Billy Joel - 12 Gardens Live

"One of the best sounding live recordings I have ever heard" "Unfortunately, it is less of a concert recording, and more of a recording done in front of a live audience" "The CD is GREAT, could have been beyond great!"

I recently attended the 11th of 12 Billy Joel concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. The concert was absolutely amazing. It happened to be the night he broke the old record of 10 sold out shows at the Garden in a single tour. I expected it to be a memorable one. It was, only not as memorable from my understanding as the 12th and final show.

I had seen Billy Joel many times over 20 years, sometimes alone, sometimes with Elton John. This was by far his best show and best sounding show. The emotion in the audience with their obvious Love of their hometown superstar made the night.

So, when he mentioned the shows were being recorded for a live CD, I was ecstatic. As a ticket holder, I was able to preorder the CD at a discount and received additional promotional items including 2 additional songs not on the CD. The CD already has 32 songs including 2 supposed bonus tracks. I can never understand that. Either they are on the CD or not, how does that make them a bonus? Because they aren't "named" on the cover as being on the CD? Strange.

Anyway, having been at the show I was expecting the best live concert album ever recorded. Columbia records put the album up on the internet so you could listen to the stream a few days before today's release. I was disappointed. I received the CD yesterday, a day before it going on sale in the stores and on iTunes. I listened closely. I liked it better, but still disappointed. Instead of the best live concert album ever, I got the best sounding recorded live performance I have heard.

The difference? One captures the spirit and essence of a concert, the other captures the quality of a musical performance. I prefer the first, some may prefer the latter.

The sound quality is excellent. Billy sounds awesome. But it just doesn't capture the concert, only the music. Maybe a small point to some, but I LOVE live recordings and feeling like I am there. Especially one I was actually at. I like to rekindle the feeling of being at the concert.

If you like Billy Joel, you will love the album. I love Joel, I loved the album. But I think he rushed it to market to capture the excitement of the record breaking stint.

The good and the bad...

The Good...

• Sound is awesome, the recording was great.
• Billy is still at the top of his game.
• His band (though I miss Liberty Devito) was superb.
• Old songs, newer songs, many of the hits and even songs you may have forgotten about.

The Bad...

• They seemed to forget to mic the audience. Can you hear them? Yes, but not loud enough, especially during the many times the audience is singing there favorite songs and verses which happens often at a Joel concert.
• apparently to save space and fit more songs, they didn't include much in between the songs. No jokes, talking, etc... One song after another with not much applause either leading you to believe that Joels audience can't stand and applaud that long. Far from the truth. One example, the Good Night Saigon song included marines singing the chorus. You can hear the audience cheering, but not as loud as it was. Also, there was about a 3-5 minute standing ovation for the marines after the song. She that have been kept in in its entirety? No, but certainly more ethan the 5 seconds before the next song starts.
• The tracks start right at the beginning of the songs. Sometimes during the first note of a song so sometimes the way the CD player plays, you miss the first note of the song. On old albums, you were able to play a "side" without interruption, here each song has a slight silent pause then the song immediately starts. What would be wrong with starting with some leftover applause from the song before and leaving in some talking? This was probably my biggest complaint. Who mixed this thing anyway?
• Who picked the songs from which night? It doesn't say which song was from which night. I am not convinced the picked the best ones, though they were great, I remember some from my night being a little better. I honestly am not sure many are from the 11th show though I could be wrong. As a person who went to the show, at the very least they could have put that on the cover so those who went would know if they are part of the recording.
• One of his most popular songs, "It's still rock and roll to me" is the second bonus track? Why a bonus track? Perhaps because it was the worst of the recordings!
• "Your my home", one of my favorites, was not on the CD, but was the free download when you purchased the album along with sleeping with the television on. Then iTunes announced if you download the album, they have an exclusive for 2 other songs not on the CD.

So, that makes 36 possible songs. Now that is a fantastic compilation.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the CD. Anyone who likes Billy should go out and buy it, download it, whatever. You will NOT be sorry. It really is fantastic. If you were there, go and get the CD, you will love it. Though if you are like me, you may be just slightly disappointed.