John Bolton - My 50 Year Journey With Billy Joel

00:00:00.320 Hi, welcome to the channel, and if you've come here, you're probably a Billy Joel fan like I am.

00:00:06.480 My name is John, and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about my journey with Billy Joel over the years.

00:00:13.580 Now, it's been a long time. It really has. I first heard Billy Joel back in 1977, and I turned 59 last week.

00:00:23.380 That means it's been 47 years, so almost half a century of listening to Billy Joel.

00:00:28.360 Now, why am I doing this video now? Well, I think it's obvious to anybody who's been following Billy Joel over the last several weeks.

00:00:34.920 A new song came out, Turn the Lights Back On, and I got wind of this a few weeks back, and I watched the video online, and it really touched me.

00:00:45.120 Got a tear in my eye, because as you know if you're a Joel fan, really the studio album stuff quit back in 1993 for pop music with the album River of Dreams.

00:00:55.540 On that record, right at the end, there's a song called Famous Last Words, and I remember listening to that record for the very first time,

00:01:02.340 listening to These Are The Last Words I Have To Say, wondering if Billy was trying to tell us something.

00:01:09.220 And he did. He quit recording pop music after that record.

00:01:13.540 He did release an album around 2001, classical music, called Fantasies and Delusions.

00:01:18.640 But Joel's record output has been pretty limited to compilation records and live albums and things like that since,

00:01:25.960 and there's so much you can find online these days of rare cuts, alternate tracks, and things like that.

00:01:33.300 But of course, this was the song that got me thinking Joel again in a big way.

00:01:39.100 And this is the actual vinyl single of the record, Turn The Lights Back On.

00:01:43.520 And when I wanted to buy this song, I thought it was appropriate for me to go back to the way it used to be, to buy it on vinyl.

00:01:52.120 And the way it is becoming more and more. More and people are buying vinyl records these days.

00:01:56.800 I wanted this on vinyl, and it came in the mail yesterday.

00:01:59.740 It hasn't even been opened. I haven't played it.

00:02:02.540 Now, I'm not going to play this song on here. There's lots of places online you can find it.

00:02:06.320 If I was to put this song online, chances are I'd be taken down for copyright anyway.

00:02:11.440 But where did the whole thing start for me?

00:02:13.620 Well, it started for most people with Billy Joel with this record right here.

00:02:17.920 The Stranger from 1977.

00:02:20.280 This is the one that's got Moving Out, Just The Way You Are, Only The Good Die Young.

00:02:25.500 She's Always A Woman, Seen's From An Italian Restaurant. 0.99

00:02:28.300 This record started it for me.

00:02:30.100 Now, how did it start? Not on vinyl.

00:02:32.500 Well, my sisters might correct me on this, but in 1977, at Christmastime, my sister got a little stereo system.

00:02:41.660 A sound design stereo system, turntable, amplifier tuner, and an 8-track all-in-one with a couple of speakers.

00:02:49.540 And I got a copy of The Stranger on 8-track.

00:02:53.840 And that's where the love affair with Billy Joel's music began.

00:02:57.280 So what I'm going to do now is turn around the camera, show you my Billy Joel collection,

00:03:02.200 and talk about some of these records and show you some early stuff and some concert memorabilia I've picked up over the years.

00:03:08.880 Like this t-shirt.

00:03:10.580 This is not a recreated shirt.

00:03:12.720 This is the actual River of Dreams t-shirt I bought at his concert in Detroit, Michigan back in 1993.

00:03:20.020 So let me turn the cameras around, and I'll show you what I got.

00:03:24.560 So here is basically Billy Joel's studio catalog.

00:03:29.220 And interesting enough, back in 1977, when this record came out, and as I started listening to it through 1978,

00:03:36.620 I wanted to find more Billy Joel music.

00:03:38.980 But again, it was difficult to find things.

00:03:41.020 I had a small Sam the Record Man store in the town I lived in at the time, and they had a catalog.

00:03:46.500 So I went back, and I was able to find the stuff that came before Turnstiles, which is a terrific record.

00:03:52.620 You start to really see the Billy Joel of The Stranger pop up on Turnstiles.

00:03:56.520 I love Street Life Serenade.

00:03:58.320 It's a terrific record with a lot of mood to it.

00:04:01.080 The title track is outstanding on here.

00:04:03.400 And of course, Piano Man.

00:04:05.060 It's a showstopper.

00:04:06.640 I remember the last time I saw Joel, I believe it was back in 2007.

00:04:10.180 It's been a long time now.

00:04:11.400 But I remember standing on the floor, and Joel didn't sing the song really at all.

00:04:15.480 The crowd did.

00:04:16.520 I've never been part of anything quite like that.

00:04:18.640 I had tears in my eyes as everybody was singing along to Piano Man.

00:04:21.860 Every word.

00:04:22.780 He didn't have to sing any of it.

00:04:24.680 But then, even back then, it was hard to find anything else about Billy Joel's career.

00:04:29.720 I didn't know this existed, Cold Spring Harbor, for many years.

00:04:33.360 And then when I read about it, I heard that it was a major mess-up when it was put out.

00:04:38.220 It made Billy sound like a chipmunk on it, because they got the timing wrong on it.

00:04:43.380 It didn't sound very good.

00:04:44.540 As a matter of fact, if you listen to the re-released version, which this is one, I

00:04:48.680 think Billy still sounds a little bit like a chipmunk.

00:04:50.920 But some great stuff on there.

00:04:52.480 And I mean, if you look at this song right here, a song that became kind of famous years

00:04:56.020 later, would be She's Got Away. 0.95

00:04:58.480 And that's on this record.

00:05:00.080 When he released his album Songs in the Attic, it became more popular.

00:05:03.320 So this is really Billy Joel's collection.

00:05:05.800 Now, I have these two records, Stormfront, and I have River of Dreams on CD.

00:05:11.040 And I look at these records just recently thinking, I've got to get these albums on

00:05:15.500 vinyl now, I think, to complete the set.

00:05:17.320 They've got to be on vinyl.

00:05:20.000 So I'm going to have to find them.

00:05:21.440 Now, I either find them in a private collection, which could be rather difficult, or buy them

00:05:25.800 in a store.

00:05:26.720 And I was out the other day looking at records that become more popular.

00:05:30.300 Vinyl's becoming more popular these days.

00:05:32.100 And I was looking at a copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, and they were selling it for $42.99.

00:05:37.000 And kids nowadays are going out and buying these records.

00:05:39.360 Kitties, I probably didn't pay more than $7.99 for any of the records I've got up here,

00:05:44.240 including this one.

00:05:45.100 And I probably got them on some deals when they had $4.99 sales on for the albums.

00:05:50.920 Now, the neat thing about this is, I've got these two on CD, and I went back looking through

00:05:55.280 my CD collection, and I've got the whole Billy Joel collection on CD as well.

00:06:00.780 Every record.

00:06:01.860 I forgot that I purchased them all on CD, and I own digital copies of all of them as well,

00:06:07.780 because I burned every CD here, and I've got it all on my phone.

00:06:11.200 Every Billy Joel album, everything he's recorded that I know of, I've got on my phone.

00:06:15.880 So here is my Billy Joel collection.

00:06:17.900 Now, speaking of songs that you couldn't find at the time, and you didn't know about,

00:06:23.360 it's changed today.

00:06:25.000 If you went to look for this song right here, I'll bet you if you went on YouTube, somebody

00:06:28.720 has uploaded it.

00:06:29.660 Or you could find it just by asking Google or Alexa these days.

00:06:33.040 But I remember hearing about another song.

00:06:35.340 I went out to buy Allentown as a single, and on the other side, there's a song called

00:06:39.960 Elvis Presley Boulevard.

00:06:42.520 On the flip side of it, it's on none of these records, so I ended up with a bonus track

00:06:46.600 for Billy Joel, not even knowing it existed at the time.

00:06:50.140 But again, you could probably find it right now if you went on YouTube.

00:06:53.360 Now, let me show you some rare stuff I've got.

00:06:56.600 Some people might have them.

00:06:58.360 Maybe I've got something special here.

00:07:00.280 I don't know, but I'm going to show you some earlier stuff that actually precedes Billy Joel's

00:07:04.600 Cold Spring Harbor album.

00:07:08.060 I wonder if Christy Brinkley realizes that I hang this on my wall.

00:07:12.080 She actually created the River of Dreams album cover.

00:07:15.420 A friend of mine gave this to me years ago, and it's on wood.

00:07:18.660 Here's the actual album size on CD.

00:07:21.280 As you can see, it's much bigger, and I proudly hang this one on my wall right over there.

00:07:25.780 Of course, there are other albums out there that you can pick up.

00:07:30.200 This is a great one.

00:07:31.260 Billy went back to the songs he'd recorded in studio prior to The Stranger, did them live,

00:07:37.180 and they really come out great on songs in the attic.

00:07:40.300 This is the live concert that he did from Russia, double live album.

00:07:44.640 I won't even try to pronounce it.

00:07:46.240 And of course, his greatest hits package, he could have three or four.

00:07:48.560 He's got two on here.

00:07:49.700 He could have four of them and pack them up with great songs.

00:07:52.820 Now, he did other songs as well you may be aware of if you're a Billy Joel fan.

00:07:56.520 Maybe not.

00:07:57.280 Remember the movie Honeymoon in Vegas?

00:07:58.960 He records a couple of Elvis songs on here.

00:08:01.380 All Shook Up and Heartbreak Hotel are on here.

00:08:05.140 There's this one, Tower of Song.

00:08:07.020 These are the songs of Leonard Cohen.

00:08:08.700 He recorded Light as a Breeze on here, which is a terrific song as well.

00:08:13.200 Leonard Cohen, great writer.

00:08:14.580 Remember this movie, Oliver and Company?

00:08:17.180 He plays the voice of a little dog that sings a song, Why Should I Worry on Here?

00:08:22.080 I've got that as well.

00:08:23.380 And you might remember the version of New York State of Mind he recorded with Tony Bennett,

00:08:27.580 who passed away a little while ago.

00:08:28.900 Great version of that song on here.

00:08:31.160 And what's amazing, again, is that you can go on your Google, your Alexa, you can go on YouTube,

00:08:35.700 you can find them online.

00:08:36.500 There's so much more stuff out there that you can hear now that you could never hear years past.

00:08:41.860 And, you know, looking at records that came out prior to Cold Spring Harbor,

00:08:47.300 I had to find that out somewhere along the line long before we ever had the internet.

00:08:53.700 I say somewhere along the line, Billy Joel title, right?

00:08:56.860 Anyway, I'm going to show you some of the earlier stuff that he did with a group and as a duet.

00:09:02.960 I'm not sure if they're even available anymore.

00:09:05.140 I've got them on vinyl.

00:09:06.160 I'll show them to you right now.

00:09:07.520 So, you're a Billy Joel fan, the internet isn't around,

00:09:12.060 and you're trying to find more music from Billy Joel, and you think you got them all.

00:09:16.360 And then you find out he was in a band prior to being Billy Joel, the guy we know today.

00:09:21.360 And you find out that band was called The Hassles, and you start looking for records.

00:09:25.660 So, I started looking in an import book at my local record store,

00:09:29.460 and I came across this one right here,

00:09:31.160 the 1968 sessions of The Hassles.

00:09:34.660 Billy Joel and The Hassles, it says, and it says import right on there,

00:09:38.220 because I did import this.

00:09:39.420 Can't remember what I paid for it.

00:09:40.680 Probably 20 or 30 bucks at the time, which was a lot of money for me.

00:09:44.160 So, anyway, that is just sort of a compilation of some Hassles music,

00:09:48.340 and I ended up finding this one, which I believe is The Hassles' very first record.

00:09:53.880 And I got it.

00:09:55.060 Do not know where I got it.

00:09:56.520 It's possible I bought it at a record store in Toronto.

00:09:59.500 I used to have to go to Toronto to find records, kids.

00:10:02.860 You couldn't just download it off the internet.

00:10:04.840 I would take trips to Toronto to find specific albums,

00:10:07.920 and I believe I found this one there,

00:10:10.060 and I believe I found this one there as well,

00:10:13.500 The Hassles' Hour of the Wolf.

00:10:15.700 They're wrapped in plastic, as all of my Billy Joel albums are,

00:10:18.880 to keep them in good condition.

00:10:20.760 But there's The Hassles' The Hour of the Wolf.

00:10:23.280 But did Billy Joel do anything else prior to doing The Hassles,

00:10:27.500 or around the time he did The Hassles?

00:10:29.500 I believe it was after he teamed up with John Small.

00:10:32.840 Now, John Small has been a friend of Billy's for years,

00:10:35.240 and in more recent years, he's done videos and whatnot.

00:10:38.460 If you watch Uptown Girl, I believe he directed that.

00:10:40.880 He's been a music guy, I think, lighting and stuff for Billy for a long time.

00:10:44.260 He recorded this record.

00:10:46.220 It's wrapped in double plastic.

00:10:48.200 I don't know whether this is an original release.

00:10:50.540 I don't know whether it was reissued.

00:10:52.760 Basically, I can't understand why anybody would reissue this,

00:10:55.700 because Attila is the name of the record.

00:10:57.780 That's Billy Joel and John Small in a meat locker, dressed up like Huns. 0.97

00:11:02.000 It's awful.

00:11:02.920 It's not good at all.

00:11:04.180 It's kind of Jimi Hendrix-style music,

00:11:06.600 but instead of the guitar, you get Billy playing a lot of Hammond B-3 organ on it.

00:11:10.420 Songs like Brain Invasion and Amplifier Fire are on this record.

00:11:15.320 In fact, I actually found this record.

00:11:17.400 It's the whole thing, but it's a British import,

00:11:20.300 and it's a California flash.

00:11:21.780 Billy Joel.

00:11:22.480 This is the same record, Attila, with a different album,

00:11:25.420 a kind of a bootleg of a really crappy record.

00:11:28.400 Attila is not good at all.

00:11:30.180 Now, some other stuff I've come up with.

00:11:31.500 I don't know if you've ever heard the extra-long version of Teller about it,

00:11:35.600 but this is it right here.

00:11:36.840 This is a 12-inch single.

00:11:38.460 It's really, really cool,

00:11:40.580 and it was produced, mixed by John Jellybean Benitez,

00:11:44.020 who was pretty big back in the 80s and early 90s

00:11:47.760 for doing dance-type music,

00:11:49.880 and it's got very long intros and extras on it.

00:11:52.740 Very, very cool.

00:11:54.060 I haven't put this on in a long time.

00:11:55.340 I'm going to have to do that again, but tell her about it,

00:11:57.240 and it's got Easy Money and one of the Hassle songs,

00:12:00.600 You Got Me Humming, on the back of it, live.

00:12:03.360 And then this one right here.

00:12:05.620 Now, you can find a lot of this music on YouTube right now.

00:12:09.020 This is from a concert from the University of Connecticut,

00:12:11.440 December 5th, 1976,

00:12:12.800 and this is made specifically for record stores

00:12:17.500 to put up Billy Joel stuff.

00:12:18.900 Now, he was pretty famous when this was at a record store.

00:12:23.860 It's got songs like Piano Man, Just the Way You Are,

00:12:26.240 Only the Good Die Young, Honesty My Life,

00:12:28.560 so 52nd Street was out at the time,

00:12:30.500 but as you can say, it says,

00:12:31.820 Not for Sale, Demonstration Record Only.

00:12:34.580 I paid $45 for this.

00:12:36.000 I left the sticker on there,

00:12:37.200 and if you open it up,

00:12:38.900 it shows you how to display Billy Joel's latest record,

00:12:42.720 and it's for 50 seconds straight.

00:12:44.700 And it's got some live stuff on here,

00:12:46.700 and again, I found some of this online,

00:12:48.360 and it's got the most awesome version of New York State of Mind on there,

00:12:52.740 and you can see the track listing on the back there.

00:12:55.940 The top ones are all studio cuts,

00:12:59.340 and the bottom are him live in concert from 1976

00:13:02.280 at the University of Connecticut,

00:13:04.740 Ballad to Billy the Kid,

00:13:05.860 Summer Highland Falls,

00:13:06.880 New York State of Mind,

00:13:08.120 and Souvenir.

00:13:08.920 So, I don't know whether this is very common at all,

00:13:11.220 but I found this a long, long time ago,

00:13:13.980 and I remember putting it on cassette,

00:13:16.580 because I didn't want to wear the record out.

00:13:17.880 I played it so much.

00:13:18.860 But great picture of there with Billy,

00:13:20.580 with what looks like to be a switchblade knife.

00:13:24.180 Now, let me show you some of the concert stuff

00:13:26.360 I've picked up over the years.

00:13:28.660 So, this is my Billy Joel River of Dreams World Tour 1993 shirt,

00:13:34.560 an original.

00:13:35.240 This is not a remake.

00:13:36.780 Bought this in 1993.

00:13:38.220 Let me turn around.

00:13:38.840 I don't even know what it looks like on the back.

00:13:41.180 But there it is.

00:13:43.140 And lo and behold, it still fits me.

00:13:45.320 Now, I always tell people when you go to a concert,

00:13:47.820 yeah, pick up the t-shirt, but they don't last.

00:13:50.340 Always buy the booklet,

00:13:51.600 and that's what I've done over the years.

00:13:52.820 This is something I picked up around the time

00:13:55.220 of the 52nd Street Tour.

00:13:58.100 Okay, so it's all about Billy Joel and his band playing live.

00:14:02.160 This is from An Innocent Man Tour.

00:14:04.920 So, I've got this.

00:14:05.800 Still to this day,

00:14:06.800 can't remember whatever happened to the t-shirt.

00:14:08.580 Probably wore it out.

00:14:09.940 This is from the River of Dreams Tour.

00:14:12.220 Okay, some people may remember the Root Beer Rag,

00:14:15.280 which was sort of a...

00:14:16.680 Before you used to get email,

00:14:18.700 they would send something out to you in the mail

00:14:20.280 about Billy Joel.

00:14:21.140 Here's the Root Beer Rag.

00:14:22.160 This is from the Bridge Tour,

00:14:23.900 back when Billy had lots and lots of hair.

00:14:27.340 Here's Stormfront.

00:14:28.600 Okay, that's the booklet from the Stormfront Tour.

00:14:32.240 This is from Billy Joel in 2007.

00:14:35.480 Great concert.

00:14:37.040 Where did I go see him?

00:14:37.960 I saw him at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

00:14:40.520 As a matter of fact,

00:14:41.100 Maple Leaf Gardens was closed at the time.

00:14:43.000 The Maple Leafs weren't playing there anymore.

00:14:44.420 They were at another arena.

00:14:45.940 Billy was asked to play in Toronto.

00:14:47.360 He says,

00:14:47.620 I want to play that old barn.

00:14:48.700 So he played at Maple Leaf Gardens.

00:14:50.320 It's now a shopping center, I think.

00:14:52.260 But that was from 2007,

00:14:53.440 the last time I saw Joel.

00:14:55.200 And I've told my wife,

00:14:56.180 I got to see Billy one more time.

00:14:57.920 Now, this one,

00:14:59.180 you may remember as well.

00:15:00.460 There's Billy and Elton.

00:15:02.360 1994,

00:15:03.200 I remember when this was announced

00:15:05.360 that they were going to go on tour together.

00:15:07.720 Big deal.

00:15:08.320 Huge deal for me.

00:15:09.460 The closest I could see them

00:15:10.960 was at the Pontiac Silverdome,

00:15:12.600 which has been torn down now.

00:15:14.520 But back in 1994,

00:15:16.060 I got tickets for this.

00:15:17.020 I was living in eastern Ontario at the time.

00:15:19.640 So it was a good eight-hour drive

00:15:21.200 for me to get to the concert.

00:15:23.060 So my sisters and I

00:15:24.420 were going to the Silverdome

00:15:25.520 to see Billy Joel and Elton John

00:15:27.000 on their face-to-face tour.

00:15:27.980 I've got the shirt for this upstairs,

00:15:29.300 by the way.

00:15:30.140 But anyhow,

00:15:31.120 I got all the way down to my hometown,

00:15:34.520 drove eight hours to get there,

00:15:35.780 a couple hours before the concert.

00:15:37.020 It was postponed

00:15:38.880 because Billy wasn't feeling well

00:15:40.320 and I'd driven eight hours for nothing.

00:15:42.200 I remember going out to a bar

00:15:43.300 at the time.

00:15:44.140 I was drinking.

00:15:44.880 Don't drink anymore.

00:15:45.660 Haven't in about 25 years.

00:15:47.280 But I went out to a bar,

00:15:48.180 sang Billy Joel songs all night

00:15:49.400 and drank a lot of beer

00:15:51.000 and other spirits that night.

00:15:53.200 And I ended up telling my sisters

00:15:54.500 if they read books,

00:15:56.180 whenever they read books,

00:15:56.880 they come back.

00:15:57.800 And I did.

00:15:58.560 Went to see Billy Joel

00:15:59.480 and Elton John

00:16:00.360 at the Silverdome.

00:16:01.920 So very, very cool

00:16:03.020 to see this concert.

00:16:04.080 So just some of the stuff I've got.

00:16:06.180 I've got more Billy Joel stuff

00:16:07.980 in the house.

00:16:09.220 I have a Billy Joel River of Dreams hat,

00:16:11.540 which popped up a while ago,

00:16:12.880 but I can't remember where I put it.

00:16:14.900 But again,

00:16:15.580 you know,

00:16:15.820 hats and shirts are great,

00:16:17.340 but always buy the booklet

00:16:18.640 if there's one available.

00:16:19.580 And you'll always have that

00:16:20.720 as a remembrance

00:16:21.500 of the great days

00:16:23.240 you've had at Billy Joel

00:16:24.700 or your favorite band's concerts.

00:16:27.320 This was a lot of fun.

00:16:28.740 I'm sure I'm probably going to dig up

00:16:30.240 some other things

00:16:30.840 I've got around here.

00:16:31.940 I'm sure other people

00:16:32.780 have hordes of stuff

00:16:33.860 more than I do.

00:16:34.880 Maybe there's something here

00:16:36.200 that I have

00:16:36.880 that you don't have

00:16:37.680 and maybe you're interested in it.

00:16:39.540 Feel free to comment down below.

00:16:41.360 I hope you like this video.

00:16:43.140 I appreciate you watching.

00:16:44.740 Keep listening to Billy Joel.

00:16:46.260 I've been going back

00:16:47.060 and listening to

00:16:47.720 all the records again.

00:16:49.000 Over the years,

00:16:49.660 I've expanded my music,

00:16:51.120 my music collection here.

00:16:55.340 And I kind of get away from it,

00:16:57.300 but he's always there

00:16:58.460 because his music

00:16:59.340 comes up constantly

00:17:00.240 when I'm in my car

00:17:01.480 and I'm listening to my phone.

00:17:03.400 Thanks for watching.

00:17:04.340 Talk to you again soon.

John Bolton - February 23, 2024

My 50 Year Journey With Billy Joel

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