Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade (1974) (Japan Mini LP Edition 2008) [MHCP-461]
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 233Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87Mb | Artwork
Columbia / Family Productions

STREETLIFE SERENADE may have been a disappointment to Joel's record company, featuring but one single, "The Entertainer," that barely scraped the Top 40, but it's loaded with songs that came to be signature pieces for the piano man. For years, Joel began his concerts with a piped-in version of the instrumental "The Mexican Connection" and closed them by playing the bittersweet ballad "Souvenir." Another instrumental, the fast and infectious "Root Beer Rag," served as a favorite piano showcase throughout Joel's career, while the snide and clever "The Entertainer" began a career-long obsession with the evils of the pop industry.

"The overriding sensation is one of eavesdropping on a great pianist improvising for her own amusement rather than for her audience, and the effects are quite magical as you luxuriate in the warmth of sound and the apparent spontaneity of the music-making. Whether in the filigree tracery of op. 21, no. 2, the perfectly poised ending of op. 9, no. 2, or the dramatic recitative that breaks in during op. 32, no. 1, Pires draws you into a world where it is all too tempting to linger"

Harriet Smith, 1001 Classical Recordings you must hear before you die

Steve Khan is a bit of an enigma in jazz guitar circles, as he neither clearly succeeds nor fails in any of his efforts. This is an exception, however, as the presence of Dave Weckl makes for one of the best GRP releases of the '90s. Khan's sound is still a bit weak, but his compositions are strong, as is the amazing percussion of Manolo Badrena.