I forgot how good Billy Joel really is and was. I remember as a kid getting giddy when I heard him sing about his “old man’s Trojan’s” on “Keeping The Faith”. Since then, I’ve found different artists and sort of turned my back on one of my childhood heroes. Then this live album from this past New Year’s Eve crossed my desk.
From the opening of “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony” to the burst of “Big Shot” and into “Movin’ Out”, I found myself reminiscing about the time I’d spent listening to nothing but Billy Joel on my old tape player. The live tracks sound fresh, and as the horns and strings back him, you get the full effect of what was certainly a spectacular show to behold. As fun as the songs are, you can’t discount the occasional chatter between Joel and the crowd.
Two tracks that gave me shivers were “Don’t Ask Me Why” and “My Life”. The first cd ends with the magnificent “Only The Good Die Young”.
Disc two starts off well, but it isn’t until “We Didn’t Start The Fire” that it really gets going. The only annoying thing I’ve found so far is the chortling of “oh, oh, oh” during the chorus of “We Didn’t Start The Fire”. As the midnight hour closed in, Joel broke into “2000 Years”, which goes into the countdown to the new millennium and is followed by the time honored singing of “Auld Lang Syne”, for which I still don’t think anyone knows the lyrics to.
“River Of Dreams” sounds like it is supposed to be, big and joyous. Then Joel breaks into some oldies but goodies, like “Dance To The Music”, “Honky Tonk Woman”, and “This Night”. The album is two hours of good clean fun, a must for present fans as well as those who forgot they once were.
+ rae gun
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.