Greatest Hits Volume 3 (1996)
1. Keeping the Faith
2. An Innocent Man
3. A Matter of Trust
4. Baby Grand
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 (Remix)
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
 
Sure, a lot of artists will say
at some point in their career that they're through recording and/or
touring, but few ever mean it. Either they forget about the ennui
that comes with "retirement" or they run out of money that supports the
lavish style that they've become accustomed. Apparently that wasn't the
case for Billy Joel. At least when it came to recording. So four years after his
last studio release, it made perfect sense to put out another greatest
hits package that complements his Greatest Hits Volumes I and II. This way, all of the "hits" can now be on a "hits" package.
Like his first compilation, this one features the songs in sequential
order. It's not nearly as rich since, well, he only made 3 albums
since the last package. Because of this, there's obviously evidence
of padding since, in addition to not as much material, he simply just
didn't have as many hits during his later years. He does make a smart move by including
two older hits that, well basically, he "ran out of room" for on the
last hits album, so Keeping the Faith and An Innocent Man are
added as they should be.
He features six songs, more than half the album, from Stormfront, which really isn't a bad move since
that was such a strong album anyway. The only thing "missing in
action" is Modern Woman since Joel seems to have divorced himself from that tune
from for whatever reason. It's a shame because it's a lot better than This is
the Time from the same album which is here.
More padding is in the form of three new songs. Or rather, 3 Billy Joel
cover songs. Since he wasn't "writing" anymore, he probably
didn't want to cheapen the material, so he covers Bob Dylan, Carole King
and Leonard Cohen. He covers them all well, but none of them are
really that memorable. As a matter of fact, this whole album really
isn't that memorable, and since he would later release this one along
with the first package together, it really only made sense to go
with the other, complete package. Unless you were one of the rare people that
only liked what he released from 1986 - 1993, that is.
Back To Main Page
Go To Next Review