I think it’s time to introduce something familiar back to my blog, guys! I am going to delve more of my taste of music because I just think that it is a phenomenal cure to our souls. I have not delved into my musical taste since I did my article on how music helped me during the pandemic. That was probably eight or nine months ago. My first album ranking will be on a very familiar artist of mine, Billy Joel. Many people might call him an Elton John copycat. Many New Yorkers think he is the best thing ever. I am most definitely on the New Yorkers’ side. I think to me that Billy Joel truly stands out on his own compared to Elton John (and I don’t think of Elton when listening to Joel’s music) because not only does he have his own New York personality through his music, but also he does not carry that signature Davey Johnstone guitar sound Elton brought to his albums back in the 1970’s. He is not quite an artist that would be on my top 10 artists of all time, but he probably would crack my top 20 list to be honest. He nonetheless can write a perfect pop hook as accessible as Elton John. I don’t think he really has an awful album in his hands. I can instantly change my ranking of his albums any day. His worst album is still not good, but not on the lines as Elton’s “Leather Jackets”. As always, this is not the official ranking of Billy Joel’s albums. Before I reveal my ranking, I am not going to include his classical album from 2001, “Fantasies & Delusions” because he does not sing on it. It is my personal ranking so please do not disrespect my takes on his albums. Let’s get it!
#12 – THE BRIDGE (1986)
This is an album that I am starting to not love as time goes on. I am glad that Phil Ramone did not produce “Storm Front” after this because his production sounds horrendous on this. Ramone gets rid of the New York personality of Joel in his production and replaces it with this syrupy mid ’80’s pop similar to what Richard Marx would later do in the late ’80’s. I obviously don’t want to think of Richard Marx when listening to Billy Joel. Personally, the album has its wonderful moments with Joel classics such as “A Matter of Trust”, “Modern Woman”, and the incredibly jazzy “Big Man on Mulberry Street”, but it does have certified duds in Joel’s catalog such as the sappy Cyndi Lauper duet “Code of Silence”, the Steve Winwood-featured jam “Getting Closer”, and “Running on Ice”. A positive aspect of this album worth mentioning is the duet with Ray Charles, “Baby Grand”. It is of course nice to hear Billy Joel sit by one of his inspirations. I somewhat find “This is the Time” to be a guilty pleasure of mine despite not being one of his most held-up hits. Overall, this is truly the album in which Joel would get his critical backlash and he kind of deserved it.
2.5/5
#11 – STORM FRONT (1989)
I would prefer “Storm Front” over something like “The Bridge” in terms of his over-produced mid to late ’80’s albums. However, like it’s follow-up, “The Bridge”, it is still not a held-up album in general. Foreigner’s Mick Jones’ production on this is up to par with Phil Ramone’s on “The Bridge”, but I can at least tolerate that production. I will say that side one does have a lot of enjoyable Billy Joel melodies such as “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and “I Go to Extremes”. I quite enjoy the title track as well. Side two closes off with the beautiful piano-driven ballad “And So It Goes”, which he wrote back in 1983. However, it does get into adult contemporary fare, which is something that should not come into mind when I listen to Billy Joel. “When in Rome” sounds like it could have been in a T.J. Maxx commercial. “State of Grace” sounds like it came from Daryl Hall’s solo album “Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine”. The country pop sound of “Shameless” does not work for Joel at all. “Storm Front” overall is a telling that Billy Joel’s retiring in studio was in it’s inception.
2.5/5
#10 – COLD SPRING HARBOR (1971)
Keep in mind that I have only heard the 1983 reissue, not the entirety of the original from 1971. I have however heard one or two songs from the original recording. The 1983 reissue does have a majority of it’s track listing remixed from the original 1971 recording. This is one of those many debuts that truly sound like a debut. Most of the songs like “Everybody Loves You Now” and “You Look So Good to Me” truly do not sound like full fleshed-out tunes. Most of the melodies are also not that tight either. It is a very piano-driven album in the veins of Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman around that time, which I do appreciate it’s sound. The material on this album does not have the Top 40 Joel sound people would later know. There is a Joel favorite on there called “She’s Got a Way”, which is so memorable. The song became much popular on his 1981 live album “Songs in the Attic”, comprising his material from his first four albums including “Cold Spring Harbor”. My personal favorites on this album are his ambitious piano ballad “Tomorrow is Today” and his moody instrumental “Nocturne”. With “Tomorrow is Today”, I prefer the piano-only version on the 1983 remix than the original from 1971 because it allows Joel to shine more with his piano playing. Overall, this debut album is not as fleshed-out as what Billy Joel would later do in the future.
2.5/5
#9 – RIVER OF DREAMS (1993)
This is Billy Joel’s final vocal studio album of his career. He would call it quits with recording lyrical songs in the studio after that one because he was bothered by his critical reception of his music. For this album, former Eagles member Don Henley recommended him to produce “River of Dreams” with Henley’s producer of his solo albums, Danny Kortchmar. The final result is that it is a decent album with a couple of wonderful tunes. Most of the melodies are not nearly as strong as it was in the past, which is telling as to why Billy Joel wanted to retire making studio albums. I do like Danny Kortchmar’s production on this one more than the dated productions of “Storm Front” and “The Bridge” because of how raw it is. My favorite song on this album is by far the huge cheesy love ode “All About Soul”, which Joel delivers his performance in a Meat Loaf fashion. In that song, Joel even incorporates a hook after the main chorus where he evokes a female chorus in a gospel-like manner. I like some of the other songs including “The Great Wall of China” and “The River of Dreams”, but the deeper cuts are just not that memorable for me. It’s kind of decent, but this is still Billy Joel not at his peak.
2.5/5
#8 – TURNSTILES (1976)
This to me is the start of pinnacle Joel. It marks the start of his New York style of music that people still cherish and love to this very day. The reason why I say that is because he made his return to New York City after being in Los Angeles since he was one year old. Unfortunately, Billy Joel would have a tough time recording this album where James William Guercio of Chicago produced the music with Elton John’s backing band and Joel ended up loathing the mix. The original mix of the album is yet to be heard, which I am hoping that mix doesn’t ever get released. In result of that, he ended up re-recording the album with his then-famous backing band including Doug Stegmeyer on bass and Liberty DeVitto on drums. He ended up producing the re-recording by himself. Thank god he made that decision. However, the album comes off as really spotty to me. Joel’s masterpiece “New York State of Mind”, his hatred of L.A. with “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”, and his keyboard-driven “James” are the centerpieces of this album. I also don’t mind “Miami 2017” as well. The album does however suffer from some aspects. The sing-along chorus of “Fanfare/Angry Young Man” does not quite connect with me as other Joel fans do. “Summer, Highland Falls” has a beautiful piano melody despite Billy Joel’s voice on that tune sounding too much like a Jackson Browne wannabe. “I’ve Loved These Days” does suffer through some sappiness albeit a decent melody. Not to mention that Joel plays most of the songs off that album live to this very day. It is not great, but it is a marginally decent start to what would become Joel’s own golden era that Elton John achieved in the early to mid ’70’s.
3/5
#7 – PIANO MAN (1973)
Many people consider this to be one of Billy Joel’s best albums. I do not think it is that great of an album, but it is definitely a decent one. It is a huge improvement over “Cold Spring Harbor” where it sounds more melodic and interesting than that said album. The album is the first of two to be produced by Michael Stewart and is Joel’s major label debut on Columbia Records. This album of course has Billy Joel’s signature song, “Piano Man”, which would become his first Top 40 hit for him in the US. There is a Harry Chapin-style vocal to him that is very prominent in his early to mid ’70’s albums. However, his signature top 40 sound is starting to bloom with classics such as “Piano Man” and “Worse Comes to Worst”, the latter being arguably Billy Joel’s greatest hit single. Even if the album still sounds like Harry Chapin, a little bit of his own New York music style starts to pop up in the aforementioned “Worse Comes to Worst”. This album is basically a more ambitious version of his debut, “Cold Spring Harbor”. My favorite deep cut on this album is “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” which is such an ambitious epic that feels like Billy Joel’s version of Elton John’s “Indian Sunset”, but better than Captain Fantastic himself. He would later write more epics like this later in his career. I personally find “Captain Jack” to be decent, but overpraised and too bloated in itself. There are forgettable tracks on this one like “Stop in Nevada” and “Somewhere Along the Line”. In addition, this has one of if not Joel’s worst songs with “Travelin’ Prayer”. It is too twangy for Billy Joel’s sound that he would gratefully never attempt this again in the future of his career. I also do not know why this was released as the third single off the album. Other whys, “Piano Man” is marginally a fine album and definitely is a clear direction of what Top 40 mayhem Billy Joel would later bring to the table.
3/5
#6 – THE NYLON CURTAIN (1982)
I think this is Joel’s most artistic and mature out of all of his albums. This album came out at a time where there was some sort of resurgence of Beatle-esque pop with XTC releasing “English Settlement” and Elvis Costello releasing “Imperial Bedroom”. Joel may have not took notes from Costello and XTC, but he made an album that sounds very much influenced by Beatle-esque pop. Like an album I’ll be talking about much later, this album does not get talked about as much as “The Stranger”. It might be because of “Allentown” and “Pressure” being not huge hits back in 1982, which is why Billy Joel went back to his New York sound the year after on “An Innocent Man”. Billy Joel’s vocal performance does not encapsulate his New York essence as usual. His vocals at times echo John Lennon with songs such as “Surprises” and “Laura”. He can sometimes remind me of Paul McCartney in the fun “A Room of Our Own” where he clearly homages British Invasion-era Beatles. This album does suffer from being really spotty on side two with songs like “Where’s the Orchestra” and “She’s Right on Time” being very forgettable. To me, “Goodnight Saigon” is a great Vietnam War love letter, but it is kind of overpraised. Comparing to his last three albums, this is noticeably a step down. Back when I listened to Billy Joel’s albums on vinyl when I was a teenager, I always thought it was my least favorite of his albums. However, given the recent re-listen from my ongoing vinyl marathon, I appreciate the effort that Joel put into making this album.
3/5
#5 – STREETLIFE SERENADE (1974)
This one is kind of underrated. I think this is on the same lines as “Piano Man”, but it is much more piano-driven and sophisticated than that said album. Like “The Nylon Curtain”, this is not nearly as mentioned as something like “The Stranger” because it is not as hit-filled and well-known as that said album. With Michael Stewart in the producer’s chair for the last time, this album is a minor improvement over “Piano Man” in terms of it’s song selection and melodies. Billy Joel scored his second US Top 40 hit on this album with a quirky song about the radio business called “The Entertainer”. To me, the fact of the matter is that my favorite songs on this album are the deeper cuts such as “Streetlife Serenader”, “Souvenir”, and the bar-rocker “Los Angelenos” about his hatred of living in Los Angeles back when this album was released. The big issue I have with this album is that some of the piano-driven tunes lack the poppy hooks “Piano Man” achieved with. Also, “Weekend Song” comes off as basic rock to me. From listening to samples of this album when writing this, I think this is Joel’s overlooked gem.
3/5
#4 – GLASS HOUSES (1980)
This to me is probably the last of the classic New York-style Joel people got from him before he changed up his sound. Despite being released in 1980, this does not have that true ’80’s production considering the album was recorded the year before in 1979. Many albums that came out in 1980 still had late ’70’s production because most of the albums were recorded in 1979. That is why I consider 1980 as “1979: Part 2”. I think this album is a strong homage to the post-punk and new wave going on at the time. It is clearly shown that Billy Joel has no intention of copying Elvis Costello, Blondie, nor The Cars. He instead makes this music his own blending memorable hooks and melodies and his own sarcasm into it. His first number one hit in the US, “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, criticizes on the then-new genres of rock and roll: punk, post-punk, and new wave. Sure it may have silly lyrics, but the melody in it is still very fun. The only songs that are not so great are “Through the Long Nights” and one of the big hits off the album, “You May Be Right”. The other hits on the album have strong melodies with “Sometimes a Fantasy” and “Don’t Ask Me Why”. My favorite song on this album is the hard piano rocker “All for Leyna”, which was a top 40 hit for him in the UK. The most underrated aspect of this album is side two, which all of the songs on it are very deep cuts from his career. Songs like “Close to the Borderline” and “Sleeping with the Television On” are some of Billy Joel’s most hard rocking tunes. I think “Glass Houses” definitely bookends (to me) his classic three-album run he had.
3.5/5
#3 – AN INNOCENT MAN (1983)
This to me is the last strong Billy Joel album to have his classic New York sound and memorable top 40 melodies. Joel is basically paying tribute to the artists that he loved during his childhood such as James Brown, The Four Seasons, and Sam Cooke. Like “Glass Houses”, he surprisingly makes these songs his own rather than plagiarize their sound. Elton John would later get influenced by this album on his 1989 album “Sleeping with the Past”. Obviously, after “The Nylon Curtain”, this is the return of familiar top 40 Joel because he had three US Top 10s off of this album. “Easy Money”, Joel’s second US No. 1 “Tell Her About It”, “Keeping the Faith”, and “An Innocent Man” are all memorable Joel classics. While I may get sick and tired of hearing “The Longest Time” and especially “Uptown Girl”, his deep cuts like “This Time” and “Careless Talk” are definitely overlooked. I can tell his vocal performance at times can be off the rails with “Leave a Tender Moment Alone”. Joel can sometimes be a victim of horrendous ’80’s production, but on this and “The Nylon Curtain”, Phil Ramone makes this album sound so rich. I think this honestly is the most fun out of all of his albums.
3.5/5
#2 – 52nd STREET (1978)
I find this album to be the spiritual sequel to “The Stranger” because not only does it have the same catchy Top 40 melodies as “The Stranger”, but it continues to explore the New York nature of his songwriting. Songs like “Stiletto”, “Half a Mile Away”, “Big Shot”, and “My Life” are still embedded in my head note from note. The deeper cuts such as “Zanzibar” and “Until the Night” take some bold choices with the melodies. “Zanzibar” sounds like I am at a bar with the ragtime piano hook Billy Joel plays at the start of the song. “Until the Night” sounds like the best song to not be performed by The Righteous Brothers. The third top 40 hit on the album, “Honesty” sounds atypical for Billy Joel, but has it’s piano-driven cheesiness cemented. The only song on there that is not that great is “Rosalinda’s Eyes”. Also, the way the title track, “52nd Street”, is placed as the last track on the album after “Until the Night” is horrendously sequenced. Producer Phil Ramone unlike the album before this improves tremendously with it where he makes Billy Joel and his band sound as supreme as a fruit tart. This is classic Joel for a reason. The reason why I have this album at the #2 spot is because I find my number #1 to be more held up over time.
4.5/5
#1 – THE STRANGER (1977)
What is more to say for this album? Not only is this Billy Joel’s all-time best album, but to me, this album proved that Joel could successfully replace Elton John as the greatest piano singer-songwriter working at that time. This would be the album that made him become commercially accessible. As flawed as Billy Joel’s first four albums were, “The Stranger” is such a gigantic leap over those where the melodies and his backing band are at the highest point in Joel’s career. I have the entire track listing of this album embedded in my head. With “The Stranger”, the New York style of Joel’s album before this, “Turnstiles”, still pertains on this album. The only gripe I can make out of this is that Phil Ramone’s production is mostly muffled where I prefer his cleaner production of “52nd Street”. However, there is honestly not a bad song on the entire album. My least favorite on this album is “She’s Always a Woman” and that is still a decent song! The hits like “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, “Only the Good Die Young”, “Vienna”, and “Just the Way You Are” are drop-dead classics from him. There is so much melodic sections in his epic of all epics, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”. All in all, “The Stranger” is one of the greatest achievements of 1977 and definitely a perfect introduction to his music.
4.5/5
Hopefully, you enjoyed this ranking of all twelve of Billy Joel’s studio albums! Remember to always share your favorite Billy Joel album(s) in the comment section on my blog or my Twitter account! Thanks for reading as always!
