Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade

the album that gave Joel early success / more early success

Luis Mejia (son)- Many would consider that the first three Joel's albums are unknowned, but for the ones who've followed his career will have a diffeent point of view about it. The album isn't only a mild new sound experimentation by Joel, as it can be seen in the tracks like Los Angelinos and The Entertainer, it also shows a little "accusation" tone on it's songs. And He also came with his classic ballads, the ones that make the album an incredible work, specially Roberta, Streetlife Serenader, and The Great Suburban Showdown, which I consider the best track in the album. The album was also a challenge for Joel, mainly because he was having some financial troubles and also for the start of a cold relationship with professional critics. The album is totally enjoyable and accesible 'cause it shows a great part of Joel's works later in time, and Streetlife Serenader is also the big start for Billy Joel; even when Piano Man got his success, the fame and criticism was reduced to the tracks, mainly the classics Piano Man and Captain Jack. When it comes to the instrumentals I think Joel didn't thought about having any kind of success or compositional credit with them, I see them more as a "break" for introducing and ending this incredible work.

An excellent cd with a lot of effort. June 30, 2007

Early classic from Mr Joel

This remastered edition of Streetlife Serenader again highlights how evolved Billy Joel's songwriting became. All the tracks rank among his very best. From the wistfulness of Souvenir to the heartbreaking Great Suburban Showdown to the jazzy Root Beer Rag this is where Joel became focussed and did'nt let up. January 3, 2007

Billy at his best.

This album and "52nd Street" are my two favorite Billy Joel albums. They both have variety and vitality and I consider them to be his finest works. The reason I mention "52nd St." here is because it's necessary to have both albums to adequately cover his phenomenal range. November 6, 2006

Just a kick ass Billy Joel album

You would think without any real radio hits except for maybe "The Entertainer", this wouldn't be a very good album, and before I purchased this I had my doubts, but this is just brilliant stuff, and that's no joke. This album doesn't get respect kind of like CHICAGO III didn't have any big hits either, but it's my favorite Chicago album. Billy kicks on the piano for the instrumental "Root Beer Rag". "The Great Suburban Showdown" is just brilliant. Some of my other favorites are "Last of the Big Time Spenders", "Streetlife Serenader", and "The Mexican Connection". I have no idea how hardly anything from this album got any radio play, but it's the radio's loss because this has some of the most endearing songs that he ever wrote, so get out to your music stores and buy this gem. Believe me, you'll thank me! February 4, 2006

Contains many forgotten Billy Songs - especially of his LA Days

"Streetlife Serenade" was the third album released by Billy Joel. His prior album, "Piano Man" enjoyed some commercial success. "Piano Man" contained such signature songs as the title-track and "Captain Jack". From a commercial standpoint, "Streetlife Serenade" was considered somewhat of a disappointment. It failed to build on the momentum of Joel's 2nd album. However, this album is at not loss from a quality standpoint. In fact, there is some very good material from both a musical and lyrical standpoint. Overall, this album (along with "Cold Spring Harbor") probably is Billy Joel's most overlooked album and therefore provides a refreshing change of pace - especially when you are someone who has heard Billy Joel's chart topping hits.
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I look at Billy Joel's career as having three phases. The first phase is what I call "Old Billy Joel". This basically includes all of his material from "Cold Spring Harbor" through "Turnstiles". These are perhaps the strongest days as the piano sound, but they also contain most of Joel's least heard material. The next phase is what I call "Middle Billy Joel". This was his most successful period and covers from "The Stranger" to "Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume 1 and 2". Joel would go through a transition during this phase - expanding his musical horizons and exploring different avenues. The final phase is the "Later Billy Joel" phase - this covers "The Bridge" to "River of Dreams". In this phase, Billy would start to incorporate some of his older styles of music while not abandoning his desire to continue to explore new avenues. "Streetlife Serenade" falls into the heart of the "Old Billy Joel" era as it solidifies Billy's reputation as the 'Piano Man' with lots of piano based tunes.

Following his 1971 debut album of "Cold Spring Harbor", Billy Joel would leave the familiar surroundings of New York and go to California. The song "Piano Man" reflects Billy's experience as a lounge singer in Los Angeles. "Streetlife Serenade" continues the theme of Billy reflecting about his personal experiences in California. It would be his follow-up album to "Streetlife Serenade" - "Turnstiles" where Billy would "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and return to New York.

One thing to note, the remastering of this album is going to make a great difference. This album was released in 1974, but the sounds that are going to come out of this album are amazing - you would think it was recorded in the 1990s. It is amazing what technology can do.

Here is a Track by Track breakdown:

"Streetlife Serenader": The opening piano notes are going to set the stage for the album - and Billy singing over the Piano and then folding in the rest of the band shows a staple of what would become his career. Lyrically this is a good song as Billy as he perhaps describes himself being a product of "the simple life" when it comes to music.

"Los Angelinos": A staple of Billy's career has always to sing about places. In this song, Billy pays tribute to the people of Los Angeles. This is more of a guitar and rock song, but it works well. Billy delivers great passion.

"The Great Suburban Showdown": A soft song that won't excite you musically, but this is a strong one musically. In this song Billy sings about "flying east" to "Sit around with the folks". Definitely reflects Billy's visits back to New York from California.

"Root Beer Rag": This is one of two instrumentals on this collection. In my opinion, Billy should do more instrumentals. This is an Old "Rag-Time" Style piano number. This is the Piano Man at his best. It's a shame this song often gets forgotten about.

"Roberta": In this song Billy describes an experience (whether its based on fact or fiction, we don't know) with a prostitute. Billy's piano is outstanding in this song. Once again Billy delivers some passionate vocals.

"The Entertainer": This is the most well-known song on the collection. This features a combination of synthesizers and guitars. I think the best part of this song is the lyrics. Billy delivers a strong commentary against what was the current state of the music industry. In a lot of ways, this is something that can still be applied to today's music - such as: "Today I am your champion, I may have won your hearts; But I know the game, you'll forget my name; And I won't be here in another year; If I don't stay on the charts" and "If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit; So they cut it down to 3:05"

"Last of the Big Time Spenders" : Another tune where Billy sings over the Piano and then folds in the rest of the band. This song definitely reflects on Billy's time as a struggling musician while in California as he sings lines such as "When it gets down to desperation; You make the best of the situation".

"Weekend Song": The Piano and the Band strike a good balance here. This song reminds me a lot of some of Billy's material from the "Later Billy Joel" period and sound ahead of his time. Lyrically Billy sings about looking leaving a day's work and looking forward to kicking back.

"Souvenir": This is a short song on the album (about 2 minutes). It doesn't excite me very well, but it is well written. Billy sings about the memories being a stronger "souvenir" than the actual physical souvenirs.

"The Mexican Song": This is the album's finale and is the second instrumental on the album and is another gem. It starts out with Billy on the piano and the band comes in. The "Mexican" theme reflects on the close distance from Southern California to Mexico. This song has a very catchy feel to it.

The remastered collection includes all of the lyrics. Overall, there is some good stuff that gets forgotten about when looking at Billy Joel's career. This is highly recommended. December 3, 2005

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