Billy Joel - Complete Hits Collection 1973-1997 [Box Set] [Limited Edition] Review

I was therefore quite ecstatic when the first CD re-release of Volumes One and Two became available in the early 1990s. By then I had worn out two cassettes and was not looking forward to buying a third. I was looking forward to hearing "Piano Man," "She's Always a Woman," "Good Night Saigon," and "Don't Ask Me Why" in the new-to-me compact disc format.

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the CD version was a marked improvement over the cassette. Not only did it sound better, but I also heard several new songs not included in the tape for space purposes, including "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" and "She's Got a Way." This 2-disc set soon became my favorite non-classical, non-movie soundtrack music, and I loved to sing along to my much loved songs with the aid of the booklet of lyrics.

However, while the first CD release did have those additional songs, "Just the Way You Are" was still presented in its abridged version; this was remedied in the 1998 digitally remastered re-release, as were "Pressure", "Big Shot", and "My Life", which Columbia had also cut to their radio-play running times for the original cassette release 13 years earlier.

When 1997 rolled around and Volume III of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits was released, I held off on buying that CD after reading a lukewarm review in the Miami Herald. However, when I saw this boxed set in 1998, I could not resist the temptation.

Sure, I already had half of the four CDs in this collection, but when I saw it at Circuit City in early 1998, I just had to have it! And naturally I played Disc Three first...and I regretted having paid attention to the Herald's music critic.

The first CD I chose to play was Disc Three because I was already familiar with Volumes I and II; Volume III takes up where Volume II  ends (with songs from 1983's An Innocent Man), I was ecstatic when I heard "An Innocent Man" and "Keeping the Faith," which I would have preferred on the 1973-85 collection. Second, I also discovered such songs as "Leningrad," "River of Dreams," and the elegiac ode to doomed love, "And So It Goes."

I also fell in love with the Celtic backbeat of "The Downeaster Alexa," the neo-classical "Lullabye (Good Night My Angel)," and the smoldering sensuality of "Shameless."

 As he did in Volume Ii, Joel adds several new songs to supplement his older material, including covers of "Hey, Girl," "Light as a Breeze," and Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love," which Joel's friend Garth Brooks also covered in his own Greatest Hits boxed set.

The first three CDs of the collection are track-by-track duplicates of the three Greatest Hits Volumes; the only differences being that they were remastered before Sony/Columbia issued the Volumes I & II in 1998 and the discs have different artwork on the "label" side. 

The fourth disc is very interesting, even if it contains songs we've heard in the other discs of this set. It contains several live lectures with musical interludes. These were recorded at several colleges on different dates, but are seamlessly spliced so that it sounds like one single performance. Here Joel gives us a glimpse of the creative and business aspects of his musical career, and he does so with humor, intelligence, and charm. 

And instead of coming in those huge multi-disc jewel boxes or flimsy slimline cases, the Complete Hits Collection CDs come in an attractive book-like case, with four recessed disc-holders, two on each side, with a nifty collector's booklet sandwiched in between.

Long-time fans (as well as new ones) will really like that booklet, because in addition to featuring a biographical essay about Billy Joel's life and career (up to 1997), it contains all the lyrics to the 42 songs presented in the three Volumes. (The lyrics and transcripts to the Q&A tracks in Disc Four, however, aren't included.)  The bio, "A Portrait of the Artist," is by Timothy White and had originally appeared in the December 3, 1994 issue of Billboard Magazine.

"I'm probably happy with more than half of the recordings. The writer, I'm happy with; the singer, I'm never happy with. He always lets me down, because my heroes were always black singers and I'm not black.  I'm just a little Jewish kid from Levittown who's trying to sound black, but I'm not kidding me." - Billy Joel.

The booklet is also illustrated with a mixture of album cover art, photos of the Piano Man, and facsimiles of Joel's handwritten lyrics.  Very cool, but the staples that hold the booklet and the four-CD case together are as flimsy as the Bush Administration's credibility about the Iraq War and they lose their "grip" after a while (unless you don't read it).

I recommend this boxed set to various constituencies - established Billy Joel fans who want a "one stop" box set containing their favorite songs, music lovers who may not be Billy's fans but might be impressed by his versatility as a singer, composer, and instrumentalists, and anyone with an interest in American popular music and its various genres and styles.

Disc Two

1. "My Life"
2. "Big Shot"
3. "You May Be Right"
4. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
5. "Don't Ask Me Why"
6. "She's Got a Way"
7. "Pressure"
8. "Allentown"
9. "Goodnight Saigon"
10. "Tell Her About It"
11. "Uptown Girl"
12. "The Longest Time"
13. "You're Only Human (Second Wind)"
14. "The Night Is Still Young"

Disc Three:

1. Keeping The Faith
2. An Innocent Man
3. A Matter of Trust
4. Baby Grand
5. This Is The Time
6. Leningrad
7. We Didn't Start The Fire
8. I Go To Extremes
9. And So It Goes
10. The Downeaster 'Alexa'
11. Shameless
12. All About Soul
13.Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel
14.The River of Dreams
15.To Make You Feel My Love
16.Hey Girl
17.Light As The Breeze

Disc Four: