Billy Joel's Vienna is too magical to go for Elton John. Both are great though

From the '80s on there hasn't been a decade in which Elton John didn't factor into my life on some profound level. I got caught up on his '70s classics later on. The man's a genius. Very few musicians of any stripe warrant that label. His catalog of hits puts essentially everyone else to shame.

I was recently driven away from a forum because of my mention of Billy Joel and my opinion that he's a good artist because of Phil Ramone. Now I haven't listened to much of Elton John but I believe they both make good music...

Here's where I diverge, anything after "Turnstiles" sees a slow decline for Joel as he would go from Piano Rock with a loose story to pop-star megalomaniac who thinks he can play guitar... It's only after I left that forum and started to browse that I realized that well, the only Billy Joel albums I liked were the ones that were produced with Phil Ramone; I haven't listened to anything after "Turnstiles" but eventually I'll have to because I'm a completionist.

I'm already shuddering at post Turnstiles Billy Joel. He makes Elton John and his vast discography/continuing career look good.

Why we have a thing about Billy Joel vs Elton John as rivals. I think they are friends.

Elton.

I'm a fan of both, but I prefer Elton overall.

I miss Pet Sounds.

Donald Duck Elton > Billy Joel

Yes Elton John!!

Joel has worked with some fine musicians, but something that Elton had that Joel didn't was Caleb Quaye, Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray, Kenny Passarelli, Nigel Olsson, Ray Cooper, Roger Pope, plus adjuncts like Jean-Luc Ponty, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Michael Brecker, Rick Wakeman, etc. I like all of those folks better than the musicians in Joel's bands.