Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2
Billy JoelGREATEST HITS
I & II.
Billy Joel's first major hits package became a format-dependent collection, with the double vinyl and two-CD editions carrying different track counts while covering his rise from the early 1970s through 1985.
Album artwork shown for commentary and historical reference. Image source: Cover Art Archive / MusicBrainz.
SEVEN THINGS
WORTH KNOWING.
Recording stories, personnel, physical details and numbers worth keeping with the record.
Greatest Hits, Volume I & Volume II was released in 1985.
The standard two-CD edition contains 25 tracks, split as 11 songs on the first disc and 14 on the second.
The original double-vinyl configuration contains fewer tracks than the two-CD edition.
The set reaches back to early songs including "Piano Man" and continues through Joel's 1980s hits.
The compilation includes "New York State of Mind," "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "You May Be Right."
Two then-new 1985 recordings, "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young," were added to the retrospective.
The differing LP and CD configurations make the physical format part of the compilation's history.
WHY THIS
ALBUM MATTERS.
The collection became a durable summary of Joel's catalog partly because the CD format gave Columbia enough room to make the retrospective significantly deeper than the vinyl version.
THE
NUMBERS.
2-CD TRACKS
The two-CD edition contains twenty-five songs.
DISCS
The CD set is divided into Volume I and Volume II.
RELEASE
The retrospective arrived in 1985.
THE
PHYSICAL OBJECT.
The differences between the double LP and two-CD versions are a reminder that a greatest-hits album can change substantially depending on the amount of physical space available.
RESEARCH SOURCES
Facts are checked against official artist archives, release databases, recording credits and established archival sources before publication.
KEEP
DIGGING.
More recording stories, strange credits, cover art, chart numbers and details hiding inside the records.