Fantasies and Delusions (2001)
1. Opus 3. Reverie (villa D'Este)
2. Opus 2. Waltz #1 (Nunley's Carousel)
3. Opus 7. Aria (Grand Canal)
4. Opus 6. Invention in C Minor
5. Opus 1. Soliloquy (On a Seperation)
6. Opus 8. Suite for Piano-I. Innamorato
7. Opus 8. Suite for Piano-II. Sorbetto
8. Opus 8. Suite for Piano-III. Delusion
9. Opus 5. Waltz #2 (Steinway Hall)
10.Opus 9. Waltz #3 (For Lola)
11.Opus 4. Fantasy (Film Noir)
12.Opus 10.Air (Dublinesque)
 
I'm not a fan of classical music.
That's not to say I don't like classical music, it's just that
I'm not a fan of it. What I mean by that is that I can't sit
down and listen to various pieces by various composers and point out
nuances, styles and what differentiates one composer from another. I
know classical music when I hear it, and I know that overall I find it
very pleasant and soothing. For the most part, I don't actually
listen to the music itself, yet I use it for creating atmosphere
and/or background. If I'm having a get together with friends, the situation just
might call for a nice classical CD to play for ambiance.
So it's really difficult, and even unfair, to actually review a
piece like this. To be honest, I haven't even listened to it enough to
be able to distinguish one track from another. This is Joel playing
classical piano with no accompaniment and no singing (actually, Joel
wrote the pieces, yet he has a classically trained pianist to
actually play the pieces). The songs are all
pleasant, but about halfway through a listen, I really have no desire to
keep this thing on any longer since it all sounds the same to me.
Unless, of course, my party is still going.
Joel was very honest about his desires when he retired from pop music.
He let the world know that this was the direction that he wanted to
explore. When looking back at his history, it's plain to see that his
work was already somewhat influenced by classical music. It runs
through several of his pieces such as The Ballad of Billy the
Kid, Until the Night and the aptly titled Where's the
Orchestra?. When you listen to the songs here, it's obvious that it
is Joel - he's not necessarily trying to distinguish himself that
much from what he's already done.
He really does deserve to be commended for this move. He had conquered
Top 40 radio probably better than anyone else during his stay on the
charts and basically retired before he fell too far from the top of his
game. It was obvious to everyone, including Joel, that this thing
wasn't going to sell that much anyway, and most of the sales were due to
curiosity more than anything else. So kudos to The Piano Man for trying
something new. One wonders, though, if he'll ever put out another
similar recording. One also has to wonder if any of his fans that
bought the album listen to it with any degree of regularity as they
might listen to The Stranger or An Innocent Man, however.
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