Billy Joel!!

Hmmm, Elton's sort of discredited himself by making some awful records in recent years. Too many ballads with trite lyrics and bog standard music. I don't know if his heart is in it anymore? The only song of his I have on my MP3 is 'Saturday Night's Alright'. I love it when he really rocks out. All that ballad nonsense doesn't showcase him as a performer or a musician...what a waste of his tubby little fingers to be plinking and plonking some saccharine magnolia song on such a fine instrument as the piano.

By the way, what do you think of Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five? Piano rock as it should be done :D.

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

Hmmm, Elton's sort of discredited himself by making some awful records in recent years. Too many ballads with trite lyrics and bog standard music. I don't know if his heart is in it anymore? The only song of his I have on my MP3 is 'Saturday Night's Alright'. I love it when he really rocks out. All that ballad nonsense doesn't showcase him as a performer or a musician...what a waste of his tubby little fingers to be plinking and plonking some saccharine magnolia song on such a fine instrument as the piano.

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Agreed, but he's kind of been off my radar since Made In England, which (I thought) sounded as if he'd re-discovered some inspiration after all the old Bernie Taupin upset.

Since then, I think his recent This Train Don't Stop There Anymore was pretty good (perhaps because Taupin wrote the lyrics?) but no, he doesn't seem to want to rock out like he used to.

The old stuff, however...:yup:

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

By the way, what do you think of Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five? Piano rock as it should be done :D.

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I first caught Ben Folds ten or so years back; liked him alot, but never got around to laying in any of his stuff - an old story with me.

What would you recommend to start?

What do you think of Bruce Hornsby?

Ben Folds rawks. True story.

Moreover, he produced an album for William Shatner a few years back which was fucking genius to the max. The album's called Has Been. It's a fucking masterpiece.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-eJQ1mTVzA[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5eBRWQerY[/YOUTUBE]

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

The only song of his I have on my MP3 is 'Saturday Night's Alright'.

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One of the great kick-out-the-jams bar songs.
Davey Johnstone laid down one of the most recognizable and elemental guitar riffs ever in that song.

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Originally Posted by j2k4

Agreed, but he's kind of been off my radar since Made In England, which (I thought) sounded as if he'd re-discovered some inspiration after all the old Bernie Taupin upset.

Since then, I think his recent This Train Don't Stop There Anymore was pretty good (perhaps because Taupin wrote the lyrics?) but no, he doesn't seem to want to rock out like he used to.

The old stuff, however...:yup:

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Oh yeah I forgot about Made in England...that's a good one. I'll have to see about a download of that :D.

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Originally Posted by j2k4

I first caught Ben Folds ten or so years back; liked him alot, but never got around to laying in any of his stuff - an old story with me.

What would you recommend to start?

What do you think of Bruce Hornsby?

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Try these: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUkiFLURt38[/youtube]

This one makes me blub:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlgq59dsFQ[/youtube]

And in his old band:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1gq4mQh6UA[/youtube]

I've tried to give you a bit of a spread there. He goes from biting commentary to humour to really moving.

I've never heard any Bruce Hornsby....recommendations?

Omg! Chalice, was Ben Folds having a breakdown or something?

I'm gonna check those as soon as I post this-

As for Hornsby, you can get a flavor for his talent the way I would have you perceive it by checking out his live stuff, and, wonder-of-wonders, you should easily find several from Here Come The Noisemakers...I'd recommend Long, Tall, Cool One, Sneaking Up On Boo Radley, Spider Fingers/Tempus Fugit, Mandolin Rain/Black Muddy River.

Got a pretty tight band; he does a nice piano, I think, and if you don't like him, that's okay, too.

Start off with Boo Radley, if you can.

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

Try these: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUkiFLURt38[/youtube]

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Now, that was funny.

Catchy, too.

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlgq59dsFQ[/youtube]

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Hard to watch with the imagery...my kid is kinda lost, at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Squeamous

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1gq4mQh6UA[/youtube]

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I knew that one, but didn't know it was them...I remember thinking it sounded like something the Beatles would have ended-up doing, had they not come apart.

Great song.

It's coming in right now. ;)

BTW-

Odd they wouldn't play a'la normal, from the bored - I had to go to YT to re-find them...:dabs:

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Originally Posted by j2k4

I'm gonna check those as soon as I post this-

As for Hornsby, you can get a flavor for his talent the way I would have you perceive it by checking out his live stuff, and, wonder-of-wonders, you should easily find several from Here Come The Noisemakers...I'd recommend Long, Tall, Cool One, Sneaking Up On Boo Radley, Spider Fingers/Tempus Fugit, Mandolin Rain/Black Muddy River.

Got a pretty tight band; he does a nice piano, I think, and if you don't like him, that's okay, too.

Start off with Boo Radley, if you can.

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Oh, I was just looking on Youtube and saw 'The way it is'. Everyone knows that one, don't they? The only ones from your list that I could find were Spider Fingers and Mandolin rain. I really liked the second one :yup:. I'll check out some more of his stuff I think. I quite like his piano style even if he does play like Linus :D.

I would never have thought of the Beatles if you hadn't mentioned it, but I can see what you mean. John Lennon had a pretty dry, sarcy sense of humour. Without the drugs and hippy stuff I imagine he'd write a song like that.

Sorry to hear about your kid :(. I don't have any and that song always chokes me up. It's so genuine and straight-up.