Re: NBC- Women can kiss my ass.


" A to Z" <DONTadietzUSE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"William Innes" <billyinnes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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A good case for this would be the difference of how Roy Bittan's piano
playing works on a Bruce Springsteen song as compared to what Roy plays
on
a
Jim Steinman-composed song.
Yeah, Roy definitely delivers the goods and plays a lovely piano part on
the
song "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" from the movie STREETS OF
FIRE.
And I'll 'fess up...I like that particular song at a gut-level.
However, I like to think that I'm astute enough to recognize that
"Tonight
Is What It Means to Be Young" will never come close to matching the
substance and heart of a song such as "Racing in the Street." So it goes
with Joel's piano-playing.
If he doesn't have the skeleton and guts of a great song, then his piano
playing isn't going to salvage it...

I would have gone in a different direction if you write and perform songs
of
a certain type - with the pathos of a Joel, rather than the anger or
romanticism of Springsteen, the passion of Jerry Lee, the joy of Little
Richard - then the appropriate piano playing for that song will also
provide
more pathos than anger, romanticism, passion or joy. The skill will be
there, but the projected attitude will not be as much fun, nor as
outwardly
passionate as Little Richard or Jerr Lee.

Well, I did consider those alternate directions...one which would have the
piano playing be a stand alone entity to assess and evaluate (damn, I've got
to learn to get out of teacher mode on the weekends...but I digress).
I guess what I'm driving at...and I think you picked up on this...is that
for me the song has to work in its entirely for a certain aspect of the song
(vocals, piano/guitar/drumming) to be entirely successful. So, from that
standpoint, I think that Joel's piano-playing often supecedes the quality of
his songs.
I mean, Meatloaf has a pretty powerful and emotive voice...but, what's it
worth if he's given nothing more than second-rate Jim Steinman attempts at
rewriting "Jungleland"?

Having said that, Joel certainly has written several light hearted more
rocking tunes - Uptown Girl, etc. - or songs that veered towards
Bruce-like
social anger - Allentown - but I never found his playing as convincing on
those.

Yeah, "convincing" might be the key word there.
I mean, the playing is adequate...often more than adequate (really, I do
think the guy does know his way around the 88 keys).
And it is definitely convincing on songs such as "Angry Young Man" or "I've
Loved These Days." This shows a pretty diverse range, since those songs
definitely veer in different directions and evoke different emotional
responses....provided one is inclined to allow a Joel song to evoke an
emotional response in a person (but I suppose that's another subject for
another time).
Those songs you mention up above...they're okay in my book.
Not masterpieces by any means...but chances are I'd let the radio keep
playing if they were being transmitted into my car or house.
And there are definitely times when his piano playing has added greatly to a
song ("I've Loved These Day" ~ "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" ~ "Vienna" ~
"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" ~ "Until the Night" ~ "Goodnight Saigon"
~ "Captain Jack")...but these also tend to be the songs of his that I've
often found to be more emotionally convincing.
So, again, I'm back to the song itself trumping the addends that make up the
sum of a song....

By no means do I mean to dismiss Joel's talents as a pianist. He's pretty
impressive.
I'm not so sure that he's quite in the same league as someone such as Warren
Zevon (because I think Zevon was trained and talented enough pianist that he
could have played his own pieces of fine-art music had he chosen....it was
almost depressing to hear Zevon's stunning piano parts when he played solo
shows...I mean, one got the feeling that Zevon must have lived a good chunk
of his life in "splendid isolation" in order to become so damn good on that
instrument, which, of course, means a lot of lonely hours). Still, it is
worth noting that Billy Joel had Richard Joo play piano for his venture into
fine-art music, FANTASIES AND DELUSIONS.
Same with a cat such as Joe Jackson....again, I think Joe Jackson could
probably play Joel under the stool if there were a piano-room brawl.

But, back to Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.....and the comparison to
Billy Joel.
I don't think that Joel has ever managed to tap into that primal beast
that's at the core of a lot of us in the same way that Little Richard or
Jerry Lee Lewis (or Professor Longhair)
managed to do with their playing.
In the end, though, comparing Joel to the likes of Jerry Lee or Little
Richard is akin to comparing apples to oranges.
By the same token, his playing hasn't managed to tap into that sublime and
transcendental part of ourselves as the likes of Arthur Rubenstein or
Emanuel Axe or Martha Argerich
(I'm sure that there are many fine jazz pianists that should be listed, but
I'm not so up on the world of jazz pianists as I am with those who play
classical).

As far as a pop-rock piano player goes, I think Joel does fine...probably a
tad bit better than Elton John.
But I don't find his playing to be even in the same league as the likes of
Zevon or Waits when it comes to the whole package deal
(pathos, stellar songwriting...and the piano playing being a perfect match
for what is usually pretty marvelous material).

The other thing about Joel's piano playing...and I'm not so sure that this
is necessarily a good or a bad thing...is that I really don't find it to be
all that distinct.
After all, when one hears Little Richard or Professor Longhair or Jerry Lee
Lewis or Dr. John......or even Randy Newman...you can almost tell
immediately who it is.
There is something to be said for that.

On the other hand...as in the case of Roy Bittan...I think that can be
something of a curse.
Granted, when just playing the organ & accordion on Lucinda Williams' CAR
WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD, the last thing one really thinks of is an E Street
sound.
I'm not so sure that can be said of his playing on the albums of other folk
(Ian Hunter, Meatloaf, Jim Steinman, Bonnie Tyler, Dire Straits, Bob Seger).
The only time when Roy's piano-playing seems to have taken on a non-E Street
sound seems to be on the Peter Gabriel album on which he played, as well as
the pair of albums that he did with Bowie (STATION TO STATION & SCARY
MONSTERS)...but that's a case where Gabriel's & Bowie's weird and wonderful
vision would probably preclude him from allowing his album to sound like
second-rate E Street Band record (even though it verged on coming close to
Springsteen terrain on a song such as Bowie's "Teenage Wildlife"....but
that possibility for a Springsteen comparison got wonderfully torn apart at
the seams by Robert Fripp's transcendental guitar work)

But, come the end of the day, I don't really find anything all that distinct
about Billy Joel's piano playing (save for the fact that he's good at his
instrument) that makes one sit up...hear a few notes on a piano...and causes
one to say "Hey! That must be Billy Joel!"
So, from that vantage point, The Killer and Little Richard (as well as 'Fess
and Dr. John) have got the goods on Joel in that department.




.

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