June 23, 2006

MACCA


Album Review: Joel, Billy

12 GARDENS LIVE
Joel still a Big Shot live
By -- Winnipeg Sun



Billy Joel
12 Gardens Live
(Columbia/Sony BMG)

As its title suggests, Billy Joel's 12 Gardens Live -- his second concert recording in six years -- was culled from a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Now, there are plenty of rockers who could sell out that many nights. But few besides Joel have a back catalogue so vast they could likely play the whole stint without repeating themselves.

Fewer still have so many hits they could release a 152-minute double-live CD with 32 tracks and still leave off over a dozen classics. So you won't find Just the Way You Are, Pressure, Uptown Girl, Honesty or Longest Time, to name a few. But you will find My Life, Alllentown, Don't Ask Me Why, She's Always a Woman, We Didn't Start the Fire, Big Shot, You May Be Right, Piano Man, Only the Good Die Young and a hidden version of It's Still Rock & Roll to Me.

In keeping with Joel's recent desire to showcase his work beyond his charttoppers, you'll also find a generous portion of oldies and album cuts like The Great Wall of China, Laura, Goodnight Saigon, Everybody Loves You Now, The Ballad of Billy the Kid and The Entertainer. And you'll hear them all servicably reproduced by a reasonably enthusiastic Joel and a capable if unremarkable octet.

You won't hear anything new, of course, since Joel turned his back on pop following 1993's River of Dreams.

Other rockers might be able to sell out a dozen nights at the Garden. But how many could do it 13 years after their last disc?

Track Listing:

Disc 1:
1. Angry Young man
2. My Life
3. Everybody Loves You Now
4. Billy the Kid
5. The Entertainer
6. Vienna
7. New York State of Mind
8. The Night is Still young
9. Zanzibar
10. Miami 2017
11. The Great Wall of China
12. Allentown
13. She's Right on Time
14. Don't Ask Me Why
15. Laura

Disc 2:
1. Goodnight Saigon
2. Movin' Out
3. An Innocent man
4. The Downeaster "Alexa"
5. Always a Woman
6. Keeping the Faith
7. River of Dreams
8. A Matter of Trust
9. We Didn't Start the Fire
10. Big Shot
11. You May Be Right
12. Only the Good Die Young
13. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
14. Piano Man
15. And So it Goes


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Courtesy Nielsen SoundScan Cda








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