No pop from Papa Joel ... but maybe Alexa

On the eve of the end of his spring tour, Billy Joel went on the record about recording new pop songs:  Not gonna happen. At least not anytime soon.

"Look, I still love rock-and-roll, I still love pop music," Joel told Therockradio.com a few days ago before playing a final gig in Minneapolis. "I haven't divorced myself from the material that I wrote before -- I mean, that's why I'm out here on the road playing this stuff -- and I still believe in it. But I don't feel compelled to write in song form anymore."

Speaking of his latest tour, Joel started covering songs from other popular artists including AC/DC ("Highway to Hell"), Bob Dylan ("Lay Lady Lay") and even the Beatles ("Oh, Darling"). He also dipped deep into his own material, singing two songs from the '70s -- "Zanzibar" and "Everybody Loves You Now."

My take: Oh hell, Billy has told us all before he's not recording any more pop, but it still hurts to hear him constantly reinforce it. Sorta like having your parents tell you and your sister on Christmas morning that you were both "mistakes." (Ummm ... or so I'm told.) But as long as Joel continues to tour and play his hits (and the Christmas presents keep coming), do we really care?

SPEAKING OF JOEL: There's another Joel on the music scene these days -- his daughter Alexa Ray Joel, who just released a debut CD of six songs called "Sketches." But before you think she's getting all the breaks because of Dad, hear this out: She self-released the CD because she has no record label yet.

Still, it can't hurt to call home sometimes, right?

"When I first started writing songs I'd always show them to my dad but because he's so amazing he'd instantly make them way better," Alexa Joel told the Press-Enterprise during a recent interview. "I started to realize that doing that was basically cheating, so now he doesn't get to hear anything until it's done."

Go to her official website or myspace page to hear some of the tunes. (Freakishly realistic photo, isn't it? She's got Christie Brinkley's face but Billy's eyes.)

Comments

[Art]

As the lone comment on this topic to date, I'll say for many of us, yes... We do care that Billy isn't writing anymore. Hell, I cared when George Harrison died. I mean geeze. Music these days is just so very bad unless you look into the more obscure, less popular artists (Apple, Morissette--at least her later stuff, et. al.). It would be nice to hear new music from one of the true greats of music--regardless of whether it sounds like the stuff he did in the 70s, 80s, or even the 90s. I suppose I feel like music is more about videos today than actual musical talent or writing genius.