Billy Joel's New Single (No, Really, He Has New Music Out In 2024...)

[rickzjamm]

I've always been a huge BJ fan, that being said... the facts that he still fills ( and sells out) stadiums &  we're even talking about him makes him relevant to the times.

That in itself is badass but then add that his voice & playing & catalog have stood the test of time. Respect!

[MikeT156]

Billy Joel is my all-time favorite musician. His songs are generally original and I really love the new song and hear there is new album and a pending tour. He can still sing and write new material and I am happy to know he is not retiring.

[MathOfInsects]

3 hours ago, Adan said:

The over the top production comes close to ruining it.  Joel obviously doesn't need it, but I imagine that for the producers  a more minimalist production for the first new song in decades was unthinkable.

Regarding the production, check out this version a producer I know made. He did it the same day the song was released, somehow! I think it sounds great and improves the track.
 

 

[Floyd Tatum]

22 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

I never would have thought this would be the thing that would inspire controversy. 
JT was signed to Apple as a rocker. There's no other way to put it. He became soft-rock James Taylor later on. (The "Taylors" below refers to him and Livingston, his brother, who were both on the upswing at the time. Livingston still plays and he teaches at Berklee now.)

 

Right on!  JT rocks harder than AC/DC!   It's as plain as the nose on your face!  😉  😃

Jeez, man.

Paul Simon can rock harder than GNR when he feels like it!  Everyone knows this!   🙂

 

[jerrythek]

So many people listed in the credits… seems less likely that this was Billy choosing to go in and record a tune of his own volition. Hell, there’s someone else credited for piano (Marco Parisi).
 

Still, it’s good to hear him doing some new music. I’ll live with it more before forming my opinion. 

[Mark Schmieder]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:33 AM, elsongs said:

I was just about to go to sleep and I saw "Billy Joel" trend on Twitter. Clicked to see what was going on. He has a new song out. WAIT, WHAT!?!? BILLY JOEL HAS A NEW SONG OUT?!?!
AFTER 30 YEARS BILLY JOEL HAS RELEASED A NEW SONG?!?!?

Here it is - "Turn The Lights Back On"

My first impressions are below the YouTube embed. 
 

First impressions: I'm kinda torn here -- As a songwriter (and Billy Joel was one of my big musical inspirations growing up), I think it's a lovely tune - not groundbreaking, but nice. And his older, more "gruff" sounding vocals are somewhat of a nod to his big inspiration, Ray Charles, who had a similar gruff-ness in his latter work. 

But as an audio geek, bleh - what a horrible, overcompressed mix with little dynamics. And there's no low or high end whatsoever...

 

Not to mention auto-tune, as I am fairly certain I am detecting artifacts of such processing. Or maybe that's the over-compression making it sound phasey and synthetic? I found it painful to listen to, despite the good songwriting.

 

2 hours ago, Floyd Tatum said:

 

Right on!  JT rocks harder than AC/DC!   It's as plain as the nose on your face!  😉  😃

Jeez, man.

Paul Simon can rock harder than GNR when he feels like it!  Everyone knows this!   🙂

 

 

After all, she did love him like a rock.

[Bill H.]

So... just reading through everyone's comments... what we have here is a song sung by Billy Joel, but not written, produced, or played by Billy Joel? A song designed to give him exposure in advance of an upcoming worldwide tour? I guess I'm OK with it, but I think lumping it with his past works is doing them a disservice. 

[o0Ampy0o]

13 hours ago, HammondDave said:

For anyone who saw and heard Billy Joel performing back in the 70s, he graced his performances with a whole set of impersonations spread out during the show. I have a bootleg of one of his performances in Miami during The Stranger tour. He pulls off some impressive imitations of McCartney, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Cocker. 

 

Granted it was in a car with a simple radio and an AM station but the first few times I listened to Baby Grand I thought Ray Charles sounded better than ever. Billy's Ray was close and added some dynamics. Due respect to Ray Charles, it was Ray that was being imitated.

[o0Ampy0o]

16 minutes ago, Bill H. said:

So... just reading through everyone's comments... what we have here is a song sung by Billy Joel, but not written, produced, or played by Billy Joel? A song designed to give him exposure in advance of an upcoming worldwide tour? I guess I'm OK with it, but I think lumping it with his past works (that were wholly his creation) is doing them a disservice. 

 

A disservice? Are you certain this is what you meant? His past works seem to be shinning brightly in the context of this latest song debut. Now if people, anyone, was saying Billy should have done everything this way all along then....

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Not to mention auto-tune, as I am fairly certain I am detecting artifacts of such processing.

 

Tuned & gridded, like most commercial music today. What gets me is that it's used on tunes like this that don't need it.

[AnotherScott]

5 hours ago, Mark Schmieder said:

After all, she did love him like a rock.

And before that, he was a rock. (Also, an island.)

[Dockeys]

18 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Regarding the production, check out this version a producer I know made. He did it the same day the song was released, somehow! I think it sounds great and improves the track.
 

 

I think the piano is over shadowing the vocals at the start of the original version and the snare is like someone dropped an anvil on a bunch of saucepans. 
 

A friend of mine forwarded this version onto me as well. Much more in keeping with a more classic BJ sound. Snare sound is tight and not overpowering. Kudos to the guy for remixing it. 

 

I like the tune, certainly some comparisons with 2000 years/Always a woman. That 6/8 or 12/8 metre is lovely in pop music and underused. Hopefully a new album out soon. 
 

 

[AnotherScott]

5 hours ago, Dockeys said:

Much more in keeping with a more classic BJ sound.

That gets to the question of what the goal is. Regardless of what you think of this particular example, I think the idea of using modern production preferences rather than going for the classic sound is justifiable. The old BJ fans are going to tune in to this no matter what, and probably like it (or not) regardless of its new style vs. old style production. But if the people behind this want to try to appeal to anyone under 30 who has minimal interest in music created before they were born, going for a more modern sound could make more sense than taking the nostalgic approach.

[Mark Schmieder]

3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

That gets to the question of what the goal is. Regardless of what you think of this particular example, I think the idea of using modern production preferences rather than going for the classic sound is justifiable. The old BJ fans are going to tune in to this no matter what, and probably like it (or not) regardless of its new style vs. old style production. But if the people behind this want to try to appeal to anyone under 30 who has minimal interest in music created before they were born, going for a more modern sound could make more sense than taking the nostalgic approach.

 

All the people I know under 30 prefer live music and recordings of live music (when relatively unadulterated) because the "album versions" are so overproduced.

 

I'm sure I'm dealing with a small sample set, but I've been part of blind tests on several occasions and we did not note age or generation differences in feedback.

 

Paul Simon had a mostly acoustic album maybe in the early 2000's that was peak limited and sounded loud at the minimal possible volume for sound to transmit.

 

Due to the instrumentation and style, it sounded completely unreal and was physically painful to listen to. Had they retained dynamics, it might have been lovely.

 

I thought the volume wars were over? At any rate, almost all the older singers are being auto-tuned now, which is sad. Is it even possible to auto-tune Bob Dylan?

 

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Is it even possible to auto-tune Bob Dylan?

I think Rick Beato tuned and gridded Led Zep, to prove a point.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[MathOfInsects]

Did Billy Joel write this song?

[BluMunk]

On 2/2/2024 at 2:25 PM, BluMunk said:

The cold settles in...
It's been a long win...
ter of indiference.

It just seems like such an unsophisticated way to address that rhyme, and I can't believe that he'd settle on that reading of the line if/when he starts performing it.

called it! 😛

 

Listening to him perform on the Grammys, and all the horrible phrasing on the recording is gone, and he’s just singing like a real vocalist who knows what he’s doing.

 

 

[Bill H.]

Gotta admit - I didn't dig this song at first. But it's that Grammy performance that made the song click. There's Billy Joel at the piano - no in ears, big ol' wedge monitor just off his bench, beat up SM57 mic, a bit tentative at first, but then forcefully singing "Did I wait too long? To turn the lights back on!"

 

No you didn't Billy. We're good. 

[elsongs]

6 hours ago, BluMunk said:

called it! 😛

 

Listening to him perform on the Grammys, and all the horrible phrasing on the recording is gone, and he’s just singing like a real vocalist who knows what he’s doing.

 

 

It was cool, but they keyed it down a whole step lower (Bb from C)!

[AnotherScott]

A little bit of the story behind the creation of the song here...

 

 

Other clips... the song of his he is most sick of...

 

 

...and Billy Joel's favorite Billy Joel song...

 

 

... and picking up from the earlier comment about how the lyrics have a double meaning, when he discusses the lyrics in this clip, the way he looks at his wife, it really does seem personal to him and their relationship. Also, when she answers the question about something we'd be surprised to know about BJ, the way she answers by addressing BJ and not the questioner, it looks to me like this is a couple who has had some therapy. Well, good for them, it looks like they're in a good place now. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunspot]

I really enjoyed his performance.  There might be some folks on here who know him (I do not), but from what I've read, a real down to Earth dude who isn't full of himself.  Great job Billy!!

[Jazz+]

It somehow reminds me of Elton John.

 

I wonder why that big hall snare drum sound was chosen, it sounds miscast to me.

[sunspot]

 

7 minutes ago, Jazz+ said:

It somehow reminds me of Elton John. 

I felt that Elton John-ish vibe as well, so it wasn't just you. 

[elsongs]

Anyone see this yet?

Not a fan of the dead snare sound on this one, but it's otherwise perfect (love the bass articulation, the percussion and the mandolin).

Billy Joel "Turn The Lights Back On" If It were produced by Phil Ramone #billyjoel #newsingle - YouTube

[HammondDave]

Liberty DeVito he is not!

[jerrythek]

Now with the Grammy video intro and these other interviews it is clear that a lot of the decisions about the recording/mixing/production were the work of Freddy Wexler. He was calling the shots...

[MathOfInsects]

10 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Liberty DeVito he is not!

Oh, him it's OK to say something negative about?

Interesting to see where folks' line is...

[drawback]

2 hours ago, jerrythek said:

Now with the Grammy video intro and these other interviews it is clear that a lot of the decisions about the recording/mixing/production were the work of Freddy Wexler. He was calling the shots...

Interesting NYT article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/arts/music/billy-joel-new-song-turn-the-lights-back-on.html

[HammondDave]

52 minutes ago, MathOfInsects said:

Oh, him it's OK to say something negative about?

Interesting to see where folks' line is...

The drummer is claiming to copy the “sound” of a Phill Ramone produced BJ song. Liberty’s playing and sound  was crucial to those Phil Ramone  productions.  I can relate to some random drummer, as I am just a random keyboard player.  I, nor just about anyone else on this forum, is in Billy Joel’s talent universe.  So when criticizing someone’s playing or writing abilities, I first look in the mirror.  

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, MathOfInsects said:

12 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Liberty DeVito he is not!

Oh, him it's OK to say something negative about?

 

I think it's a perfectly serviceable replacement for Liberty.   You're replacing a mish mash of blury orchestral percussion with a rock drum track that sounds 200% better.  Liberty played understated on many a track back then.

 

The bass replacement is equally dramatic.  The original has zero attack, zero dynamics and shitty voice leading (from what I remember).  I'd love to hear their rationale for that, because its such a standing out consciously bad sound.   The new bass is out front reminiscent of The Stranger.    Even the more forward piano sounds great.  Sounds close to the sound he had in the 70s.