12 Gardens Live

Billy Joel is roaring back

Billy Joel has had a rough couple of years. He has been in rehab a few times and crashed some cars. He has managed to turn things around lately with a new marriage and this amazing live album of his twelve-night stand at Madison Square Garden, NYC. What makes 12 Gardens Live so wonderful isn’t just the tunes; after all, we have heard them before. Many of these have become pop/rock standards, for example Billy’s biggest hits My Life, We Didn’t Start The Fire, It’s Still Rock N’ Roll To Me. Billy’s two other live releases (Kohuept and The Millenium Concert) are merely blown away by the latest one. Joel’s love of performing is obvious and he’s having an absolute blast that you can hear in every note. There is nothing better than listening to a performer who truly loves what he does. He’s savvy enough to not reach for notes that he can no longer hit (though his voice is still strong and true and hasn’t lost much of its range) and to know when to punch up choruses for maximum effect. And his piano work is as always tremendous. The surprising feature of 12 Gardens Live is that almost all the tracks were played in a lower key, but the sound quality, though flat in a few spots, is overall excellent.

The Best and Loved in 12 Gardens Live

Everything you’d expect from a Billy Joel concert is in 32-track 12 Gardens Live: boatloads of familiar hits, songs chock-a-block with references to New York City, and an inimitable and infectious piano style. He is an awesome performer and many of his songs actually sound better live. The album includes hits like My Life, New York State of Mind, Allentown, and Don’t Ask Me Why and also Billy’s personal anthem Piano Man, And So It Goes, Only the Good Die Young, You May Be Right, River of Dreams and We Didn’t Start The Fire. The songs vary in character: the addition of clavinet on She’s Right On Time hints at Joel’s classical music aspirations, while Zanzibar has a combination of storytelling and jazz nuance. Everybody Loves You Now, Vienna, and A Room of Our Own not only sound good, they illustrate the depth of the catalog represented. Joel still works with a big nine-piece band, with many of the same musicians, and he doesn’t reinterpret any of these tunes, so it doesn’t offer any surprises.

Timeless Billy

Call him pop, call him rock (you can also call him classical, country, blues, and jazz too, and probably several other genres), Billy Joel is a timeless musical artist. 12 Garden Live captures his fiery energy that has made him a legend to see perform live, and it is clear why the crowd goes nuts at the beginning of each new song, that is a small trip down memory lane. His drive is great and as always he holds the same level of it until the final song is played. With such a large sample of Joel hits, this album truly has something to offer everyone, and Joel sings his heart out on each and every song. If you are a Billy Joel fan then this is a must have album. If you are not, give this album a listen and you will become a Billy Joel fan. 12 Gardens Live is his best live album yet and is highly recommended!