Billy Joel - Piano Man [Holland Import]

Piano Man is where Billy Joel's story really begins, a 1973 album built around the bar-room singalong that would follow him for the rest of his career, here as a Holland import.

After his debut stalled and a bad contract tied him up, Joel retreated to Los Angeles and spent months playing piano in a lounge bar under the name Bill Martin. He turned that experience into song, and this second album, produced by Michael Stewart, introduced him as a writer with a novelist's eye for character and a gift for melody.

The title track "Piano Man" is the crown jewel, a waltz full of harmonica, barflies and dreamers, each verse a short story of lost ambitions. "Captain Jack" is darker, a seething portrait of suburban boredom that became a cult favourite in concert. "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" spins a cinematic Western tale, while "You're My Home" is one of his tenderest love songs.

Musically it blends folk, country and soft rock with plenty of piano and some lovely acoustic textures, though the songs are already unmistakably his. You can hear the seeds of The Stranger and everything that followed.

For fans of great songwriting, it remains a warm, wistful listen best enjoyed late at night with a drink in hand.