Piano Man

Artist: Billy Joel
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD

UPC: 074643254427
EAN: 0074643254427
ASIN: B00000251K

Release Date: 1990-10-25

Piano Man

Related Categories:

Piano

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters

| Pop | Styles | Music

Soft Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

CDs $7 - $10

All Bargain Titles

CDs $7 - $10

All Bargain Titles

All Bargain Titles

CDs $7 - $10

All Bargain Titles

Classical Music

| The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music

| The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Travelin' Prayer
Piano Man
Ain't No Crime
You're My Home
The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
Worse Comes To Worst
Stop In Nevada
If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You)
Somewhere Along The Line
Captain Jack

Similar Items:

Turnstiles [Enhanced Version]
Storm Front
The Nylon Curtain
Glass Houses
The Stranger

Amazon.com

This disc is the album that launched Billy Joel as the megastar singer-songwriter of the '70s, and with good reason. Both the title track and "Captain Jack" have become karaoke bar standards, staples of FM radio rock, and cocktail lounges. Some of the lesser-known material in this program, including the truly touching "You're My Home," have aged no less well. The minimal production used here puts Joel's piano and vocals at the forefront, and to good effect. This disc prefigures Joel's fame and remains one of the highest points of his art, and is an essential for any collection of soft rock. <I>--Skip Heller</I>

Customer Reviews:

The Piano Man is Born.......2004-02-26

On this, his first album with Columbia Records, Billy Joel first showed the promise and talent that would make him one of the most recognizable and beloved songwriters of the past quarter century.

Aside from the classic title track, which has also become synonymous with the artist himself, there are several wonderful songs on this album such as "Travelin' Prayer", melancholy songs like the "Ballad of Billy the Kid" and "Captain Jack", and even some softer songs like "Stop in Nevada" and "You're My Home".

This is definitely not Billy Joel's strongest album front to back, but in many ways it's his most lovable. In retrospect it's easy to see how this set the stage for the rest of his brilliant career, and fans of the Piano Man will definitely have to have this in their collection.

A pitch black classic.......2002-05-13

Many people peg "Glass Houses" as the first real album where Billy Joel rocks out without constraints. Wrong! "Piano Man" is a true rocker. It is also a very dark album: every societal deprivation is presented here: loneliness, ostracization, drinking binges, stress of the workplace, lost love, divorce, masturbation, sexual deviancy, and hard drug abuse. Serious stuff.

The first two tracks betray this gloomy album. "Travellin' Prayer" is an upbeat song, about protecting one's love against her travelling adventures. "Piano Man" is the title track that established Joel as a major songwriter, constantly overplayed on classic-rock radio, recollecting the experience and even some of the characters he remembered from his six months as a lounge lizard pianist in a Los Angeles dive. They seemed to have fueled the fire for the rest of the album.

Joel takes another mellow break with the lovely and hopeful ballad "You're My Home," the other well-known song besides "Piano Man" itself. But then Joel launches into one frustrated tirade after another: "Ain't No Crime," "Worse Comes to Worst," "Stop in Nevada," "Somewhere Along the Line," and the unforgettable "Captain Jack," the musical equivalent of arson, deliberately burning every human emotion in its path. This is a low as Billy gets. It's a powerful song that was humorously -- and stupidly -- played at a Hillary Clinton for Senate fundraiser. By the end of the album, if it's not evident that Billy Joel is suffering from a nervous breakdown, you soon will.

This is why I can't understand those who would classify this album in the soft-rock category, "Piano Man" and "You're My Home" notwithstanding.

Don't be misled, Billy rocks out on this album in total [ticked]-off fashion and leaves us with frazzled nerves. But it's a classic and needs to be in your collection. This album contains some truly brilliant songwriting with some real rock riffs and tasty country-style steel guitar riffs along with Joel's trademark piano chords. Just listen to it in when an upbeat mood. Listening to it when you're depressed should be illegal.

JOEL'S THE DEFINITIVE PIANO MAN OF MUSIC!.......1999-07-13

Billy Joel's second album CD debut called "Piano Man". In which I have it on cassette the songs that are my favorites is "Worst Comes To Worse", "Travelling Player" and "Piano Man". Are the highlights collection of classics by yours truly and his own words to these lyrics Joel sings!

JOEL'S THE DEFINITIVE PIANO MAN OF MUSIC!.......1999-07-13

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Distant Dreams ~ Jeff Tyzik

All Alba ~ Francois Carrier, Uri Caine

Shootin' Pool at Leo's ~ Doug Munro

The Wild Man of the Tenor Sax, 1943-1947 ~ Arnett Cobb

Paper Moon ~ Dave Brubeck

Eastward Ho! Harold Land in New York ~ Harold Land

Nao Me Acendo So ~ Cadu De Andrade

Diana canta la venganza: Nada mas que ver

Nihon No Oto ~ Nihon No Oto Ensemble

Come Due Soli Racconto ~ Amedeo Minghi