Billy Joel: Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II (1985)

By 1985, Billy Joel had released about a dozen albums including "Cold Spring Harbor" (1971, reissued and remixed in 1983), "Piano Man" (1973), "Streetlife Serenade" (1974), "Turnstiles" (1976), "The Stranger" (1977), "52nd Street" (1978), "Glass Houses" (1980), the live album "Songs in the Attic" (1981) which had reclaimed many of the earlier songs, "The Nylon Curtain" (1982), and the recent mega release of "An Innocent Man" two years prior.

Among his repertoire were gems like "Piano Man", "Captain Jack", "The Entertainer", "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", "New York State of Mind", "The Stranger", "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Just the Way You Are", “Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "Only the Good Die Young", "She's Always a Woman", "My Life", "Big Shot", "You May Be Right", "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", "Don't Ask Me Why", “She's Got a Way", "Pressure", "Allentown", "Goodnight Saigon", "Tell Her About It", "Uptown Girl" and "The Longest Time", all of which would be included at least on the CD release. The album would also feature two new songs written especially: "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night is Still Young", which would also be released as singles.

Following its release on 2 September 1985, "Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II" ended up selling 11.5 million copies (23 million units) and along with Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Led Zeppelin's "Led Zeppelin IV" is the sixth most certified album of all time in the United States. Thank you, Wikipedia. Wow.

How do I feel about compilations in general? If the artists are supporting it, I think they tend to be quite good. It's when the record companies get involved and put together albums that have nothing to do with the artists themselves, who probably would have made other choices, is where it gets more dubious for me. This one, especially given the inclusion of the new songs, is a success.

"The Night is Still Young" peaked at #34 on the US Billboard Hot 100 while reaching #13 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The supporting music video was directed by Neil Tardio. I saw it years ago now as part of "The Video Album" set which supports this album.

"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" managed an impressive #9 (Number 9…) on the US Billboard Hot 100, while scoring #2 on the US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. It landed at #6 in Australia, #15 in Canada and #17 in New Zealand. The video directed by Richard Friedman is paying homage to the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life".

The royalties from this song would be donated to the National Committee for Youth Suicide Prevention. As someone who has struggled with mental health over the years, this is an important song for me too.

Getting into the nuts and bolts, the LP and CDs feature a slightly different track list, I guess due to the constraints of the vinyl. According to Wiki, there are three versions of the CD. The original 1985 release included "Honesty" as the third song on Volume II, while second pressings replaced this with "Don't Ask Me Why". The 1998 remaster moves "Don't Ask Me Why" to the fifth track on Volume II.

The 1985 release has five edited versions of "Just the Way You Are", "My Life", "Big Shot", "Pressure" and "Tell her about it". Fortunately for me this is fixed for the 1998 remaster which is included with the videos of the two new songs. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" has also been restored to the original studio version from "Turnstiles", while "Captain Jack" from "Piano Man" has been slightly edited. Wiki says it's been shortened by 20 seconds. Looking at my CD, I believe I have the 1985 version. Is that an issue? Well, there's always the solution of going back to the original albums.

Let's have a look at the songs according to the 1985 CD.

Volume I:

"Piano Man" --- it's like the signature Billy Joel song.

"Captain Jack" --- I remember thinking this one was a bit gloomy and I don't think my opinion’s changed much, but it is one of his classics and I see why.

"The Entertainer" --- I still love the part about the song being edited down to 3:05. This track is awesome.

"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" --- this is the edited live version from "Songs in the Attic" and I strongly recommend that entire album.

"New York State of Mind" --- this is a classic and an anthem. Apparently that's not Richie Cannata the original sax player on this version. Wiki doesn't tell us who's playing it though. They tell us who isn't playing it.

"The Stranger" --- yes, I love this, and the connection from "New York State" with the whistling theme.

"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" --- classic, classic, classic!

"Just the Way You Are" --- I feel like only recently I really appreciate just how good this song is.

"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" --- another classic!

"Only the Good Die Young" --- after hearing this song on the radio as a kid, I sat through the rest of "The Stranger" apparently not really noticing "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" in the process so I could get to this. I love it.

"She's Always a Woman" --- listen to those lyrics!!!

Volume II:

"My Life" --- I always hear this one on the radio, along with "Tell her about it" and it gets a bit overly familiar. If you pay no attention to that (of course it's great that it gets played) you see why it worked.

"Big Shot" --- I love this, and that line "The Dom Perignon in your hand and the spoon up your nose". Ha!

"You May Be Right" --- a great cut from "Glass Houses".

"It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me" --- one of my favourites from the "Glass Houses" album.

"Don't Ask Me Why" --- another great moment from the A side to "Glass Houses". I said I was warming up more to the B side with songs like "Sleeping with the Television on".

"She’s Got a Way" --- Yes! I loved how this song was redeemed from “Cold Spring Harbor” and it gets included here too.

"Pressure" --- an awesome moment from an awesome album!

"Allentown" --- see above! I love the reprise in “Where’s the Orchestra?” on “The Nylon Curtain”.

"Goodnight Saigon" --- a towering song!

"Tell Her About It" --- basically what I said about “My Life”. That's Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer on the backing vocals. See my post about “An Innocent Man” for more on this.

"Uptown Girl" --- yes, I love this, and still imagine hearing it as a classical piece.

"The Longest Time" --- always loved this.

"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night is Still Young" --- these are not songs I feel like I've heard enough times or they're not as familiar to me, but I think they're great. It's interesting to imagine what they would have been like in a new album's worth of material.

The next album would lead to a period of change for Billy. In that sense, it's almost fitting that the title would be "The Bridge". I'll be writing about that one next.

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.