Streetlife Serenade＜完全生産限定盤＞

1974年作品 ビリー・ジョエルの3rdアルバム『Streetlife Serenade』を最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売

1974年作品。"街の吟遊詩人"たろうとするビリーが、ストリートを行き交う人達の様々な姿を音楽の中に素朴に表現したサード・アルバム。
前作に引き続きマイケル・スチュワートをプロデューサーに据え、ノース・ハリウッドのデヴォンシャー・サウンドでレコーディング。作品に西海岸で制作された空気をほのかに残しています。中には当時の流行であったカントリー・ロック・タッチの演奏も登場しますが、都会を背景にした人生のエピソードを綴りながら、その影の部分を掘り下げていくビリーならではの郷愁感ある魅力が詰まっています。名曲「スーベニア」「街の吟遊詩人は…」「エンターテイナー」等を収録した快作です。2021年最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売。

Billy Joel hit a bit of a slump with Streetlife Serenade, his third album. Stylistically, it was a reiteration of its predecessor's Tumbleweed Connection obsessions, spiked with, of all things, Rockford Files synthesizers and ragtimes pulled from The Sting. That isn't a facetious reference, either -- it's no coincidence that the record's single and best song, "The Entertainer," shares a title with the Scott Joplin rag that provided The Sting with a main theme. Joel is attempting a grand Americana lyrical vision, stretching from the Wild West through the Depression to "Los Angelenos" and "The Great Suburban Showdown." It doesn't work, not only because of his shortcomings as a writer, but because he didn't have the time to pull it all together. There are no less than two instrumentals, and even if "Root Beer Rag" (yet another sign of The Sting's influence) is admittedly enjoyable, they're undeniably fillers, as is much of the second side. Since he has skills, he's able to turn out a few winners -- "Roberta," a love song in the vein of Cold Spring Harbor, the mournful "Streetlife Serenader," and the stomping "Los Angelenos" -- but it was the astonishingly bitter "The Entertainer," where he not only disparages his own role but is filled with venom over "Piano Man" being released in a single edit, that made the subtext clear: he'd had enough with California, enough with the music industry, enough with being a sensitive singer-songwriter. It was time for Billy to say goodbye to Hollywood and head back home to New York. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine