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Billy Joel

Fantasies & Delusions

Sony Classical

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Billy Joel on Fantasies & Delusions
Billy Joel & Richard Joo - Suite For Piano
Billy Joel and Jimmy Fallon Form 2-Man Doo-Wop Group Using iPad App
1 Reverie (Villa D'Este)  
2 Waltz # 1 (Nunley's Carousel)  
3 Aria (Grand Canal)  
4 Invention In C Minor  
5 Soliloquy (On A Separation)  
6 Innamorato  
7 Suite For Piano (Star-Crossed)  
8 Sorbetto  
9 Delusion  
10 Waltz # 2 (Steinway Hall)  
11 Waltz # 3 (For Lola)  
12 Fantasy (Film Noir)  
13 Air (Dublinesque)  
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Waltzes, suites, airs, fantasies, inventions - these kinds of pieces have formed the Western classical-piano repertoire for centuries, as anyone who has ever wound a metronome knows. And as anyone who has ever heard Billy Joel also realizes, that studious tradition has always underlaid his music. So this collection of pieces for solo piano written by Joel and performed with highly extroverted skill by Richard Joo represents, in essence, Joel's roots album. As a restless rock & roller, and now as a composer, he restages the scarlet-hued nineteenth-century thrusts and taxing engagements of legendary Russian and German composers. But Joo begins this collection breathing Joel's "Reverie (Villa D'Este)," which exhales delicate French colorations and impressionistic dissolves. Elsewhere, Joo plays a number of showy waltzes, explores Verdian melodicism on "Aria (Grand Canal)," and climaxes the sequence with "Air (Dublinesque)," whose piquant folk-based strains almost meld this new Joel of scales and arpeggios with the always hummable Joel of popular song. Fantasies doesn't always jell this satisfyingly, but for the most part, Joel doesn't let his delusions get the best of him.

  • 45 years on, Billy Joel's '52nd Street' still generates a lot of heat / The Loyola Phoenix
    Posted At: September 18, 2024
    From The Loyola Phoenix - Replay:Billy Joel’s ‘52nd Street’ is a midnight ‘Soul Parade’ down Midtown ManhattanVictoria Palmeri writes…..Billy Joel’s sixth studio album “52nd Street” can still generate a lot of heat over 45 years since it first topped the charts.Released in October, 1977, the album stands out in the Long Island native’s discography for its swanky jazz sound and unembellished production.Joel ...

  • Billy Joel releases first new music In 17 years: 'Turn The Lights Back On' / STEREOGUM
    Posted At: February 1, 2024
    Having sold more than 150 million records, Billy Joel ranks as one of most popular recording artists and respected entertainers in the world. Throughout the years, Joel’s songs have acted as personal and cultural touchstones for millions of people, mirroring his own goal of writing songs that “meant something during the time in which I lived … and transcended that time.”Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and...

  • Billy Joel takes centre stage with a set of hits for the BST Hyde Park fans / OLondon World
    Posted At: July 7, 2023
    OLondon World's Andre Langlois writes…“I got good news, I got bad news. The bad news is we don’t got anything new to play to you. The good news is you don’t need to hear anything new.” The adoring Piano Man fans would have forgiven a few new songs but they certainly weren’t complaining about this greatest hits run-through.My Life and Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) kicked things off, the crowd singing every wor...

  • Billy Joel to headline BST Hyde Park in July 2023 / NME
    Posted At: September 29, 2022
    The gig will mark Joel's only European live appearance in 2023. Billy Joel has been announced as the latest headliner of BST Hyde Park 2023.NME's Sam Moore writes…..The summer series of gigs will return to Hyde Park in central London in July 2023, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band already announced on the line-up. Hyde Park organisers have confirmed this morning (September 29) that Joel will head...

  • Billy Joel starts the fire in Tampa / The Suncoast Post
    Posted At: February 10, 2020

    The Piano Man started things off in Tampa on Friday night a little different this year. Instead of taking to the ivories, he came out on guitar to a rousing opener of "We Didn't Start the Fire". Billy brought something for everyone on this annual trip to Florida's west coast. There were the hits and there were some deep cuts for the diehard Joel fans! Billy Joel came out playing guitar at Amalie ...

  • Billy Joel celebrates 100th sold-out madison square garden show / ETCANADA
    Posted At: July 18, 2018

    The Madison Square Garden Company (NYSE: MSG) announced today that in honor of Billy Joel's unprecedented achievement of 100 lifetime performances at The World's Most Famous Arena, Joel's piano will be displayed at The Garden. Joel's 100th lifetime performance comes 40 years after his first MSG performance, on December 14, 1978, and just four and a half years after he began his legendary ...

  • This mother's day, ask yourself what would Billy Joel do? / ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK
    Posted At: May 8, 2018

    This Mother's Day, ask yourself a simple question: What would Billy Joel do? Send a card? Play a song? This year, you can team up with the Piano Man to do both. Sony Music, his record label, has created the website which allows you to create a Mother's Day eCard featuring your selection of one of 10 of Joel's songs. The site also lets you customize the card with your choice of colors, sizes, ...

  • Billy Joel set for 50th show of famed Madison Square Garden residency / Newsday
    Posted At: March 28, 2018

    When Billy Joel first announced his residency at New York's famed Madison Square Garden,  in 2014, he has broken one record after another. Joel has performed at The Garden more than any other artist in history, a feat that grows ever more insurmountable with each monthly show and each new banner commemorating the record that gets raised to the rafters. He has sold more than 1 million tickets at...

  • Floral Park natives John Williams and Billy Joel honored at NYC GRAMMY's / Newsday
    Posted At: January 29, 2018

    Floral Park native John Williams and Billy Joel were both honored with Grammys in the pre-telecast ceremony Sunday. Williams received a Grammy for best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella for his "Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra from ‘Catch Me If You Can,' " marking the composer's 24th win in 68 nominations. The win for the "Tony Bennett Celebrates 90" album in the best t...

  • Billy Joel donates MSG proceeds to shelter animals
    Posted At: August 16, 2014

    Beth Stern says Billy Joel is her "hero" after he donated the proceeds from his Madison Square Garden birthday show in May to help her build Bianca's Furry Friends, a facility at the North Shore Animal League America that will provide a cage-free home for shelter cats and dogs. Stern, who said Joel and girlfriend Alexis Roderick have adopted two dogs, told Social Life mag, "Billy is my hero. Howard a...

  • Billy Joel becomes 6th recipient of: Library of Congress 'Gershwin Prize for Popular Song'
    Posted At: July 27, 2014

    Billy Joel has been announced as the next recipient of the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, who called the 65-year-old performer "a storyteller of the highest order," broke the news on Tuesday, July 22. Billington went on to say: "There is an intimacy to his songwriting that bridges the gap between the listener and the worlds he sha...
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