You may be wondering, why did I see Billy Joel? I have made my feelings about him pretty clear. But Jenn really likes Billy Joel, so we went to see Billy Joel in Detroit. I had only ever gotten lost in Detroit and Dearborn many years ago, and I’d never actually been there.
Search Results for: billy joel
Turnstiles (1976) by Billy Joel
I have trouble putting into words how much I hate Billy Joel, especially late ’70s Billy Joel. Basically I don’t like anything about his music, though occasionally there will be something redeeming. And I’m getting to that point where I should be inured to him, where the animus should be wearing off. But it’s not.
Glass Houses (1980) by Billy Joel
I read somewhere that this is supposed to be Joel’s “punk” album, not in that it sounds like punk that it is his response. I think that comes from a way too deep reading of the lyrics to “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, and if it is indeed his response to these trends …
Piano Man (1973) by Billy Joel
I do not like Billy Joel. I recognize he has talent but let’s say I don’t like the way he uses it. I find his melodies too sappy and saccharine but even when I don’t I often don’t find them compelling enough. I regularly do not like his lyrics. But it’s really the arrangements that …
52nd Street (1978) by Billy Joel
Full disclosure: I do not like Billy Joel. This is the third record of his I’ve listened to in the last year or so and I have liked exactly zero of them. Moreover, I don’t think I get Billy Joel. At all. I listen to this record and I don’t understand how there are 4/5 …
An Innocent Man (1983) by Billy Joel
On this album Billy Joel makes me think he’s the pop version of Aaron Copland (in his most Americana phase) – an eminently talented musician who thinks that the best music is the music the people like, not the music he is fully capable of writing if he were more of a snob. I side …
The Stranger (1977) by Billy Joel
I have avoided Billy Joel albums my entire life. I wasn’t sure why until I listened to this record.
Hired Gun (2016, Fran Strine)
This is one of those documentaries that tries to cover a big topic by just interviewing some people and telling their stories. There are a whole series of these and they’re not the most effective. But this one is reasonably entertaining, and has enough stories that it isn’t a waste of time.
2022 in Music
I have done a terrible job listening to new music over the last 7 years. This is a list of albums that were released in 2022 that I have somehow managed to listen to. 1. The Joe Policastro Trio: Sounds Unheard (8/10) Yeah, I have a rarities collection of post bop ranked above some new …
One for All (1990) by Brand Nubian
Somewhere online I read that this was an early “alternative hip hop” album and that coloured my experience of it, because it didn’t seem that alternative to me. But what do I know?
Rock of Westies (1975) by Elton John
Based upon the title, the cover, and the presence of “Island Girl”, I thought this was going to be John’s Caribbean record. (I thought “westies” meant “West Indies”; I didn’t know it was a spoonerism.) So colour me surprised by (most of) the actual content.
1978 in Music
My music reviews for the year of 1978. 1. Wire: Chairs Missing (10/10) In Rip it Up and Start Again, the music journalist Simon Reynolds makes the case that post punk began in October of 1978 with the release of “Public Image” backed with “The Cowboy Song.” The argument is this: John Lydon has abandoned …
1973 in Music
The music I’ve reviewed from 1973, the Annus Mirabilis of prog rock. 1. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (10/10) This is the point when everything the Floyd had been doing for the last 5 years finally came together: It’s all here but for the first time it’s actually all together at the same …
1980 in Music
My music reviews for music released originally in 1980. 1. Talking Heads: Remain in Light (10/10) I don’t know anything about “dance” music. Nothing at all, really. At some point (in the ’70s), “dance” music moved away from other popular music and became its own thing. But given my ignorance, I’m still willing to say …
1977 in Music
My music reviews for 1977. 1. David Bowie: Low (10/10) This record starts with an even more robotic, even artier, even more sterile version of Philly Soul and R&B than we got with Station to Station and slowly transitions to Eno-esque ambient pop. If Eno hadn’t made music like this himself already, this record would …
1976 in Music
My music reviews for music that came out in 1976. 1. Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach (10/10) I am a very big fan of John Adams’ Nixon in China from pretty much the moment I heard it. It seemed impossible to me that two seemingly diametrically opposed styles of music could be merged s seamlessly. It’s …
1983 in Music
The reviews I’ve written about music originally released in 1983. 1. Metallica: Kill’em All (10/10) When I was young and dumb, I wrote the following: This is clearly an extremely important document. Even though the New Wave of British Heavy Metal might have established all the different trends in metal, it’s hard to imagine metal …
Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome (1977) by Parliament
So i didn’t love Clones of Doctor Funkenstein at all. In the interim, I don’t know if I’ve changed (I think I am more accepting of the general zaniness of P-Funk now than I was) or maybe this is just a lot better.
Top 33 Maple Leafs Draft Picks of All Time
More than a little while ago now (this past summer), Scott Wheeler (of PPP, etc.) claimed that Mitch Marner might be the most talented hockey player ever drafted by the Maple Leafs. And now that the Leafs have the #1 overall pick for the first time in over 30 years, Marner might be only the …
1995 in Movies
Movie reviews for movies released theatrically in 1995, the year I turned 14. 1. Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch (10/10) Rare is there a western that is so out of the box, it causes us to re-think the genre (in part, because it’s not really a western). Young’s score is note-perfect, the dark comedy …
2003 in Movies
Movie reviews written for movies released theatrically in 2003. 1. Capturing the Friedmans, directed by (10/10) Is film any more of a reliable medium to convey truth than language? On my shortlist of the greatest documentaries of all time. 2. Kill Bill Volume 1, directed by Quentin Tarantino (10/10) This kicked me in the chest …
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014, Ridley Scott)
Hollywood maybe the only film industry that could view Exodus as the premise for an action movie. And make no mistake, that’s what this is. Sure, we get attempts at making this about something else – faith vs. reason, appears to be a poorly stated theme, for example – and there is character development in …
2000 in Music
My list of music from 2000 that I reviewed and rated. 1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven! (10/10) This GY!BE at their most ambitious, more epic and most inaccessible and, despite that (or, perhaps, because of it), it is their greatest achievement. This is the record everyone thinks …
2010 in Movies
My movie reviews for movies released theatrically in 2010, as I could best remember them. Please note: I accidentally deleted an earlier version of this page. What follows are the comments I made at the time I created a new page, as my end-of-year comments, which were more thoughtful, are gone for ever. 1. Exit …
Riley’s Essential 271 Movies
So I guess maybe you’re wondering what my Greatest Movies of All Time list would look like. Well, first I must say that it wouldn’t be ranked unless of course someone was going to kill me unless I ranked it. But here it is at this moment, and it changes constantly FYI. Keep in mind …
2001 in Movies
Movie reviews for movies released in 2001. 1. In Praise of Love, directed by Jean Luc Godard (10/10) It’s amazing that Godard can still make crazy awesome movies this far into his career. Usually people who are avant in one decade or generation can’t really keep up the innovation. I still don’t quite know what …
1998 in Music
A list of every 1998 music album that I have reviewed to date. 1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F#A# Infinity (9/10) The first proper GYBE!/GY!BE album is a perfect introduction to their immense, mysterious, powerful sound. The pieces are often slightly more obvious as suites than later work, but that’s hardly a criticism. Frankly, I …
1999 in Music
My list of reviews of music released in 1999. 1. Mr. Bungle: California (10/10) Disco Volante is, for me, the greatest avant rock album in nearly three decades. (Or, at the very least, the greatest post-Zappa avant rock album in nearly three decades.) It’s as if Zappa kicked down the door and few people were …