Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977) [Reissue 2017] MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977) [Reissue 2017]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:30 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,12 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 42:41 mins | Scans | 853 MB
Featuring Stereo and Multichannel surround sound

Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who had just scored his first producing hits with Art Garfunkel’s Breakaway and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years for The Stranger, his follow-up to Turnstiles. Joel still favored big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced him to streamline his arrangements and clean up the production. The results aren’t necessarily revelatory, since he covered so much ground on Turnstiles, but the commercialism of The Stranger is a bit of a surprise. None of his ballads have been as sweet or slick as “Just the Way You Are”; he never had created a rocker as bouncy or infectious as “Only the Good Die Young”; and the glossy production of “She’s Always a Woman” disguises its latent misogynist streak. Joel balanced such radio-ready material with a series of New York vignettes, seemingly inspired by Springsteen’s working-class fables and clearly intended to be the artistic centerpieces of the album. They do provide The Stranger with the feel of a concept album, yet there is no true thematic connection between the pieces, and his lyrics are often vague or mean-spirited. His lyrical shortcomings are overshadowed by his musical strengths. Even if his melodies sound more Broadway than Beatles – the epic suite “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” feels like a show-stopping closer – there’s no denying that the melodies of each song on The Stranger are memorable, so much so that they strengthen the weaker portions of the album. Joel rarely wrote a set of songs better than those on The Stranger, nor did he often deliver an album as consistently listenable.

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Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977) [MFSL 2012] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977) [MFSL 2012]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:36 minutes | Scans included | 1,31 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 806 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2089

Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who had just scored his first producing hits with Art Garfunkel’s Breakaway and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years for The Stranger, his follow-up to Turnstiles. Joel still favored big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced him to streamline his arrangements and clean up the production. The results aren’t necessarily revelatory, since he covered so much ground on Turnstiles, but the commercialism of The Stranger is a bit of a surprise. None of his ballads have been as sweet or slick as “Just the Way You Are”; he never had created a rocker as bouncy or infectious as “Only the Good Die Young”; and the glossy production of “She’s Always a Woman” disguises its latent misogynist streak. Joel balanced such radio-ready material with a series of New York vignettes, seemingly inspired by Springsteen’s working-class fables and clearly intended to be the artistic centerpieces of the album. They do provide The Stranger with the feel of a concept album, yet there is no true thematic connection between the pieces, and his lyrics are often vague or mean-spirited. His lyrical shortcomings are overshadowed by his musical strengths. Even if his melodies sound more Broadway than Beatles — the epic suite “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” feels like a show-stopping closer — there’s no denying that the melodies of each song on The Stranger are memorable, so much so that they strengthen the weaker portions of the album. Joel rarely wrote a set of songs better than those on The Stranger, nor did he often deliver an album as consistently listenable.

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Billy Joel – Streetlife Serenade (1974) [Audio Fidelity 2015] MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – Streetlife Serenade (1974) [Audio Fidelity 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 & DST64 4.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:27 minutes | Full Scans included | 2,84 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 37:56 mins | Scans included | 699 MB
Features Stereo and Quadrophonic surround sound | SACD Mastering by Kevin Gray | Audio Fidelity # AFZ5 207

Billy Joel hit a bit of a slump with Streetlife Serenade, his third album. Stylistically, it was a reiteration of its predecessor’s Tumbleweed Connection obsessions, spiked with, of all things, Rockford Files synthesizers and ragtimes pulled from The Sting. That isn’t a facetious reference, either – it’s no coincidence that the record’s single and best song, “The Entertainer,” shares a title with the Scott Joplin rag that provided The Sting with a main theme. Joel is attempting a grand Americana lyrical vision, stretching from the Wild West through the Depression to “Los Angelenos” and “The Great Suburban Showdown.” It doesn’t work, not only because of his shortcomings as a writer, but because he didn’t have the time to pull it all together. There are no less than two instrumentals, and even if “Root Beer Rag” (yet another sign of The Sting’s influence) is admittedly enjoyable, they’re undeniably fillers, as is much of the second side. Since he has skills, he’s able to turn out a few winners – “Roberta,” a love song in the vein of Cold Spring Harbor, the mournful “Streetlife Serenader,” and the stomping “Los Angelenos” – but it was the astonishingly bitter “The Entertainer,” where he not only disparages his own role but is filled with venom over “Piano Man” being released in a single edit, that made the subtext clear: he had enough with California, enough with the music industry, enough with being a sensitive singer-songwriter. It was time for Billy to say goodbye to Hollywood and head back home to New York.

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Billy Joel – Songs In The Attic (1981) [MFSL 2013] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – Songs In The Attic (1981) [MFSL 2013]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:18 minutes | Scans included | 2,0 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,13 GB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2092

Songs in the Atticb is Billy Joel’s first live album, and was recorded during his Glass Houses Tour in June-July 1980. It introduced Billy Joel’s early work to fans who had come to know his work after The Stranger, and also showcased his touring band, with whom he had been playing for some time. Two singles from the album (“Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “She’s Got a Way”) were released and made it into the top 25 on the charts.

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Billy Joel – Greatest Hits: Volume I & Volume II (1985) [MFSL 2017] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – Greatest Hits: Volume I & Volume II (1985) [MFSL 2017]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 117:28 minutes | Scans included | 4,76 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 2,32 GB
2x SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2-2121 | Genre: Rock

Although it’s missing a few important (not to mention big) hits, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 is an excellent retrospective of the first half of Billy Joel’s career. Beginning with “Piano Man,” the first disc runs through a number of early songs before arriving at the hit-making days of the late ’70s; some of these songs, including “Captain Jack” and “New York State of Mind,” weren’t strictly hits, but were popular numbers within his stage show and became radio hits. Once the songs from The Stranger arrive halfway through the first disc, there’s no stopping the hits (although “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” an album track from The Stranger, manages its way onto the collection). In fact, over the next disc and a half, there’s so many hits, it’s inevitable that some are left off – to be specific, “Honesty,” “Sometimes a Fantasy,” “An Innocent Man,” “Leave a Tender Moment,” and “Keeping the Faith” aren’t included. But all the other hits – including “Just the Way You Are,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “My Life,” “You May Be Right,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” “Allentown,” “Tell Her About It” and “Uptown Girl,” among many others – are present and accounted for, as are two new songs (“You’re Only Human (Second Wind),” “The Night Is Still Young”) that became hits as well. In short, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 does its job perfectly, encapsulating exactly why Billy Joel was one of the most popular singer/songwriters of the late ’70s and early ’80s.

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Billy Joel – An Innocent Man (1983) [MFSL 2013] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – An Innocent Man (1983) [MFSL 2013]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:40 minutes | Scans included | 1,26 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 825 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2094

Recording The Nylon Curtain exhausted Billy Joel, and even though it had a pair of major hits, it didn’t rival its predecessors in terms of sales. Since he labored so hard at the record, he decided it was time for a break — it was time to record an album just for fun. And that’s how his homage to pre-Beatles pop, An Innocent Man, was conceived: it was designed as a breezy romp through the music of his childhood. Joel’s grasp on history isn’t remarkably astute — the opener “Easy Money” is a slice of Stax/Volt pop-soul, via the Blues Brothers (quite possibly the inspiration for the album), and the label didn’t break the pop charts until well after the British Invasion — but he’s in top form as a craftsman throughout the record. Only once does he stumble on his own ambition (“This Night,” which appropriates its chorus from Beethoven). For the rest of the record, he’s effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles, from the Four Seasons send-up “Uptown Girl” and the soulful “Tell Her About It” to a pair of doo wop tributes, “The Longest Time” and “Careless Talk.” Joel has rarely sounded so carefree either in performance or writing, possibly due to “Christie Lee” Brinkley, a supermodel who became his new love prior to An Innocent Man. He can’t stop writing about her throughout the album — only three songs, including the haunted title track, aren’t about her in some form or fashion. That giddiness is infectious, helping make An Innocent Man an innocent delight that unwittingly closes Joel’s classic period.

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Billy Joel – An Innocent Man (1983) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – An Innocent Man (1983) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:13 minutes | Scans included | 1,26 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 843 MB

Recording The Nylon Curtain exhausted Billy Joel, and even though it had a pair of major hits, it didn’t rival its predecessors in terms of sales. Since he labored so hard at the record, he decided it was time for a break — it was time to record an album just for fun. And that’s how his homage to pre-Beatles pop, An Innocent Man, was conceived: it was designed as a breezy romp through the music of his childhood. Joel’s grasp on history isn’t remarkably astute — the opener “Easy Money” is a slice of Stax/Volt pop-soul, via the Blues Brothers (quite possibly the inspiration for the album), and the label didn’t break the pop charts until well after the British Invasion — but he’s in top form as a craftsman throughout the record. Only once does he stumble on his own ambition (“This Night,” which appropriates its chorus from Beethoven). For the rest of the record, he’s effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles, from the Four Seasons send-up “Uptown Girl” and the soulful “Tell Her About It” to a pair of doo wop tributes, “The Longest Time” and “Careless Talk.” Joel has rarely sounded so carefree either in performance or writing, possibly due to “Christie Lee” Brinkley, a supermodel who became his new love prior to An Innocent Man. He can’t stop writing about her throughout the album — only three songs, including the haunted title track, aren’t about her in some form or fashion. That giddiness is infectious, helping make An Innocent Man an innocent delight that unwittingly closes Joel’s classic period.

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Billy Joel – 52nd Street (1978) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)] MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – 52nd Street (1978) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:10 minutes | Scans included | 3,03 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 40:32 mins | Scans included | 771 MB
Featuring 1998’s remastering & 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound

Following up his 1977 breakthrough smash The Stranger was no easy task for Billy Joel; 52nd Street shows he wasn’t quite up to the challenge, though it sold similarly well and kept the momentum for his fast- track career until the more impressive Glass Houses appeared in 1980.

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Billy Joel – Stranger (1977) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)] MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel – Stranger (1977) [Remastered Reissue 1998 (2001)]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:41 minutes | Scans included | 3,33 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 42:30 mins | Scans included | 867 MB
Featuring 1998’s remastering & 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound

Produced by Phil Ramone, The Stranger took those who had written Joel off as a one-hit wonder by surprise (“Just the Way You Are” was among the biggest hits of 1977) and it remains a solid introduction to Joel’s restless muse at a crucial point in his career. It invited a few comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, with its prominent sax breaks, hard-edged rebel-rockers (“Only the Good Die Young”), and slice-of-life dramatics (“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”), recounting life in a lower middle-class (Eastern Urban) setting; but Joel’s chameleonic, formalist approach to pop wasn’t to be so easily pigeonholed (Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man…).

Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who had just scored his first producing hits with Art Garfunkel’s Breakaway and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years for The Stranger, his follow-up to Turnstiles. Joel still favored big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced him to streamline his arrangements and clean up the production. The results aren’t necessarily revelatory, since he covered so much ground on Turnstiles, but the commercialism of The Stranger is a bit of a surprise. None of his ballads have been as sweet or slick as “Just the Way You Are”; he never had created a rocker as bouncy or infectious as “Only the Good Die Young”; and the glossy production of “She’s Always a Woman” disguises its latent misogynist streak. Joel balanced such radio-ready material with a series of New York vignettes, seemingly inspired by Springsteen’s working-class fables and clearly intended to be the artistic centerpieces of the album. They do provide The Stranger with the feel of a concept album, yet there is no true thematic connection between the pieces, and his lyrics are often vague or mean-spirited. His lyrical shortcomings are overshadowed by his musical strengths. Even if his melodies sound more Broadway than Beatles — the epic suite “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” feels like a show-stopping closer — there’s no denying that the melodies of each song on The Stranger are memorable, so much so that they strengthen the weaker portions of the album. Joel rarely wrote a set of songs better than those on The Stranger, nor did he often deliver an album as consistently listenable.

(more…)

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Billy Joel – Turnstiles (1976/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel - Turnstiles (1976/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Billy Joel – Turnstiles (1976/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:50 minutes | 773 MB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia Records

Turnstiles is Billy Joel’s fourth studio album, originally released in May of 1976. The platinum album was written for Joel’s return to New York City after residing in California. Originally recorded under producer James William Guercio with individuals playing from Elton John’s band, the record did not satisfy Joel and he took it upon himself to produce his own alternative version. He rerecorded the album in New York with his own touring band, marking the first time they appeared in one of his albums. Turnstiles features hits “New York State of Mind,” “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” and “James”.
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Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977/2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977/2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Billy Joel – The Stranger (1977/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 42:40 minutes | 839 MB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia Records

The Stranger is the seminal classic from multiple GRAMMY Award winner, Billy Joel. Joel is one of music’s bestselling artists and his fifth studio recording spent six weeks at #2 on the Billboard 200. The Stranger is on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and includes the massive hit singles “Just The Way You Are,” “She’s Always A woman” and “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).” “Just The Way You Are” won two GRAMMY Awards, one for Record of the Year and one for Song of the Year.
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Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain (1982/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel - The Nylon Curtain (1982/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain (1982/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:50 minutes | 914 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia Records

The Nylon Curtain is Billy Joel’s eighth studio album and was released on September 23, 1982. Produced by Phil Ramone, the album is considered to be one of Joel’s most ambitious albums and was a personal favorite of his. The song “Allentown” was a huge hit and spent six weeks at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Billy Joel – The Essential Billy Joel (2001/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel - The Essential Billy Joel (2001/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Billy Joel – The Essential Billy Joel (2001/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:35:20 minutes | 3,27 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia Records

A full 34 of his hits plus two newly recorded tunes! Every favorite’s here- Piano Man; Just the Way You Are; My Life; You May Be Right; Tell Her About It; Uptown Girl; We Didn’t Start the Fire; Only the Good Die Young; It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me; The River of Dreams; Honesty; Allentown, and more.
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Billy Joel – The Bridge (1986/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel - The Bridge (1986/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Billy Joel – The Bridge (1986/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:36 minutes | 839 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia Records

Riding high on the blockbuster An Innocent Man and with a new jet-setting bride at his side, Billy Joel took full advantage of the high life, as is clear from The Bridge, an album that unwittingly celebrates the excesses of the Reagan years. While he hasn’t quite settled into middle age, Joel is ready to take advantage of his wealth and status, recruiting a hero (Ray Charles) and a new wave kid (Cyndi Lauper) for duets, turning to Sting for inspiration (“Running on Ice”), fronting a big band (“Big Man on Mulberry Street”), writing a song for a movie (“Modern Woman”), and picking up the guitar (“A Matter of Trust”), just for the hell of it. You could say that it’s eclectic, but it’s scattershot, because it’s just Joel showing off his musical skills. He’s done this before, to great effect on Turnstiles, but this is all about hubris and, as such, it sounds exactly like its time. From its processed, distorted guitars to its hollow synthesizers, The Bridge sounds dated and it’s his most uneven since Streetlife Serenade. Even on the hits, he sounds as if he’s stretching — “This Is the Time” is labored compared to “Just the Way You Are” (not to mention considerably more vulgar); “A Matter of Trust” never hits upon a solid riff like “Sometimes a Fantasy”; “Modern Woman” is catchy but fluffy; “Baby Grand” is weighed down by Joel’s vocal affectations. In context of the album, they’re fairly enjoyable, but they hint at the dry spell that was just around the corner. Nevertheless, Joel still has enough panache and is riding on so much exuberance that The Bridge remains an entertaining listen, especially if it’s viewed as a Reagan-era artifact. It just doesn’t compare to what came before. –Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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Billy Joel – Streetlife Serenade (1974/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade (1974/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Billy Joel – Streetlife Serenade (1974/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:54 minutes | 802 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Legacy – CBS – Sony

Streetlife Serenade is Billy Joel’s third studio album and was originally released on October 11, 1974. Recorded during the spring and summer of 1974 at Devonshire Sound in North Hollywood, CA, the album was produced by Michael Stewart and was Joel’s second album to be released with Columbia Records. Streetlife Serenade was Joel’s follow-up to 1973’s massively successful Piano Man, and peaked at #35 on the US Billboard 200 and would eventually be certified Platinum by the RIAA.
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