Ryan's Reviews

History for those of you just catching up or those of you who don't know any of this: when Billy Joel released his debut album "Cold Spring Harbor" on the Family Productions label, it had been a nightmare experience for him. The album had been mastered or recorded at the wrong speed resulting in something that sounded like Billy Joel and the Chipmunks. He went to play the record for a bunch of friends and then that came out of the stereo. Yikes!  After all of that, Billy went AWOL I believe and became a lounge singer in L.A. under the name Bill Martin, which inspired him to write one of his biggest songs ever. You may have heard of it: "Piano Man". You mean you’ve never heard that song? Well, quickly, go and listen to it now and then come straight back here when you’re finished. It was another song which was also included on his next album which landed him his deal with Columbia Records. It was 1972 and Billy was performing at Sigma Studios which was being broad...

I was searching for more Bette albums on vinyl, hoping to come across this one by chance, when all of a sudden there it was in all of its colourful vibrant shining glory: the classic debut album from the Divine Miss M, "The Divine Miss M" released on Atlantic Records on 7 November 1972. It was the beginning of a long and illustrious recording career which has lasted five decades, producing such evergreens as "Chapel of Love", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", "Friends", "The Rose", "Under the Boardwalk", "Wind Beneath my Wings", "From a Distance", and so much more! When Bette recorded this album, she had been performing many of these songs in her act with her accompanist Barry Manilow (I wonder what happened to that guy because from what I understand he's very good) at the Continental Baths, the Gay Bathhouses at the Ansonia Hotel in New York. Her following had grown so increasingly that Atlantic Records signe...

I remember the first time I came across this album. I'd never heard of it before but I was a fan of Billy Joel. I wasn't sure that this was even him, even though it said his name on the front cover. It didn't look like him. When I played it, I don't think I knew what I was going to get, but one day I would look back at this album and say: "This is truly one of his most under-rated classics". It's probably his most. The story goes—if you've never heard this before—that Billy wanted to be a songwriter, and to have his songs recorded by other people (it must have been a proud moment when someone like Barbra Streisand put out "New York State of Mind" in the 70s), but how was he going to achieve that? The advice he'd been given in the industry was to record an album himself. It was the early 1970s and singer-songwriter acts were all the rage. Carole King was about to release "Tapestry" which stands as one of the finest classic albums...

It is the story of a man who broke his parole and disappeared. It is the story of a man who pursued him in a lifelong devotion to upholding the law. The man who broke his parole changed his name and became the mayor of a town. He ran a factory where one of his workers was fired, left out in the cold with no way to pay for the upkeep of her daughter, forced into a life of prostitution which broke her spirit and will to live. The mayor, blaming himself, vowed to rescue her daughter and care for her, but not before he was forced to expose his true identity, pursued by his old nemesis the inspector once again. It is the story of a little girl who grew up in an inn raised by the Innkeeper and his wife who mistreated her. The man rescued her and brought her to Paris where he raised her as his daughter. The little girl grew up to become a young woman who fell in love with one of the students of Paris fighting against the people in office for equality and justice. Their battle would end with m...

They have created some of the most memorable songs of the twentieth century. You know at least some of these: "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "A Hard Day's Night", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Help!", "Ticket to Ride", "Yesterday", "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "All You Need is Love", "Hello, Goodbye", "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude", "Revolution", "Come Together", "Something", "Let It Be", and more. In the space of just eight years they released their iconic albums: "Please, Please Me", "With the Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night", "Help!", "Rubber Soul", "Revolver", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "The Magical Mystery Tour", "The Beatles"...

At some point in the last fifty years, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has been performed somewhere in the world. If you're reading this, you will be familiar with at least some of the titles I've listed below. I'm going to be looking at all of them, through the many recordings that Andrew has produced over the years. Luckily for me, many of these often came up second hand which helped me to build my collection. So with that said, may I return to the beginning... 1. "The Likes of Us" (1965) --- the first musical ever by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the life of Dr. Thomas Barnardo, founder of the British charity Barnardo's for vulnerable children. It was not performed until 2005 at the annual Sydmonton Festival, where Andrew workshops his new musicals in front of an audience, which was then recorded and released the same year. The effect of listening to this recording is sort of like a follow-up musical to "Oliver!" which was enormously p...

I thought I would spend this post looking at other albums Jim worked on over the years, from Air Supply to Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Hulk Hogan (no, it's not a duet), and more, including his film and theatre work. On that note, let's begin at the beginning. 1. Yvonne Elliman: Food of Love (1973) --- Yvonne Elliman records the first commercially released Jim song, "Happy Ending", which is based on a piece of music from "The Dream Engine" Entr'acte. I have yet to hear the rest of this album, since I haven't had my vinyl copy transferred, so I can't really judge it as yet, but I would love if someone were to come along and record another version of "Happy Ending", because it's one I really like. If you play it before "Bat out of Hell", it feels like the calm before a massive storm. It also feels like a relative of "Heaven Can Wait" (but then don't they all feel related?). I look forward to hearing the res...