins Palace in California, I was a bit concerned going in.

Turns out I didn’t need to be. The recording sounds a bit metallic around the edges but that provides a welcome new way to give these songs a fresh voice. It is as though their 1974 incarnation had somehow stepped through a time portal, learned their newer material from their future selves, and then let loose with the youthful off-campus flophouse jam where they spent their formative years. Of all their live records, this one feels the most visceral, even punk adjacent, if it weren’t for the fact that punk never thrashed its way through songs this structurally complicated. On “Live ‘83” the boys seem willing to just thrash away, trusting their talents and the bones of the songs to carry along the more complex aspects of their art.

Every Blue Oyster Cult live album I have is a treasure, and not just because these guys play so brilliantly together, or that they are one of the most innovative rock bands in history. It is because beneath that crazy brilliant mix of melodic rock, crunch and prog the boys are, in their hearts, a great jam band. Blue Oyster Cult know the value of a few carefully placed licks and solos that make a song twice as fun without you noticing it is also twice as long.

I have been known to gripe that in recent years Blue Oyster Cult’s setlists haven’t been sufficiently varied. This is partly that I’ve seen them a lot, and I’m always looking for new tunes in the setlist. They could literally play anything new and I’d be happy.

“Live ‘83” comes out just a year after their more famous commercial release “Extra Terrestrial Live” and so there is some natural crossover, but there are also a whole lot of unexpected and very welcome nuggets. Most notably, they play two of my favourite songs from their first album, “Stairway to the Stars” and “Workshop of the Telescopes”.

“Workshop of the Telescopes” was particularly delicious. Coming in thirty seconds shorter than the studio version, they sacrifice a bit of mystery for a whole lot more energy. The original is the hidden mystery of cultists gathered around a telescope located on some dark hill. The “Live ‘83” version is the same scene, but the cultists are moshing.

The band also gives some love to Buck Dharma’s 1982 solo album, “Flat Out” performing that record’s most BOC-ish tune, “Born to Rock”. Buck’s vocals and guitar work are both brimming with energy, knowing the band’s got his back, and that while he was away to make that record, he was never really away. (Of note, Buck is one of only two original members remaining in the band today).

I only have two gripes with this record. The first is the three-song encore. The band does three of their usual “welcome back to the stage” mainstays: “Born to Be Wild”, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Roadhouse Blues”. No complaints there, but somewhere between the main set and their return they either lost the original audio feed or something happened at the sound board, because things get a bit muddy.

My second gripe is that even at 4 stars, it is hard for this record to compete with all my other amazing live records by Blue Oyster Cult. OK, that’s not a gripe – more of a humble brag.

Best tracks: Love them all, but I gotta go with the new live stuff, so Stairway to the Stars, Workshop of the Telescopes and Born to Rock. This version of Burnin’ For You is also great.

CD Odyssey Discs 1599 and 1600: Flying Burrito Brothers

It has taken a while, but here we are, 1,600 reviews in and nowhere near the end. I once had all these ideas for articles when the Odyssey completed. Like “best albums of 1982” or “best Giant Head album covers”. Now I realize as long as I keep buying music faster than I can review it, the journey never ends. And that’s OK with me.

On that note – here is a two-for-one special! This happens when (according to Creative Maelstrom common law) it is a double album set on a single CD. When there are two albums in one jewel case, but separate CDs, I pick one randomly and wait to roll the next.

Disc 1599 is…. The Gilded Palace of Sin
Disc 1600 is…Burrito Deluxe

Artist: The Flying Burrito Brothers

Year of Release: 1969 (Gilded Palace of Sin) and 1970 (Burrito Deluxe)

What’s up with the Cover?  It’s a mashup of the two album covers. The boys standing around in those honky tonk suits are original to the Gilded Palace of Sin, but we’re missing the wooden shack with the two fetching ladies from the original cover.

In its place we have the sequined burrito from the “Burrito Deluxe” album cover. I love a good burrito as much as the next guy (and just had tacos for lunch), but I’d have preferred the ladies. This is what happens when you cut corners and get two albums in one, though.

How I Came To Know It: I think about 8-10 years ago my friend Brennan put me onto the fact that before Gram Parsons was Gram Parsons, he was in a band called the Flying Burrito Brothers. I checked it out on his advice and was immediately hooked. Shortly thereafter I found this “two in one” opportunity and pounced.

How It Stacks Up: If just compared against each other, “The Gilded Palace of Sin” wins the war of the burrito. It is easily the better record of the two. Against all of Gram Parson’s body of work, “Gilded Palace comes in third, and Burrito Deluxe is last. And since Gram jumped around through so many bands, here’s the full accounting from that perspective:

1. Grievous Angel (as Gram Parsons): 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1487)
2. GP (as Gram Parsons): 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1486)
3. The Gilded Palace of Sin: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
4. Sweethearts of the Rodeo (with the Byrds): 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1021)
5. Safe at Home (as International Submarine Band): 3 stars (also Disc 1021)
6. Burrito Deluxe: 3 stars (reviewed right here also)

 Ratings: Gilded Palace of Sin: 5 stars; Burrito Deluxe: 3 stars

Disc 1599: The Gilded Palace of Sin:

It’s not often you listen to a record and witness the birth of a genre, but that’s how “The Gilded Palace of Sin” feels. Fresh from his exit from the Byrds, Gram Parsons took fellow former bird Chris Hillman and further pushes the Bakersfield Sound deeper into the backwoods of Americana (a term that didn’t even exist yet). Down that road you find the music equivalent of a dilapidated shack full of pot-smoking hippies playing folk music. Really fucking great folk music.

These songs have a lighthearted mid-tempo beat to them that belies their seriousness. The band is having a good time, for sure, but they are also crafting songs that are timeless and emotionally evocative. Gram Parsons may not have gotten a ton of radio play but his work with Chris Hillman and the rest of the band is seminal stuff in the history of country/folk crossover, which decades later still influences what today we is often called indie folk.

At first you might find these songs a bit tinny, but once your ear tunes into the jangle, which is simultaneously heart-worn and playful, you start to appreciate all that light and air. It is sneaky complicated with simple melodies with a hillbilly guitar and touches of piano that are almost ragtime. Every now and then a mandolin makes an appearance. It’s that meeting of the minds in a jam gumbo that should be a mess, but instead ends up as a celebration.

There are so many good songs on this record, that is it hard to single any out, but “Sin City” is about as good as it gets. The pedal steel feels like a hangover, and the slow mosey of the song is weary as hell, as the singer bemoans the wages of sin, presumably in Las Vegas but that could be the seedy underbelly of any American city.

The combination of “Do Right Woman” and “Dark End of the Street” book end an exploration of faithfulness. The former being an admonishment that if you want your partner to be true, you have to be a stand-up guy yourself. The latter is an exploration of the temptation and shame of infidelity. Both songs are masterclasses in songwriting by Chips Moman and Dan Penn who aren’t in the band, but penned tunes for many artists.

The rest of the record is principally written by Parsons and Hillman, with equally fantastic results. “My Uncle” protests the Vietnam draft and celebrates those who dodged it. Then – and this is weird – side two features songs titled “Hot Burrito #1” and “Hot Burrito #2”. Both are great, but both appear on this record and not “Burrito Deluxe” which has exactly zero burrito songs. I refer to this phenomenon as “hiding the burrito”.

Neither Burrito #1 nor #2 are actually about burritos, which I found annoying, but I forgave it because both songs are so fucking fantastic. The first, with its slow and accusatory dirge (the record explores a lot of bad relationships) and the second hits an up-tempo version of the same theme, with the best ever use of “Jesus Christ!” in a song’s refrain that I’ve ever heard. I imagine even the Lord would forgive his name being taken in vain in such an artful way.

The only weak spot on the record is the final track, “Hippy Boy”, which is a rambling talking bit over a bluesy tune. It features our titular hippy imparting some homespun (or possibly acid-induced) wisdom about the wages of sin. I think. It felt both preachy and aimless at the same time. However, despite this one misstep, the record is so good and so important to music, the real sin would be denying it a well-earned 5 stars.

Best tracks: all tracks except “Hippie Boy”

Disc 1600: Burrito Deluxe

The biggest challenge “Burrito Deluxe” experiences (outside of the dearth of burritos) is that it follows “The Gilded Palace of Sin”. As such the comparisons are inevitable, and “Burrito Deluxe” is left seriously lacking.

All of the qualities of sound and production I mention for the earlier record are all present here, but the songs are just not at the same consistent level. Instead, this record is that same aforementioned shack full of hippies that early in the evening were jamming out classics, but now are a bit too high and starting to spiral into self-indulgence.

“If You Gotta Go” is a solid cover of the Bob Dylan tune, and I like the way the guitar vibrates away throughout. The song features the dubious argument of “if you’ve got to go, go now/or else you gotta stay all night.” Er…there are other options, Burrito Brothers, and most of them are a lot less douche-y.

“Farther Along” is also awesome, although it is a timeless traditional tune, so credit to the Flying Burrito Brothers only in as much as they do a solid rendition. I’m a bit of a sucker for songs like “Farther Along” that always feels like it should be sung in some southern church during the Great Depression. This one is akin to “Keep on the Sunny Side” except it is a bit slower and doesn’t suck.

Yeah, I just called out “Keep on the Sunny Side”. What kind of monster am I? Who would not want to keep on the sunny side? Hey – I like the sunny side as much as the next guy, but the song is an anachronistic abomination that just won’t die.

But I digress…

Much better is the Burrito Brothers’ penned, “Older Guys” which is a bit of a goofy tune about what I think are the older shack dwelling hippies that have figured out how to do nothing in style. Listening to these songs I start to wonder just who pays the rent at these places, and how much of it is covered through bottle returns.

“God’s Own Singer” is also solid and written by Bernie Leadon who had just joined the band and gets a George Harrison helping of writing opportunity (i.e. 2-3 songs only).

The record ends with a great rendition of the Stones’ “Wild Horses,” although a lot of that can be ascribed to what a great song that is. If you play it straight it is hard to go wrong with a 5-star song like that, and the Burrito Brothers wisely stay in their lane and countrify the arrangement only, keeping the tune’s brilliance intact.

“Burrito Deluxe” is solid, but in the end I could only give it three burritos out of five, which is three more than the record features. I know I’m harping on this lack of burritos situation but seriously, it’s weird.

Best tracks:  If You Gotta Go, Farther Along, Older Guys, God’s Own Singer, Wild Horses

CD Odyssey Disc 1598: King Princess

I’m just back from a four-day road trip for work. Knowing I’d be having plenty of “airport” time, I rolled an album to listen to while I was away, and review when I got home. This was it!

Disc 1598 is…. Cheap Queen

Artist: King Princess

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover?  Big eye makeup! A reclining King Princess gives us a stare down that says, “I’ll put on my face for this photo shoot, but I’ll be damned if I’ll put on a shirt!”

How I Came To Know It: I learned about King Princess through her 2022 album “Hold On Baby”. I was unsuccessfully looking for that in the “Miscellaneous K” section of my local record store when I came across this earlier release. I’d never heard it, but I figured I wouldn’t easily find another copy, so I bought it and hoped for the best.

How It Stacks Up: “Cheap Queen” is for now my only album by King Princess, so it can’t stack up against anything.

Ratings: 4 stars

Settling in on the first leg of my plane ride, the opening few tracks of “Cheap Queen” came as a bit of a shock to the system. This soulful alt-pop, electronic-adjacent sound is not my usual fare. Having just spent a week in the familiar and easy world of Billy Joel I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Kind of like having a fancy meal at a high-end restaurant after a month of burgers and fries.

Once I acclimated this record steadily grew on me with each successive listen. Her vocals were at first a bit too round and soulful (this should be a good thing, but down deep I’ve got a folk/metal soul). After my ears had property tuned in, I realized this is exactly the voice that is needed to encompass the many styles the record explores.

The title track is pure pop genius, fueled by all the things that make that genre successful: funky drumbeat, some hand claps, a distorted organ and just a hint of auto tune – not to correct mistakes, but just to add a fun little echo to the main musical themes developed. This song is slow-dance brilliance or just for snapping your fingers and doing a few head rolls while you wait for the light to change.

This is followed up immediately with a stripped-down guitar strum on “Ain’t Together” which is a by-the-book break up number. This song plays with folk elements, but the chorus blossoms into a full pop song soon enough, ready for the radio if the radio were smart enough to play pop music this well constructed.

Lyrically the record is sexy and vulnerable in equal parts. One of my favourite stanzas is from “Homegirl” from that great subset of songs about the anticipation of taking your lover home at the end of a social event. Here’s a sample:

“And I like the way that you talk,
Spelling my name with your tongue
So you don't have to say it
We're friends at the party
I'll give you my body at home”

This song is all guitar strum and vocal and shows that while King Princess is not averse to the bells and whistles and complex arrangements, the bones of the songs (which she also write) and her vocal talents stand equally strong on their own.

There is a bit of a crooner element to some of the songs that initially put me off as being affected, but after a few more listens I got past my genre bias and realized these songs are genuine reflections of emotion and personal circumstance.

When I set out to write this review, I was going to note that King Princess is in the same style as Samia, Torres, Caroline Rose and “a whole host of artists that are amazing that you may have never heard of because they aren’t Olivia Rodrigo.” Mostly true but turns out King Princess had a hit after all – some song from her 2018 EP debut called “1950” has 20 million Youtube hits – apparently the result of it being the theme song to some popular Netflix movie I haven’t seen.

In any event, if you haven’t tuned in to King Princess since then, she’s still making great music and it is time for you to return.

I should note that I also love Olivia Rodrigo – bought her album in fact – but if you like that kind of thing there are plenty of other thoughtful female pop artists out there worth your time. King Princess is one of them.

Best tracks: Cheap Queen, Ain’t Together, Homegirl, Watching My Phone, If You Think It’s Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1597: Billy Joel

I try to avoid Greatest Hits packages. I’d rather have the immersive album experience, laid out the way the artist intended. For this next artist I have one of his studio albums, but he’s such a hit machine that having all those in one place is one of those things that was just too convenient to pass up. As Jello Biafra would say, “give me convenience or give me death!”

Disc 1597 is…. Greatest Hits Vol 1 & 2

Artist: Billy Joel

Year of Release: 1985, but featuring music from 1973-1985

What’s up with the Cover?  Billy attempts to look wistful and artsy, which is hard to pull off while wearing that atrocious mid-eighties blazer.

How I Came To Know It: Like most people my age, I grew up with Billy Joel on the radio, on records at home and also played at the more sedate and civilized parties (more on that later). All of these songs were already familiar when I bought the record.

How It Stacks Up: Greatest Hits are compilation albums, and they don’t stack up.

Ratings: No ratings provided for greatest hits records. You’ll just have to read the text if you want to learn more.

As longtime readers will know I take great joy in slagging Duran Duran, on account of how much they suck. Recently a coworker asked, “You are not saying Duran Duran is worse than Billy Joel, are you?” Turns out, he hated Billy Joel a lot.

It is a hard thing to hate Billy Joel. He sits at this nexus point of rock, doo-wop, pop, and easy listening that gives him appeal to everyone from the metal heads to the soccer moms. Maybe that’s what to hate about him, but I think you have to strain pretty hard to not tap your toes to some of these tunes.

Because say what you will about Joel, the man could write a melody. No matter what the last song was when I shut the car off this week, it ear-wormed straight into my head. Even the ones I liked less would stick and I’d be humming them all the way up the elevator.

The other great thing about Joel is his voice is solid, with a great tone, but he doesn’t range through multiple octaves, making these songs particularly easy to sing along to. Everyone knows them, too, so if you’re near someone else when such a mood hits you, they are likely to join the chorus. Not always though – more on that later.

Also, Joel never lost the ability to write, making a greatest hits package spanning 12 years of his career relatively free of filler. 1973’s “Piano Man” remains as fresh and engaging today, after hundreds of listens, as the first time I heard it, and while the last song on the record – “The Night is Still Young” – isn’t my favourite, it is solid. Yes, that mid-eighties production is painful, but what the hell. I even like Joels foray into full on fifties a capella with “For the Longest Time.”

One of my disappointments with this package is it doesn’t include the doo-wop throwback classic “Keeping the Faith”. It even had a fun dance number video, which you can still watch here if you are so inclined. It’s more annoying when songs like “Captain Jack” and “Pressure” made the cut.

Another annoyance is Joel’s late seventies obsession with the saxophone. It works on songs from “The Stranger” (which I won’t discuss further, since I’ll save that for the review) but by “Glass Houses” he needs to tone that fucking saxophone a lot. Still lots of classic tunes on that record, but a little saxophone goes a long way.

“Glass Houses” always makes me think of a birthday party I attended when I was 11. At the time I was obsessed with two things. The first was Joel’s song “You May Be Right”, which I felt spoke to my quirky, weird, do-it-my-own-way approach to life. The second was a girl in my class named Sherry. 

How I pined for Sherry, so much so that when “You May Be Right” came on at the party I did what one does with Billy Joel – I sang along, serenading Sherry in front of all and sundry. I fully expected she would be impressed with my derring-do and romantic notions. Instead, exasperated with the unwanted attention, she chased me around the room with her high heel shoe. It ended with me apologizing and learning a valuable lesson around the boundaries of unrequited love. Also there was cake, so not a total loss of an afternoon.

I have explored Billy Joel’s full discography in the past, but other than “The Stranger” I never got inspired. I did buy “Storm Front” but that record was such a maudlin mess I parted with it shortly after I reviewed it. For those who dislike Joel, you may enjoy reading me hating on that record back at Disc 916.

However, I so thoroughly enjoyed the music on this record, and the memories it evoked (even ones where I narrowly escaped impalement) I may just give his other classic studio records another shot.

Best tracks: Piano Man, The Stranger, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Moving Out (Anthony’s Song), Only the Good Die Young, You May Be Right, It’s Still Rock and Roll, Allentown, The Longest Time