re: Rank Billy Joel as a songwriter over the course of his career

I saw the Elton John/Billy Joel tour about a decade ago and walked a way really impressed with Joel (and disappointed in Elton). Billy Joel always knew how to play to his strenghts.

The Stranger is a stone cold classic album. He's never done anything nearly as good, but the rest of his career, while uneven, has plenty of great songs. Hell, all the way through the Bridge or even Storm Front. By that point, the misses outnumbered the hits, but he could still unleash a Downeaster Alexa or Baby Grand.

I prefer to remember Joel for NY state of Mind, not Uptown Girl. The good far outweighs the bad. And again... the Stranger.

I tend to agree with those who say he ran the gamut from awful to excellent, but I also think that well over 50% of his output was just meh. Not bad, not great, just pretty forgettable.

While I agree that The Stranger was one of his best efforts, allow me to surprise you all with this: River of Dreams is just about as good.

"but boy did it go south in the late 80s"

We didn't start the fire was an annoying song and I didn't like a couple of others like River of Dreams and I go to extremes. However, I think he had some very good stuff during this general period. Matter of Trust, This is the time, All about Soul, and Downeaster Alexa were all incredible songs from this era (1986-1990).

Bunch of snobs in this thread.

I like Uptown Girl.




My Life is my favorite Billy Joel song.

Piano Man isn't even the best song on that album.

Unless you're talking about the album. Because it is fantastic.

But Turnstiles and The Stranger are just as good if not better.

So you're still wrong.

as good as it gets. as far as his longterm writing, very few artists are more productive as they age