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I have been a Billy Joel fan since my senior year at South Miami High, and even though my collection of his music was pitifully small - still is, too - I did have a few of his 1980s vintage albums on audiocassettes. Included in this small batch of tapes was his first "Greatest Hits" collection, which covered the years 1973-1985. I played the cassette to death in my college years, even taking it with me to Sevilla (Seville), Spain, during a study-abroad stint.

I was glad when the first CD re-release of Volumes One and Two became available in the early 1990s. By then I had gone through two cassettes and was not looking forward to buying a third. I was looking forward to hearing "Piano Man," "She's Always a Woman," "Good Night Saigon," and "Don't Ask Me Why" in the new-to-me compact disc format.

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the CD version was a marked improvement over the cassette. Not only did it sound better, but "Just the Way You Are" was presented in its entirety; in the cassette it had been abridged to fit the running time allowed on the tape. I also heard several new songs not included in the tape for space purposes, including "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" and "She's Got a Way." This 2-disc set soon became my favorite non-classical, non-movie soundtrack music, and I loved to sing along to my much loved songs with the aid of the booklet of lyrics.

I held off on buying Volume Three as a result of a bad review in the Miami Herald, but when I saw this boxed set in 1998, I could not resist the temptation. Sure, I already had half of the four CDs in this collection, but I just had to have it! And naturally I played Disc Three first...and I regretted having paid attention to the Herald's music critic.

First, because Volume Three takes up where Volume Two left off (with songs from 1983's An Innocent Man), I was ecstatic when I heard "An Innocent Man" and "Keeping the Faith," which I would have preferred on the 1973-85 collection. Second, I also discovered such songs as "Leningrad," "River of Dreams," and the elegiac ode to doomed love, "And So It Goes." I fell in love with the Celtic backbeat of "The Downeaster Alexa," the neo-classical "Lullabye (Good Night My Angel)," and the smoldering sensuality of "Shameless." As he did in Volume Two, Joel adds several new songs to supplement his older material, including covers of "Hey, Girl," "Light as a Breeze," and Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love," which Joel's friend Garth Brooks also covered in his own Greatest Hits boxed set.

The fourth disc is very interesting, even if it contains songs we heard in the other discs of this set. It contains several live lectures with musical interludes. These were recorded at several colleges on different dates, but are seamlessly spliced so that it sounds like one single performance. Here Joel gives us a glimpse of the creative and business aspects of his musical career, and he does so with humor, intelligence, and charm.

All in all, if you are a Joel fan and can't afford all his albums, I recommend this boxed set. (A Caveat: 2001's The Essential Billy Joel 2-disc set does cover much of the same ground, but has a few variations of content.)

22 of 23 found the following review helpful:

Excellent overview of a great body of workMay 06, 2000
By New World Smurf "new_world_smurf"
Having grown up with an older brother and a cousin who are rabid Billy Joel fans, I grew up listening to his music on a daily basis. What has always amazed me about Joel is the ease with which he can jump styles. He can rock out ("Big Shot", "A Matter Of Trust"), be tender ("She's Always A Woman", "She's Got A Way"), even do a little gospel ("River Of Dreams"). True, I like some of his songs better than others, but overall you have to appreciate his solid musicianship, both in performing and writing. It's also amazing how he can span generations--both my 66-year-old father and my 11-year-old niece are fans (in fact, "The Stranger" was the only rock album Dad would let us play in the car on family trips!). In this age of sampling being called songwriting, it's great to hear an artist who can truly write great songs, truly sing, and truly play. This set literally covers Joel's career beginning to end, and the third disk, which is a combination of a talk he gave to college students and live tracks (including a great cover of "Back In The USSR" and, of course, the awesome singalong that is "Piano Man") gives a fascinating glimpse into how some of his greatest hits came into being. A must for any Joel fan, even if you're just a casual one, because this set has everything and more.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Almost the same as GH 1,2,3Mar 11, 2005
By Warhorse "_warhorse"
The main difference between this collection and the Greatest Hits 1-3 package is that for an extra $19 dollars you get one extra disc of rarities. The only other difference is that here you get "Don't Ask Me Why" in place of "Honesty". It's too bad the GH 1-3 doesn't also have "Don't Ask Me Why" when there are a number of other weaker tracks that could have been dropped instead. For that matter it is also missing "Modern Woman", "That's not Her Style" and "No Man's Land."

The 2 Disc, Essentials ($27), by constrast is predictably missing a large number of songs: "The Stranger", "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Big Shot", "Pressure", "You're Only Human", "Night is Still YOung", "Keeping the Faith", "This is the Time", "Shameless" and the three bonus tracks from GHV.3. On the other hand it includes "You're My Home" and "Miami 2017".

Economically GH1-3 gives you the best selection of tracks. So this is probably what I'll be getting rather than this more expensive 4 disc collection.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

There's nobody more entertaining than Billy Joel!Nov 30, 1999

This box set is awesome. If you are a devoted fan like myself you probably already have all the C.D.'s, including the Evening of Questions and Answers from another box set, but the enlcosed booklet makes it well worth paying for it all again! Billy really opens himself up in this and shows a very personal side of himself, rather than putting all his energy into being The Entertainer, like he usually does. I highly recommend it to anyone else who really loves Billy Joel!

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