I've been listening to Piano Man, the album, over and over again. I wrote this review that you totally don't have to read, but please continue discussion of this incredible singer/songwriter:

"Well you're 21 and you're mom still makes your bed"

Every time I think music is losing its novelty, something like this pulls me back in. The pure vulnerability of this album combined with such high quality 70s production is truly a blessed aesthetic experience. Every track tells a story, brings you into Joel's center of gravity and not a second of space is not contemplated nor is a single melody not living up to its full potential. Joel has this way of communicating such solemn themes in a light-hearted, free and fun manner that enraptures the listener. You are sitting there, hanging on his every word. His voice is an encouraging friend peer pressuring you into gliding along with every choral high, and yet, his grounded personality holds your hand on the come down -- the verses. You want to listen and you want to hear more.

I used to think that Classic Rock -- it's as if I was out of mind thinking that I could really relate to it. What's so great about my life that warrants such a massive backdrop? Then I realized, that there's no way that this music is meant solely for those who have a lifestyle that affords such grandiose orchestration. This is meant for those solitary walks of purposeless, for those times when you are in a relationship that isn't anything particularly mind-blowing -- but it's your own and that's where your life is.

Do not feel like these songs cannot personify every action you take just because they are so well-crafted. In comparison, your life may feel inadequate -- break down that node of thought. Joel is trying to elevate you from this place and take you into a world where you and the music are not just on an equal level. It's a world where you both see eye-to-eye and your ability to listen is just as important as the stories and the songs being sung. Through risking coming across as awkward, Billy Joel's "Piano Man" levels with the audience. The cover art is the proof. That man, those tired, longing eyes are where these songs came from. We are all that man, getting tired from the once profound novelties of day-to-day life and these songs are our soundtrack, our backdrop, aging with our lives and allowing us to understand both the music and ourselves with greater and greater complexity.

I am thankful to live in the era I do when there is no reason not to listen to any style of music, because my biases may have prevented me from this very moving listen had I grown up in another era. Perhaps in another time, I may have allowed the trends of the present to overshadow the substance of past culture. Thankfully, that has not happened.