THE BRIDGE  -  BILLY JOEL

YEAR:  1986
LABEL:  Columbia
TRACK LISTING:  Running On Ice,  This Is the Time,  A Matter of Trust,  Modern Woman,  Baby Grand,  Big Man On Mulberry Street,  Temptation,  Code of Silence,  Getting Closer
IMPRESSIONS:  This was a huge album in my life at the time and it never fails to remind me of countless road trips with my friend Paul.  It features one of Billy's greatest ballads in "This Is the Time" and a couple of my favourite duets with "Code of Silence" and "Baby Grand".  Then there's the distinctive tinkling-icicle piano intro on the Police-inspired opener "Running on Ice", the drum-bashing hit single "A Matter of Trust" (which is one of my mother's favourites), the big-band sound of the "MOONLIGHTING"-inspired song "Big Man on Mulberry Street" and the "RUTHLESS PEOPLE" soundtrack denizen "Modern Woman".  This is a major "waning-days of Rustler" album and I never get tired of hearing it.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Running On Ice,  This Is the Time,  A Matter of Trust,  Modern Woman,  Baby Grand,  Big Man On Mulberry Street,  Code of Silence
GUEST ARTISTS:  Ray Charles (vocals on "Baby Grand"),  Cyndi Lauper (vocals on "Code of Silence"), Steve Winwood (vocals and Hammond organ on "Getting Closer"),  Ron Carter (acoustic bass on "Big Man On Mulberry Street"),  Michael Brecker (baritone saxophone on "Big Man On Mulberry Street")
FACT SHEET:  THE BRIDGE is Billy Joel's tenth album.  "Running On Ice" was heavily influenced by the Police.  "Big Man On Mulberry Street" was inspired by the television show "MOONLIGHTING".  The album cover painting is by Brad Holland.    

RIVER OF DREAMS  -  BILLY JOEL

YEAR:  1993
LABEL:  Columbia
TRACK LISTING:  No Man's Land,  The Great Wall of China,  Blonde Over Blue,  A Minor Variation,  Shades of Grey,  All About Soul,  Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel),  The River of Dreams,  Two Thousand Years,  Famous Last Words
IMPRESSIONS:  These were the last words he had to say.  Billy Joel's last rock album before embarking on the classical music trail (which yielded one album and then nothing) is not as good as I'd like it to be.  However, half the album contains some of Joel's best songs.   The explosive album opener "No Man's Land" is a terrific rocker.  After that, though, we get a string of rather uninspired songs before we reach the wonderful "All About Soul" which doesn't seem like much but worms its way into your head until you love it.  "Lullabye" obviously was written for his daughter Alexa and the song is one of the major catalysts in Joel's mind for abandoning his rock career; the piano bridge (and indeed the music to the entire song) is more classical than pop and Joel wondered why he was continuing to try to shoehorn rock lyrics into the more classical-sounding music he was writing.  Nevertheless, the song stands as one of Joel's most emotional songs and one of the best lullabies you're likely to hear.  Fittingly, this lullaby seques into the title track as if the listener has fallen asleep and is now dreaming.  "The River of Dreams" was justly celebrated at the time for its joyous abandon and it's Joel's very own "Lion Sleeps Tonight".  Next we have "Two Thousand Years" which is an OK song but the version on Joel's live "MILLENIUM CONCERT" cd is better.  Finally, we have my favourite song on the album and Joel's farewell to the world of rock music:  "Famous Last Words".  There is something just so autumnal about the song -- images of a summer resort closing down for the season are vivid -- that I find myself constantly listening to the song every late August/early September.  It never fails.  Joel sings "...these are the last words I have to say" and pretty much since then they were (aside from his 2007 single for his wife "All My Life") and as such it is a fitting way to take his leave.  Not a classic album but still a very good one.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  No Man's Land,  All About Soul,  Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel),  The River of Dreams,  Famous Last Words
GUEST ARTISTS:  Color Me Badd (backing vocals on "All About Soul").  Really?!?!?
FACT SHEET:  RIVER OF DREAMS is Billy Joel's twelfth album and his last rock album to date.  The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Album of the Year" and "The River of Dreams" was nominated for 3 more Grammys.  The album cover was painted by Christie Brinkley.  In 1994, a 3 cd box set entitled "A VOYAGE ON THE RIVER OF DREAMS" was released only in Australia, New Zealand and Japan (yes, of course I own it) which includes the regular "RIVER OF DREAMS" cd as well as a live cd EP featuring "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "No Man's Land", "The Ballad of Billy the Kid", Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel),  "The River of Dreams" and "A Hard Day's Night" and a third cd of a lecture tour recorded at Princeton University called "AN EVENING OF QUESTIONS & ANSWERS...AND PERHAPS A FEW SONGS" in which Joel takes questions from the audience about his songwriting.   

THE NYLON CURTAIN  -  BILLY JOEL

YEAR:  1982
LABEL:  Columbia
TRACK LISTING:  Allentown,  Laura,  Pressure,  Goodnight Saigon,  She's Right On Time,  A Room of Our Own,  Surprises,  Scandinavian Skies,  Where's the Orchestra
IMPRESSIONS:  It's the early Reagan years in America and Billy made an album about the bleak outlook for the American Dream that we would do better than our parents.  This album is one of Joel's personal favourites and he laboured over it more than any other album before.  It is a quite ambitious project in that it tackles many of the concerns of the early 1980s.  From the opening factory whistle, Joel announces the decline of the American steel industry and many other industries, in fact, with the anthemic "Allentown".  Coming only a year and a bit after the murder of John Lennon, "THEY NYLON CURTAIN" has its fair share of Beatles and particularly Lennonesque aspects; none more prominently than the terrifically Beatles-like "Laura" which is a more successful homage than the rather laboured "INNOCENT MAN" album to come later.  Joel's singing voice in "Scandinavian Skies" either consciously or unconsciously takes on a very John Lennon-like timbre and delivery; all this along with the drum riff from Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover".  The dawning of the hedonistic consumerist paradise of the 1980s was already on Joel's mind in the sharp, biting wit of "Pressure".  The long-delayed acceptance of Vietnam veterans perhaps got it's primal start in the intensely moving "Goodnight Saigon".  "A Room of Our Own" sounds like a lost Elton John song; if you listen to this song and can't hear Elton John in every note you simply aren't familiar with Elton John.  I wonder why La Reg never covered it?  I suppose Elton figured that Billy Joel had already covered a song Elton himself had never even done so there was no need.  Or something.  "Surprises" is no doubt written about his wife Elizabeth as was "Just the Way You Are" but it is the antithesis of that earlier song in that it documents the messy break-up of that relationship in a Marvin Gaye-"Here, My Dear" juggular vein.  The album winds up with the melancholy "piano man" torch song "Where's the Orchestra" sitting alone back in the smoky piano bar after hitting all the stops through the land of the Nylon Curtain.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Allentown,  Laura,  Pressure,  Goodnight Saigon,  A Room of Our Own,  Surprises
FACT SHEET:  THE NYLON CURTAIN is Billy Joel's eighth album and was produced by Phil Ramone.  It is one of the first albums to be recorded, mixed and mastered entirely digitally.  The album was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy Award.

TURNSTILES - Billy Joel

YEAR: 1976

LABEL: Columbia

TRACK LISTING: Say Goodbye To Hollywod, Summer Highland Falls, All You Wanna Do Is Dance, New York State of Mind, James, Prelude/Angry Young Man, I've Loved These Days, Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway)

IMPRESSIONS: This is the album released right before Joel's blockbuster hit album "THE STRANGER" which really brought him worldwide attention. While this isn't quite as strong an album as the next one, TURNSTILES still contains some of my favourite Billy Joel songs; most notably "I've Loved These Days" and "Summer, Highland Falls" which I rank among his best. The epic post-apocalyptic "Miami 2017" has become much better known in recent years than it once was (since Joel has played it often live since September 11, 2001). "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and most certainly "New York State of Mind" have been overplayed much too much for me to include them as favourite tracks nowadays.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Summer Highland Falls, Prelude/Angry Young Man, I've Loved These Days, Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway)

FACT SHEET: TURNSTILES is Billy Joel's fourth album. The album was partially inspired by Joel's return to New York after living in California. Three of the album tracks ("Summer, Highland Falls", "New York State of Mind" and "Miami 2017") are directly about New York. The musical style of "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" is a direct homage to Ronnie Spector; that song, as well as "I've Loved These Days" reference Joel's farewell to the bohemian decadence of California he's leaving behind. The album was originally recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band and produced by James William Guercio. Joel wasn't satisfied with the results, fired Guercio and re-recorded the album as his own producer.