By Bob Grimm

The great Billy Joel finally gets a worthy documentary, a five-hour, two-parter in which he, and a lot of figures in his life, participate fully.

In Billy Joel: And So It Goes, directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin cover the entire life of Joel—and I mean the whole thing, warts and all, from his troubled younger years in Hicksville, N.Y. (when he dabbled in boxing alongside his musical career), through his early bands like the infamous Attila, through the marvelous salad years of the late ’70s and ’80s, and up until present day.

Joel is right there for this entire ride, speaking candidly about the highs and lows. Yes, his ex-wives (Christie Brinkley and Elizabeth Weber among them) and ex-bandmates (including the awesome Liberty DeVitto) get a chance to chime in. Joel, of course, wrote and sang the wonderful song “Honesty.” This documentary is chock-full of honesty.

Joel was critically drubbed during most of his heyday, but he’s had the last laugh. Albums like Turnstiles, The Stranger and Glass Houses stand as all-time-great rock records.

Like Bruce Springsteen, Joel didn’t cave to whatever musical movements (like disco) were going on around him. His trademark sound prevailed no matter what album he was putting out. Even the doo-wop album, An Innocent Man, managed to feel like a Joel album rather than some drastic, career-altering left turn.

And So It Goes shows Joel’s mammoth legacy. He stopped writing and recording rock music in the mid-’90s, while still performing consistently through many stretches of the last 30 years. He doesn’t have to make any more new music, because his musical output in his productive years was so bountiful—and it just gets better with each passing year.

The documentary stands as one of the best rock documentaries EVER, and it’s strongly recommended for fans and the uninitiated. Long live Billy Joel!

Billy Joel: And So It Goes is now streaming on HBO Max.