Well now, that was fast. Harmonix has gone ahead and confirmed that mention in The USA Today about Billy Joel tunes coming to Rock Band 3, listing ten tunes to be featured in the pack:
| Billy Joel | Big Shot |   |
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| Billy Joel | Captain Jack |  |
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| Billy Joel | It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me |  |
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| Billy Joel | Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) |  |
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| Billy Joel | Only The Good Die Young |  |
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| Billy Joel | Piano Man |  |
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| Billy Joel | Pressure |  |
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| Billy Joel | Say Goodbye to Hollywood |  |
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| Billy Joel | The Entertainer |  |
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| Billy Joel | The Stranger |  |
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You probably remember that the The USA Today story mentioned twelve tracks, but Harmonix’s announcement is careful not to imply that these ten are the only tracks coming, saying that the pack will feature “some of Billy Joel’s most-loved songs including [the tracks listed above].” [Emphasis mine.]
And you’ll also notice that this lineup includes four of the five songs I mentioned as being absolute necessities. “You May Be Right” could end up as one of those final two, I suppose — but now I’m thinking it’s less likely, and here’s why: The press release mentions that the songs “will include Keys and Pro Keys parts”…but no mention of Pro Guitar. Since that’s a more guitar-centric song, I wouldn’t be surprised to find it left out. But I’ll tell you a secret: I would have been happy with this pack if it included “Pressure” and eleven songs I don’t know; that’s how much I want to play that song.
[UPDATE: Commenter Rab found a press release from Billy Joel's peeps that claims that Rock Band will also be getting another six-pack of tunes in the spring, dubbed the "Piano Challenge." Rock!]
Help yourself to an updated playlist after the break.
Darn, that’s already 19 post-RB3 release songs (these + 9 Doors songs) that don’t seem to have Pro-Guitar and Pro-Bass. I wonder if they’re just waiting on sales figures of the Pro Guitar SKUs before doing more with it or what the deal is…
Cool. That’s five out of the twelve I picked, but I would have slipped in Movin Out and Only The Good Die Young if I hadn’t stupidly forgotten them. The Entertainer is the only track I’m not crazy about.
I really hope “Scenes of an Italian Restaurant” is on its way too, so I can sing about Brenda and Eddie. And then one of these: Uptown Girl, Allentown, Goodnight Saigon.
“You May Be Right” and “Uptown Girl” and I will be a very happy camper.
I think its a pretty good selection so far. There’s more than two songs left I’d like to see included, but if these sell well ( which I think is likely) I bet we see a second pack with more of his later stuff- Joel has never been one to avoid making money on his music.
Official Billy Joel press release:
http://www.billyjoel.com/news/billy-joel-catalog-be-reissued-commemorative-cdsdvds-be-released
Rock Band is excited to offer a new Billy Joel edition of the popular video game, providing a masterful keyboard experience of his music to fans around the world through two downloadable game packs: a “Hits” pack of 12 songs arriving in December 2010 followed by a 6-song “Piano Challenge” pack in the spring.
””””””’
Perhaps the Ray Charles duet “Baby Grand” will be in the spring pack, but I have a feeling that the second pack might be post 93 Joel with no vocals.
Bryan, completely agree, “You May Be Right” and “Uptown Girl” are glaring omissions, so is We Didn’t Start the Fire, Tell Her About It and New York State Of Mind. Personally I think You May Be Right would be so well suited to typical rb. I don’t know why they wouldn’t just say it was those though….I’m really scared the 2 new ones will be new songs or used to promote something, but other than reissues he doesn’t have anything going on (indeed, he said he’s taking the rest of the year off..)…so who knows.
There is a new greatest hits album coming out which are all remasters, but some of the announced RB tracks aren’t on that…soooo…guessing this is rather hard.
Good find rab!
Excellent find! Post updated. Thanks!