Billy Joel

If you know Billy Joel only from what the critics say — or even solely from his hits — you're missing a huge chunk of one of pop music's most underrated geniuses. "Piano Man" chronicles the career misfortunes of the singers who — like Joel himself once did — make their living playing Holiday Inns while awaiting a break that will almost surely never come, and he packs a lounge's worth of world-weariness into one sad, telling waltz. No doubt some of them are at this very instant hacking their way through "Just The Way You Are," Joel's jazzy, sweet love song. But if you want to exit the lounge and pop into a jazz dive, check out Billy trance-channeling Brother Ray on "New York State of Mind." In Next Steps, Billy explores his id, asks his lover to come clean, and moves east, among other things.

Like a stalker prowling a Manhattan alley, Joel opens up "The Stranger" with a lonesome whistle before breaking into a disco-beat examination of the darker side of his — and our — personality. Breaking out of that shadowy existence in "Honesty," he confronts his lover and demands her candor — almost exactly the mirror image of what fellow New Yorker Paul Simon pleads for in There Goes Rhymin' Simon's "Tenderness." And on "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," Joel brings in a Spectorian-style production to usher him from Los Angeles, where he toiled anonymously as the Bill Martin of "Piano Man," back to New York and superstardom as Billy Joel. Deep Cuts brings you a forgotten ballad from early in Joel's career, a taste of hillbilly Billy, and more.

"Summer, Highland Falls," originally an intimate (and exquisite) ballad from the Turnstiles album, takes on a more expansive vibe in this live performance, but Joel's insight still pierces like an arrow as he notes, "We choose between reality and madness, it's either sadness or euphoria." Most people (thankfully for them) missed the original recording of "Everybody Loves You Now" from Joel's debut; through a mastering error, it was sped up to near-Chipmunks speed. But Billy revisits it on Songs In the Attic, and confirms the fact that his songwriting genius predated "Piano Man" by years. And on "Travelin' Prayer," Billy goes slightly hillbilly to a train-shuffle beat, as he brings in a banjo and fiddle(!) to accompany his long-distance love song.

Like Mellencamp and Seger and Springsteen, Billy Joel is captivated by a good, chunky 4/4 rock beat. So, apparently, are his millions of fans — and it's easy to hear why as he doffs his musical cap to his influences, such as Ray Charles in "New York State of Mind," doo-wop's Monotones in "The Longest Time," and even Scott Joplin in his mesmerizing display of keyboard skills, "Root Beer Rag." Over a four-decade career that's seen him win five GRAMMYS® and sell more albums than we can count, Joel has revealed a genius for pop music that's as rare and precious on the inside as it is macho and nonchalant on the outside. From "Piano Man" to "Pressure," from "She's Always a Woman" to "She's Got a Way," you're about to take a musical journey through the catalog of a national treasure. We give you Billy Joel.