tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post1736985912124084155..comments2024-03-02T07:40:22.786+03:00Comments on Only Solitaire blog: Billy Joel: Fantasies & DelusionsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-4281971103576426962016-04-12T16:20:43.166+03:002016-04-12T16:20:43.166+03:00Well, it was a hit album, sort of - -#1 on the cla...Well, it was a hit album, sort of - -#1 on the classical chart. I guess there were enough hardcore Billy Joel fans to outnumber the usual buyers of classical music. I doubt if there was a lot of overlap! <br />I saw Billy a few months after the release of this album on one of the Billy/Elton “Face-to-Face” tours. He mentioned the album, but didn’t play any of it, saying he wasn’t a good enough pianist. But then he said that people were overlooking that he had done stuff like that before – and then launched into “Prelude/Angry Young Man”. I’m not sure that he proved his point!<br />I’m not a real student of classical music, either, but I do disagree with you on one point. Billy had mentioned over that years that Debussy was an influence (“Streetlife Serenader”, for example), and I hear that here. Old Claude’s “16 Preludes” produces a similar mood to these pieces. Abstract, but I would guess that an expert might say that these lack the depth of the masters, but I can’t say that for sure.<br />This really a mood album – if you’re not in the mood, you won’t like it. If you are, you might. Nice background music, but that’s about it.<br />trfesokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12631886869696528704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-57143229133011190092014-05-30T03:50:09.151+04:002014-05-30T03:50:09.151+04:00"Chopin's best piano pieces are extremely..."Chopin's best piano pieces are extremely catchy"<br />Here you answer at least partly your own question how to rate this music. Then a gazillion composers from the 19th Century beat BJ. Another possible angle is atmosphere. Then Debussy and Mussorgsky (A Tear) are vastly superior (and Mussorgsky is catchy too).MNbnoreply@blogger.com