Billy Joel

Live Through They Years (2019)

 

  1. Prelude / Angry Young Man
  2. She's Got a Way
  3. Just the Way You Are
  4. Vienna
  5. Ballad of Billy the Kid
  6. Get it Right the First Time
  7. Summer Highland Falls
  8. Allentown
  9. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
  10.Pressure
  11.The Downeaster "Alexa"
  12.New York State of Mind
  13.Piano Man
  14.We Didn't Start the Fire
  15.My Life
  16.The River of Dreams
  17.Big Shot
  18.You're My Home
  19.Sleeping with the Television On
  20.A Room of Our Own
  

  

It’s unclear whether this latest release ever made it to a physical pressing, or if it now lives exclusively in the digital ether, one more artifact streaming anonymously through the void. But if we’re to accept that the Billy Joel archive will continue to be mined indefinitely, then we might as well admit when they get it (mostly) right. And here, surprisingly, they very nearly do.

This isn’t a concert, per se—it’s a patchwork of live performances culled from across Joel’s long and loudly chronicled career. A Frankenstein of venues and eras, lovingly stitched together with far more coherence than one might expect. Given the sheer volume of live Joel already on the market—Songs in the Attic, Kohuept, 12 Gardens Live, not to mention countless bootlegs and boxed sets—there’s every reason to be skeptical. But the result is strangely refreshing.

Clocking in at roughly 90 minutes, the set mirrors the arc of a typical Joel concert: the hits are there (inevitably), as are the old reliables, and—pleasant surprise—there are even a few previously unreleased live renditions of tracks that had yet to make their on-stage debut in official form. That, in itself, makes this worth a second look for the long-time fan. It's not often a catalog this well-worn yields fresh material.

Of course, one suspects the motivation here wasn’t curatorial passion but executive strategy. With no new songs in sight for over two decades and the market for repackaged “Greatest Hits” long since exhausted, the vaults remain the last viable resource. And if we must return to them yet again, better to do so with this kind of care.

The sound is crisp, the sequencing sharp, and while there’s no trace of in-between-song banter or contextual notes, the music speaks clearly enough. This is not a revelation, but it’s a well-cut gem nonetheless, gleaming faintly amidst the clutter of legacy releases.

In the end, this compilation succeeds not by reinventing the wheel, but by spinning it just a little differently—offering a reminder, however quiet, of just how deep Joel’s bench still runs. For the casual fan, it’s a polished listen. For the completist, it’s a satisfying, if minor, victory.