Following the premiere of the second part of Billy Joel’s And So It Goes documentary, the Piano Man dropped a massive 155-song companion album on digital services featuring unreleased recordings and more.
Never-before-heard music from Joel’s archives are peppered throughout the five-hour HBO documentary, from his early days with Long Island rockers the Hassles to his orchestral and instrumental works.
The seven-hour And So It Goes, a “musical companion” to the documentary, features dozens of unreleased live recordings and demo versions, including historic moments like Joel’s first-ever live performance of his epic “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” recorded May 6, 1977 at Long Island’s C.W. Post College.
The soundtrack also includes album tracks from the catalog, and in some cases Joel’s own introductions to the songs. “‘Big Shot’ was a hangover song,” Joel explained in the intro to that track. “I don’t know how many times I woke up in the morning realizing I was an idiot the night before, felt like hell, had a hungover. You look in the mirror and you go, ‘You had to be a big shot, didn’t you?’”
On Joel’s YouTube, which also compiled the 155-song playlist, the songs are accompanied by their corresponding visuals when available, whether live concert footage or Joel’s gloriously aged music videos.
In Rolling Stone’s review of the two-part doc, David Browne wrote, “For all his foibles, his reputation as the ‘brat’ of pop music, as one critic put it, Joel remains strangely endearing, almost lovable, by the time the final credits roll. Unlike most of the rock-vet pals who weigh in on his saga, he truly does seem like someone you’d want to share a beverage with — even if you worry he’ll purposefully pour it onto your lap if you say the wrong thing.”