![]() "Movin' Out" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" seem more true to the vibe he gave off.īeyond that, I think it's indisputable that "Uptown Girl" almost singlehandedly destroyed his reputation among a lot of serious rock fans (though not his career or sales among the general public!), and made him into The Guy We Can Blame for Huey Lewis. "Streetlife Serenade" too (another favorite for me), but even there it just sounds a little pretentious - your mind tells you, "He knows he's riffing on Debussy, he gets massive street cred for that," but your gut says, "Stop reminding me this is Billy Joel, so I can enjoy the song!" "New York State of Mind" (awesome song BTW) is about as far as he could credibly go on the pensive/moody scale. So he could write a song like "Captain Jack," but to me - and I'm guessing lots of other folks - it never quite rang true. He was un-ripped jeans, clean sneakers, new-looking leather jacket, normal haircut. I think his reputation always has been that he's a square, and I'm not entirely sure why, but I think as others have noted above, he never was exotic, or political, or eccentric, or rebellious, or melancholic. I think there's absolutely, positively no denying that he's a great songwriter, talented musician, and first-rate performer (based on live video I've seen over the years). ![]() And now I have nothing and haven't listened to him in probably 10 years. In my young adulthood I had the Greatest Hits I and II CD set. ![]() Was a big fan in my tween years - Glass Houses came out when I was 12 and it was among the first records I bought for myself.
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