Word: albums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...grown from a shaky start with Cold Spring Harbor, his virtually unknown debut album, to the 1976 blockbuster, Turnstiles. Each album gave the music world fresh looks at life, love and people, all set to Joel's masterful keyboard compositions. Whether he was ridiculing the radical in "Angry Young Man," probing sentimentality in "You're My Home," or reminiscing about foolish teenage love in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," Joel maintained a lyrical poignancy that hit home with both his listeners and his critics...
With his latest release, 52nd Street, Joel returns with more musical innovation. His melodies are innovative, catchy and--for the most part--lively. But slickness is the album's failing. A marketable brand of polish glosses over the raw power that has highlighted Billy Joel's past albums...
...Shot," the album's opening cut, is as angry and piercing a lyric as Joel has ever written, leaving no stone unturned in the world of jet-setters. But like "Movin Out" from The Stranger the words fall into a repetitive chorus set to a monotonous melody line which should make the song a radio favorite, though not one of the album's stronger cuts...
...does not owe him, not a songwriter who hasn't passed through-even sometimes settled in-territory that Dylan explored and posted years ago. All Dylan has been collecting on his debts lately, however, is puzzled, sometimes indifferent concert audiences and a critical bloodying for his latest album, Street-Legal...
Comes a Time is a choice Young album; also, like all his records, it is inconsistent. A relaxed and cozy mood prevails, similar to the previous Harvest but pitched lower than the disconcerting brilliance of On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. Whether at his peak or just marking time, Young is an incessant worker; he has about 200 songs recorded but unreleased. The tunes all share a rough, unfinished quality that is often disarming, sometimes just rushed. Young works best at the full pitch of his feelings, does not seem to wait around for second thoughts. Comes...