Billy Joel: Greatest Hits 1981-1997 [HERC's Mix]

Last week, we covered the first part of William Martin Joseph "Billy" Joel's solo recording career, where he spent time out in Los Angeles before returning to New York and finding both popularity and critical acclaim, two things that rarely occur simultaneously. NOTE: Except for the album pictured above, HERC has chosen not to feature any concert albums of Billy Joel, but he's gonna list every single hits compilation he's come across. We pick up our story in 1981. It was a dark and stormy night...

Following the wildly popular tri-fecta of The Stranger, 52nd Street, and Glass Houses - selling 25 million copies to date -Billy Joel took his band out on the road and recorded songs from the albums that preceded those listed above, songs his newfound fans might not have heard, and songs his die-hard fans knew and loved. The resulting live album, cobbled together from various dates and cities during the tour, Songs From The Attic, was released in 1981, landed in the Top 10 on the Album charts, and spawned two singles: "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "She's Got A Way". The latter single is one of those brilliantly recorded and edited tracks where you can't tell it is a live recording. As stated previously, HERC's favorite tracks on this one are the two singles, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" and "Captain Jack".

Nearly a year passed before Joel released his eighth studio album, The Nylon Curtain.  He has stated that he spent more time writing and recording this album, more time crafting it in the studio than any of his previous efforts. Although it never attained the sales numbers of his more recent albums – going double platinum – it spawned a brief tour (following a serious motorcycle accident) and three singles, two of which ("Pressure" and "Allentown") climbed into the Top 20. HERC still finds this album somewhat difficult to get into, but the manic and frantic "Pressure" is a favorite.

Newly divorced, Joel poured his happy heart and suddenly single soul into his ninth album, 1983's An Innocent Man, a tribute to the music of his teens, particularly the doo-wop and soul music that predated the British Invasion. The album spent just over two years on the charts and made it to Number Four while six of the ten tracks were released as singles in the United States over eighteen months:

• 07/30/1983   "Tell Her About It"     #1
• 09/24/1983   "Uptown Girl"            #3
• 12/17/1983   "An Innocent Man"    #10
• 03/24/1984   "The Longest Time"   #14 
• 07/07/1984   "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"   #27
• 01/26/1985   "Keeping the Faith"   #18

The videos for each song made him a star on MTV, and he eventually married one of his video co-stars, supermodel Christie Brinkley. In case you were wondering, those last two singles are HERC's favorites. HERC saw Billy Joel in concert for the first and only time in April 1984 during his From A Piano Man to An Innocent Man tour. Who was standing beside him, looking way too good in her 3/4 sleeve tour shirt and singing along to almost every song? The woman who would become the first and thus-far only Mrs. HERC.

In January 1985, Billy Joel participated in the landmark "We Are The World" recording session. He harmonized with Tina Turner on the line "And the truth, you know/Love is all we need” before Michael Jackson comes in.

Later, in the Summer of 1985, arguably at the height of his popularity, Joel released the double album Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II, featuring two newly recorded tracks, both of which were released as singles: "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young". It went on to become one of the 5 biggest selling albums of all-time.

The last Phil Ramone-produced Billy Joel album was 1986's The Bridge. Four singles jumped off The Bridge, including a duet with one of Joel's personal heroes, Ray Charles. It is probably HERC's least favorite of Joel's late Eighties albums. The album track "Big Man On Mulberry Street" was used for a choreographed dance scene in an episode of the television show Moonlighting.

Billy Joel's eleventh studio (and third Number One) album was Storm Front, released in 1989. Joel co-produced the album himself with Foreigner's Mick Jones and a slightly re-vamped lineup of his longtime backing band. An incredible six singles charted in the U.S., with a seventh, "Leningrad", charting internationally. Joel's three-minute history lesson, "We Didn't Start The Fire", went on to become his third and (thus far) final Number One song. Another single, "Shameless", was covered two years later by Garth Brooks, who took it to the top of the Country charts.

Shortly after Garth's version was released in 1991, Joel's original was released as a single and got some airplay on "soft rock" or Adult Contemporary stations. Since then, Joel and Brooks have performed the song several times together on-stage.

Joel's contribution to the all-Elvis covers soundtrack album to 1992's Honeymoon In Vegas, "All Shook Up", barely cracked the Top 100 in the U.S. but made the Top 30 in several other countries.

In 1993, Joel released his last album of original pop/rock music, River Of Dreams. The album rose to the top spot - his fourth Number One album - and earned four Grammy nominations. The title track climbed up to #3 on the Singles charts. Two other singles ("All About Soul" and "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" were released domestically, while a fourth single ("No Man's Land") made the charts in Britain. Both HERC and Mrs. HERC are big fans of the title track.

In 1997, Joel released Greatest Hits Volume III, featuring most of the singles released since his first Greatest Hits collection – still selling like crazy – a dozen years earlier. At the end of the album, after the first fourteen tracks, were three new studio tracks, all cover versions. Two were released as singles ("Hey Girl" and "To Make You Feel My Love") while a third had been featured on a tribute album. While Mrs. HERC prefers the former single, HERC likes the latter.

Also in 1997, The Complete Hits Collection: 1973-1997, a 4-disc boxed set covering twenty-five years, was made available, featuring Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II, Greatest Hits Volume III, and a fourth disc featuring interviews and a few live and unreleased songs.

The new millennium saw the first in a succession of Billy Joel compilation albums. Released in 2000 everywhere but here in America, The Ultimate Collection is a double-disc set featuring 36 songs in its Japanese version. It was released with a slightly different tracklist for European fans.

For American fans, The Essential Billy Joel was released in 2001. The two-disc set also featured 36 tracks, including two of Joel's classical compositions. In 2008, it was reissued with a third disc of seven tracks as The Essential  Billy Joel 3.0.

Just a few years after the original Essential Billy Joel, Piano Man: The Very Best Of Billy Joel was released outside of America in 2004. A single disc collection featuring 18 of his biggest hits, the album was re-released with a DVD featuring 10 videos in 2006.

My Lives, the Billy Joel box set featuring hits and rarities from throughout his career, was released in time for the gift-giving season in 2005. It featured four CDs and a DVD featuring live performances from his River Of Dreams tour a decade earlier.

Billy Joel's last charting single was "All My Life", written for his third wife in honor of their second anniversary in 2007. It only charted in Japan.

The Hits is a 19-track single-disc career-spanning collection released domestically in 2010. HERC recommends it as an introduction as well as an overview of Joel's career, as it is the first compilation of his to feature the songs in chronological order, so you can hear his sound evolve with each song.

Later in 2010, saw the international release of She's Always A Woman: Love Songs, another single-disc compilation featuring tracks personally chosen by Joel himself.

For the gift-giving season of 2011, Joel and Columbia Records issued The Complete Albums Collection featuring Joel's 12 studio albums plus the live Songs In The Attic and 2001's classical Fantasies and Delusions. Priced at $200, this limited-edition deluxe box set featured all-new remasters of each album in miniature cardboard sleeves as well as a bonus disc of rare recordings.

Finally, in Spring 2012, Joel teamed up with Starbucks to release The Opus Collection, another single-disc collection featuring 16 tracks, including a few lesser-known deep cuts among the hits.

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This has been HERC's journey through Billy Joel's discography up to this point and is by no means complete.