You know Billy Joe? Cheesy love songs and faux blue collar novelty songs, amirite? Turns out he’s a bit more than just a piano man, with some cleverly constructed songs. I remembered the hits from this, but the big romantic ballads Just the Way You Are and She’s Always a Woman fall a little flat when you find out that he’s now on his fourth marriage to a series of increasingly younger and more glamorous women.
I was more impressed with the mini song cycle Scenes From an Italian Restaurant that looks at the ups and downs of a relationship over a lifetime, and Vienna which is a tribute to that city with an appropriately Brechtian European feel.
I also found out today that George Martin was initially tapped to produce this album which I think would have made it quite a different experience. As it stands, it’s a fine piece but probably just a bit too smooth for me.
https://album.link/gb/i/158617952
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