Rating: 
Summary: Aside from three repeats, this DVD is awesome!!
Review: Having received a copy of Billy's "Greatest Hits Volume III - The Video" as a gift two years ago for Christmas 2000, I asked "Santa" for a copy of Billy's "The Essential Video Collection" as a gift for Christmas 2002--and I'm exceedingly glad that "Santa" gave me what I'd asked for! I've been pleased with "The Essential Video Collection" from the first time I watched it (Christmas-mid-morning).
The DVD is a great collection of original music videos, live concert performances and live studio performances from a legend of rock-n-roll, the "Piano Man".
Although I've never been a die-hard fan of Billy (I'm a true fan of his piano-partner, Elton, instead), at the time I got into the DVD format (April of 2000) there were more Billy discs than Elton discs available (but, thankfully, that's changed within the past two years); nevertheless, I do appreciate Billy's catalog of rock music.
Prior to experiencing "The Essential Video Collection", I had seen only a few of the orignal music videos on the compilation ('Pressure','Allentown','Tell Her About It','Uptown Girl'), none of the live concert footage and none of the live studio footage--so the DVD is a real treat!
The sound quality is up to par with DVD, yet the video quality varies from song selection to song selection, especially the studio footage from the mid-to-late '70s/early '80s and the original music videos from the early-to-mid '80s, while the live concert footage is passable.
Overall, this disc is a great Billy video release
Still, there is one little gripe I have about the disc compilation: three of the original music videos ('Keeping The Faith','A Matter Of Trust' and 'Baby Grand' w/Ray Charles) are repeated from 1997's "Greatest Hits Volume III - The Video" Since the same manufacturer (Sony/Columbia Music Video) produced and released the two titles, it's displeasingly surprising to me how such a content overlap could have occurred; I mean, come on, the supply of material from which Sony/Columbia had to compile this DVD couldn't have been so low that three other *different* original music videos and/or live concert/live studio performances of three other *different* songs couldn't have selected in place of the content overlap. Oh well, I suppose I will be thankful for the majority of the material that this DVD contains.
In terms of DVD features, I like the interactive discography and interactive biographical timeline; also I like the audio choice: PCM stereo (which I use) and DD suround sound. I don't really need fancy-shmancy things like subtitles, on-screen lyrics and different camera angles--pretty much a waste of disc space, if you ask me.
All in all, "The Essential Video Collection" is a solid representation of Billy Joel's indelible mark on the world of rock music--a mark that he could have further perpetuated had he not turned 'classical' with "Fantasies & Delusions" (2001).
In conclusion, "The Essential Video Collection" disc is a should-have, even for casual Billy fans, such as myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Great video collection
Review: I bought the VHS version of this (I didn't have a DVD player at the time but now I do) but whichever version you own I think we all agree that it is a great collection of Billy Joel videos. I especially was pleased to be able to see videos that I had never seen before or had only seen brief clips from like "James", "My Life", "Big Shot", "Honesty", "All for Leyna", "You May Be Right", "Sometimes A Fantasy", "Everybody Loves You Now", "Los Angelenos", and "Goodnight Saigon".Given all that, here are a few minor complaints: 1) Why couldn't they have put the "Video Album Vol. 1" video of "Piano Man" on this instead of a mediocre live version that we can already get on VHS or DVD? I mean, it's not like they're going to ever re-release the "Video Album" volumes on DVD. 2) Couldn't they have changed the sequence of the videos in some way (my preference would have been chronological) instead of just splicing together the two "Video Album" volumes and then tacking on the extra videos at the end.
3) I guess I can understand why they didn't include most of the videos found on the "Greatest Hits Vol. 3" video since that was released not too long ago but if you're gonna call it "The Essential Video Collection" then shouldn't it include ALL of his essential videos. 4) Would have been nice if they could have dug up a live clip or two of performing any of his hits from "The Stranger". Overall this an excellent video collection and I would have rated it 5 stars but the complaints I listed above were enough for me to deduct 1 star.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Video Collection for a Great Pop Music Phenom
Review: I own this video, and if you don't have it, get it! It's worth getting because of all the hits that are included in the collection. If you see it or get it, you can get more of a reaction to what Billy Joel's music is trying to talk about. All of the Glass Houses hits (All For Leyna, It's Still Rock 'n Roll to Me, You May Be Right) focuses mainly on Joel's musical ability and expression in his lyrics. Keeping the Faith, Tell Her About It, Sometimes a Fantasy, Uptown Girl, and The Longest Time create that perfect scenery for a music video, and, once again, a better look into the eyes of Billy Joel. The added videos at the end (She's Right on Time, Goodnight Saigon, Leave the Tender Moment Alone, James) put the icing on the cake, and you want to see this video again and again because it's worth watching again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Great Songs, cheesy videos, gotta love the 80's
Review: I should have looked closer at the title of the DVD. I thought it was clips from Billy Joel in concert playing these songs, not the MTV videos, (with a few live performances thrown in). I grew up on MTV, seeing these videos brings back the memories and how thankful we should be for the way videos look today. The sound is great, even on my older stereo without Dolby 5.1. For Billy Joel fans, this is a good buy if you want it in your collections. If you prefer him live on DVD, look somewhere else.
Rating:
Summary: You can't beat it!
Review: Love those old clips that were previously unavailable. Great set, and for the money, can't be beat.
Rating: 
Summary: And So It Goes... And So It Goes
Review: Put simply, US fans got the short end of the stick on this one. The imported counterpart of this release, entitled "The Ultimate Video Collection" covers more of Billy's career. While it doesn't have "Keepin' The Faith" or "Los Angelenos", it has adds some of his more recent videos, such as: "New York State of Mind (Live), "The River of Dreams", "I Go To Extremes", "The Downeaster Alexa", "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "All About Soul". The bad news is, it's the same 5.1 mix that's on his "Greatest Video Hits Vol III". Compared with the audio mix in his other videos, the aforementioned ones lack surround sound. My other problem with this release is that the original, B&W version of "Piano Man" was not included. I guess because "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Los Angelenos" were filmed monochromatic, they figured if they included a similar one, it would take on a vintage tone. The video I enjoy the most is "Baby Grand". You could really tell Billy is a well-seasoned musician in this one. I also like the fact, that the string section can be clearly heard. This is a different studio take from the version on "The Bridge". In fact, I 'm not even sure they included the string section on that one. "That's soup, dejour, baby!" If you read my previous review for this, you'll note that I had quite a few humorous observations regarding Billy's interesting antics and choice of wardrobe in some of his older videos, such as "It's Still Rock & Roll To Me" and "You May Be Right". But, to be fair, those were the 80's and music videos were still a new concept. So, we'll forgive Billy for having absolutely no clue as to what he should be doing, or in this case not doing while singing. (Drinking beer? Convulsing?) O.K., enough of that. I do want to include one thing from my last review, though, for you psychadelic Billy Joel fans. If you cut the audio to "My Life" and replace it with the theme to "Welcome Back Kotter", you'll be tripping. It's like syncronizing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" with the original B&W version of "The Wizard of Oz". (I didn't make that up. Start the music right after the MGM lion roars. Roger Water's lyrics match to the tee, exactly what you're viewing!) So, there you have it folks. Good, but not great. "And so it goes. And so it goes. And you're the only one who knows."
Rating:
Summary: Good music, great videos but...
Review: The content of this Billy Joel collection is more than you can ask for in a decent music DVD. It has most of his hits like Uptown Girl, Piano Man, Its still rock and roll to me etc. The visuals might look jaded but that has to be the case as these songs are old and videos were shot during the 70s and 80s. This DVD is a must for Billy Joel fans.
Now, I must explain the "but" in review title.. those of you looking for his later videos like We didn't start the fire, River of dreams might be dissappointed. What really made me drop one star off the rating was the missing "Shes always a woman to me" song. That happens to be one of my favorite and I was a trifle irked to find it missing. In short, a good buy for a B.J fan as its got almost all his good songs.. mark the "almost".
Rating:
Summary: Overall, a decent collection...
Review: The good is that you get most of the classics. You get teh MTV videos. You get "She's Right On Time" and "Goodnight Saigon", which were left off of the Video Album released in the mid 80s.It sounds awesome, to say the least. Now, the complaints:
"Piano Man" should have just had the video instead of the Yankee Stadium footage. I could have sworn Billy did a TV special in the mid-70s called "Tonight". This would have made a nice addition to the DVD. The promos to "Songs in the Attic" had to have some more footage so they could have at least put "Captain Jack" on there.
Other songs that should have had videos exclusive to the DVD (possibly interspersing the college lecture tours with the performances, similar to the CD box set of GH I-III): "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant", "Travellin Prayer","NY State of Mind", "Prelude/Angry Young Man", "Just the way You Are", "Only the Good Die Young", "Movin Out", "Vienna", "She's Always A Woman", "Root Beer Rag" (Which had a promo short cartoon ), "Summer Highland Falls", and "Miami 2017" (this would have been fine using the Yankee Stadium footage). The Nylon Curtain tour was also released on home video as "Live From Long Island", and should be rereleased for DVD, as should the Russian concert. "Greatest Hits III" should have been repackaged and sold with this DVD to make it a more definitive collection.
Rating:
Summary: great dvd
Review: this disc is a excellent one. my favorite video of them all is it's still rock n roll to me. i've been looking for that video ever since i seen it on the solid gold show in the late 70's. that and uptown girl are my favorites. that's the real reason why i bought this dvd. 26 billy joel videos are on this dvd.
Rating:
Summary: great dvd
Review: this disc is a excellent one. my favorite video of them all is it's still rock n roll to me. i've been looking for that video ever since i seen it on the solid gold show in the late 70's. that and uptown girl are my favorites. that's the real reason why i bought this dvd. 26 billy joel videos are on this dvd.
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