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Billy Joel knocks it out of the park with his first new song in almost 20 years "Turn the Lights Back On". The video opens with a "young" Billy Joel thanks to AI/CGI tech. When I first saw it the other day I was like "I don't remember this song or video at all from the 80s.." and then I realized it was a new song.

Clever video. Not seen that before, although I've loved the song since I first heard it. One thing I've never seen commented on is that the single is actually sped up a semitone to give Billy a bit of a younger voice. - Watch the Grammy performance where it's in it's original key....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lztHsCPB7E0

Very strong comeback! Video clever and brave (with closeups) and well done!

I like it a lot too (song and video) but the auto tune seems over the top - in some places he doesn’t sound like himself, unfortunately. Grammy performance is more authentic Billy IMO :

I saw a recent interview and apparently he's uncomfortable with his voice [and hates recording] and it took a couple years to get him to do the song.

Maybe he decided it's now or never and agreed to some manipulation to bring his voice to a level of perfection he thought deserving of the song.

I bet it was probably also a huge internal debate to allow the use of CGI to make his younger self for the video.

This opens the door a little wider for older artists to embrace the new technology in service of continuing their art. I think that's a good thing.

If the choice is (1) A new Billy Joel song that sounds as good as his vintage material or (2) NO new Billy Joel song I say let's have a new Billy Joel song.

There was time when oil painters were only using natural pigments and then more rich and colorful synthetic pigments were invented and it changed what people could do.

Do we know if Billy Joel's live performances 40-45 years ago sounded similar to the studio versions?

Is it possible some of his early records may have been speed up a little or at least the vocals vari-speeded??

Hmm remember what he famously said about the Cold Spring Harbour LP...
Oh well it works.

Tex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:04 pm Do we know if Billy Joel's live performances 40-45 years ago sounded similar to the studio versions?

As far as I know yes, all the same key. This is just used as a way to make him sound younger - Probably a good thing in many ways as we haven't heard his voice in a studio session for so long. The older deeper voice may be a bit jarring to original fans.

Howard Stern did a fairly long interview with BJ on February 14th. He talks about the origin of the song in that interview.