Show I R C Jd y 1 t 1 Joel Joe's s Nylon Curtain by Fred Durran Points West Reporter We had no cameras To shoot the landscape We passed the And Doors played our tapes And it was dark So dark at night And we held on to each other Like brother to brother We promised our mothers wed we'd write Here Billy Joel is unsurpassed He took off where Dan wh where reDan Dan Daley's Still In Saigon ended He has painted for us the picture of that war Nobody was angry they just survived If there ever was an anthem for the Vietnam vet veterans rans this song is the one that is important For those of u us who only heard about the war Billy Joel brings us us the feeling of how they must have felt about just being there We came in ill spastic like horses We left in plastic as numbered corps corpses s. s This song is so important that it almost saves this album single hand- hand edly Fortunately he gave us us s Allentown Allentown Allen Allen- town Allentown is is' four lour minutes of f. f truth A testimony of the times we live in Harry Chapin said N No o. o ones one's written a protest song song since 1963 It might two decades but this but this song was worth the wait Everything about Allentown is brilliant The music is so simple Im I'm surprised no one has do done doneit e it it sooner Th The guitar and piano strike the same chords to give such a powerful powerful powerful power power- ful effect that the song becomes euphoria This song will be taught to elementary students along with Woody Guthries Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land It is a brilliant treatment of American literature and a testimony of American life It didn't take guts to tell teU this story If you take the time to read the words and listen to the music note by note its it's hard not to be impressed by what Billy Joel can do but this whole album doesn't give you t the e. e time It passes by too fast The opening of side two Right On Time is Billy Joels Joel's entry into the yearly Christmas catalog Its It's Its a shame that every December well we'll have to remember this record There are just too many many other better Billy Joel songs we ha have e forgotten As for the other songs A Room Of Our Own and Scandinavian Skies cop the sou sounds of both Los Bravos ra yos and Paul Simon In the fact fact the dr drum m intro of Skies is so close to 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover you read the credits to see if Simon gets mention Laura is a clone of John Lennons Len Oh 0 h My Love from the Imagine album It becomes somewhat haunting and turns turris into a holy tribute The only two original songs songs on this album are also the be best t cuts Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Good night Sa Saigon g n is a piano man man like like ballad of two friends who lose themselves themselves them them- selves selve in the jungles of Vietnam The helicopter intro reminds me of Apocalypse Now another aDoth r Vietnam epic But But- instead of screaming and releasing bent up terror that almost every very other otner war song h has s done J Joel o l app approaches the subject most most- religiously If you listen to the albu album alburn and feel youve you've heard it before you just might have Billy Joel has copped everyone from the Beatles to Paul Simon for this weak attempt In taking this record piece by piece the music is flawless and the lyrics are once again Joel But in context the songs as a whole feel like they are a compilation tion of all the records that never made other Billy Joel albums For Nylon Curtain Billy Joel is purely 1983 hes he's confused Back when Back when he began in 1973 with Piano Man he was heralded as the new American minstrel He was great in that form In 76 with The Stranger Stranger Stranger Stran Stran- ger he became the adopted voice of the streets Very few albums have equaled those two attempts Every Joel record since then has ha shown glimpses of greatness but just seemed to match up The Nylon Curtain is a prime example of what's wrong with music No Direction Now N ow dont don't get me wrong Im I'm not a a. believer of concept albums I just feel that too many changes chang s are confusing We came cameto cameto cameto to hear Billy Joel and at times were we're disappointed The first release off The Nylon Curtain was Pressure clearly the worse cut off cut off the record Pressure is Billy J. J Joel e trying to sound like lik John Cougar N Needless Josay to Jo say he fails It just took someone like Billy Joel to say it right Allentown is the Pennsylvania town which is the home of Bethleham Steel In today's In-today's economy the steel industry may have been hit the hardest The unemployment and idleness of these people are a reflection of these United T States Out in Bethleham they're killing time filling out forms standing in line Billy Joel holds back no punches This is music that truly matters He cares and makes us care This is what he does best this is what I expect from him We all know the problems and we know what we expected Every child had ad a pretty goodshot good goodshot goodshot shot To get at least as far as their o. o old d man got i But something happened on the way way to that to-that that place k They threw an American merican flag in our face We needed this song to document the he times This song song has has historical value I hope it will last This his is the best song since Born To Run Another anthem Last years Spring Spring- steen song Out Out Of Of Work sung by Gary pary US Bond tried hard to capt capture re the feelings of the country But Joel summed it it up with the last lines of Allentown v Well Wei Hm Im living here herein in Allentown And its it's hard to keep a ag goodman good od man down B But But t t-I t I wont won't be getting up today This al album um is a disappointment for Billy Joel Joel fans Although its it's a must for Allentown and Goodbye Saigon If you have wade to-wade wade tp-wade through J the other muke of this album those two songs will be worth your trouble Allentown alone is so imp important in years it will be a classic Like Billy Joel I T |