Greatest Hits Vol. 3 - Joel, Billy (CD 1997)

I don't know anyone who doesn't like Billy Joel; he has just the right mixture of pop/rock and light music to please... well, anybody. In fact, he may be the only artist that my husband and I agree on 100% - his albums always come along with us on road trips.

Recently I noticed that Greatest Hits Volume III was available. Because Volumes I and II have been frequently enjoyed at our house, I decided I needed to have this cd. It has been in over-play drive ever since.

This album includes seventeen songs, most of which are from the late 1980's and the 1990's. For me, the centerpiece song is the seventh selection, We Didn't Start the Fire, which takes the listener through the historical events between 1949 and 1989. The first time I heard this song was during an episode of Saturday Night Live; I have loved it ever since. I still can't place every cultural and historical reference (What happened in Alabama in 1956? Back to school for me...), but the song is incredibly catchy and gives the listener a sense that history is happening now, all the time... which, of course, it is.

Currently the most-played song at our house, A Matter of Trust is the third song on the album. The reason? The song begins with Billy Joel counting, "One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four" - and my two-year old, currently obsessed with counting - really digs this. He seems happy to dance to the rest of the song as well, although I'm sure he's not "getting" the lyrics, which are about trust in relationships. No matter; he loves it. It is a tribute to this song that, despite the fact that we listen to it numerous times a day, I'm not sick of it.

The album has a lot of my other favorite Billy Joel songs on it; I love to listen to Keeping the Faith, An Innocent Man, This is the Time, Leningrad, And So It Goes, The Downeaster "Alexa"... okay, there's not a bad song in the bunch. I don't listen to the radio much, nor do I watch VH1 very often, but the songs are played so often (and rightly so), that they are almost all familiar to me.

Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel), is another song that I find particularly special. I suspect it's a lullabye that Joel wrote for his daughter - it is very moving, and I think it has a special appeal for parents. "And you should always know/ Wherever you may go/ No matter where you are/ I will never be far away..." It's a beautiful song.

The cd comes with liner notes containing full lyrics to all the songs. (I love it when they include the lyrics - it saves me from making embarrassing song lyric mistakes).

I could go on about this album all night, but I'll stop there. If you are a fan of Billy Joel - or even popular music in general -this album is a must-have. Listen to it at home, at the office, in the car... and even with your two year old; it's too good to pass up.


In order, the songs on Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume III:

1. Keeping the Faith
2. An Innocent Man
3. A Matter of Trust
4. Baby Grand (duet with Ray Charles)
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