Eamon Blog
Today's Shelf Pull: Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Volume I & II
Four sides, familiar hooks, and room for the longer stories.
Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volume I & II makes a useful distinction between recognising a song and spending time with it.
Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volume I & II makes a useful distinction between recognising a song and spending time with it. The hooks arrive readily enough, but the sequence gives the storytelling room to catch up. Familiarity need not mean the listening is finished.
On vinyl, this collection occupies four sides across two LPs. That division suits music which moves between close conversation and a much larger gesture. You get a pause before the next change of scale, rather than one uninterrupted procession of recognisable titles.
The piano remains a useful thread through the changing arrangements. Listen for the way a melody can carry both an intimate passage and a broad chorus. Joel does not always speak quietly, but even the bigger songs keep a conversational centre.
The opening side begins with Piano Man and ends with Just The Way You Are. Between them sit Say Goodbye To Hollywood (Live), New York State Of Mind and The Stranger. It is an introduction with several changes of posture, not five versions of the same handshake.
Piano Man has five minutes and thirty-six seconds to establish its narrative world. New York State Of Mind, later on the same side, runs nearly six minutes. Those generous spaces matter: the opening stretch lets a song settle before asking the next one to take over.
Say Goodbye To Hollywood (Live) sits between those two longer pieces. The live designation is worth noticing in the listing, though it need not become the whole conversation. Within this sequence, it interrupts any expectation that the collection will proceed in one uniform register.
By the time Just The Way You Are closes Side A, the collection has made its first argument. Piano-led intimacy and outward-facing pop belong together here. Neither needs to be treated as a detour from the other.
Side B tightens the timetable: six songs, none reaching four and a half minutes. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) opens it, while You May Be Right supplies the finish. My Life and Big Shot arrive consecutively, making a particularly direct stretch within an already brisk side.
Side C begins with It's Still Rock And Roll To Me and Don't Ask Me Why, each under three minutes. There is pleasure in that compactness. The songs make their case without requiring a long run-up, and the side initially feels built for forward movement.
Pressure and Allentown then lead towards Goodnight Saigon, which runs seven minutes and two seconds. That is the longest selection listed here. The shift in duration changes the listening scale: a side that begins with concise pop eventually asks for a more sustained stretch of attention.
This is where the greatest-hits label becomes less useful as a listening instruction. Pressure and Goodnight Saigon bring emotional weight that a parade of familiar titles might obscure. Leave the side running; its change of pace is part of the point.
Side D turns towards the retro pop appeal of Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl and The Longest Time. After the longer conclusion to Side C, those three titles offer another reset. The melodic welcome is immediate, but the collection still has a final turn to make.
You're Only Human (Second Wind) and The Night Is Still Young close the set. Both were introduced on this compilation, so the ending is not simply another look backwards. The last song also takes more than five minutes, allowing the final side to stretch out again before it stops.
For a first encounter with Joel, the value is breadth without too much explanation. Narrative songs, piano-driven rock and carefully shaped pop sit close enough together for their shared melodic habits to become audible.
For someone returning, the invitation is slightly different: listen between the songs you already know. Notice which short number precedes a long one, and where a side ends. Recognition is the starting point, not the whole job.
Today's Shelf Pull in Listowel is a reminder that a compilation can reward an unhurried listen. Four sides give these songs a shape beyond their individual hooks. There is no particular need to rush past the familiar.
On the shelf today:
Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Volume I & II
2LP, 1985
Pop
EUR 33.95
Available from The Kilmorna Collection, Listowel
Buy or reserve: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl/billy-joel-greatest-hits-volume-i-and-ii
Buying vinyl records in Ireland: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl-records-ireland
On the shelf today
Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Volume I & II
2LP / Pop / 1985
EUR33.95 / Available now
Order / Reserve