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New Billy Joel single - Does Not Suck!
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Poignant. The song can either have a ton of sub context - or taken at face value, sounds like a guy who just missed writing songs but suspects it’s a little late to be relevant.
Nonetheless, I liked it. Yeah, it didn’t suck.
Nonetheless, I liked it. Yeah, it didn’t suck.
It’s his voice - at his age - sounding so clean, or is that “AI” fakery too?
Very good song. Thanks.
Very good song. Thanks.
I'm hoping the AI influence is just the anti-aging magic in the video (that the audio is pure Billy). We'll see.
He seems to always have an introspective side for him and others.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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- I suck, but nobody really notices
Was in traffic on Long Island once, looked in the rear view, and it was Billy Joel behind me. Pulled over and made damn sure he was in front of me. Cant be too safe.
As the oldest person playing at church (not just one place, but a multi site church, we have a lot of musicians) I can relate - there are a lot of things you gain from wisdom/life experience that can make you really good at certain things in music. I applaud folks that keep going, and Billy certainly qualifies.
I was too busy cringing at the AI (and its implications) and I actually missed enjoying the song.
Welcome to The Future, where if you weren’t there, it might not have happened.
Welcome to The Future, where if you weren’t there, it might not have happened.
I don't know it, but I can hear it. There's a chance I'm wrong, but I'd be willing to bet.
Yeah, I thought so too. But I think that was intentional. His voice seemed to be "age appropriate" as they moved through the montage of his physical appearance over the periods in his career. I noticed it most when they finally circled back to his current age and there was a change in his voice that sounded more like his now older self. For the sake of the video, if you're going to de-age his physical appearance, it makes sense that you would also want to de-age is voice as well.
Overall I thought it was a good use of AI (or ML, or whatever we actually end up calling it). It felt more like a component in an artistic statement rather than a part of the creative process itself or making up for some deficiency.
I had an admittedly initial negative reaction due to the use of AI, but I did like the song... a lot. I've always liked Billy Joel's writing... not all of his output, but a lot of it. The first tune I heard, back in HS, was Just the Way You Are, because of Phil Wood's solo. Yet... I also liked the song.. nice chord progressions, good melody, beautiful sentiment. So I listened to more... and the road trio I was in in the early 80s covered a whole BUNCH of his tunes.. Zanzibar, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Movin' Out, Honesty, JTWYA, and others. I was always struck, as I transcribed the chord progressions, just how creative he really was with them. On the surface, they sound pretty typical basic stuff, but there's always couple left-turns and unexpected places they go that makes them really interesting. This tune has that too.
A good friend of mine, a tremendous saxophonist and all-around jazz, funk, and klezmer musician, plays with Mike DelGuidice and Big Shot, a Billy-Joel sanctioned/approved tribute band, and speaks very highly of Billy.
Thanks for the post!
A good friend of mine, a tremendous saxophonist and all-around jazz, funk, and klezmer musician, plays with Mike DelGuidice and Big Shot, a Billy-Joel sanctioned/approved tribute band, and speaks very highly of Billy.
Thanks for the post!
As a Billy Joel fan, I like the song. That said, I don't like the instrumentation they used, particularly the drum sounds.
Yeah, I had the same reaction. Was really into it when it was just piano and vocal, but when the heavy gated synth snare crash on 2 and 4 started, it didn't fit at all, at least to my ear. Maybe part of the "travelling through the eras" idea of the tune, I guess... but I could have done with it. Of course... nobody's ever heard of me... and Billy Joel sure knows more about what he's going after than I do!
