Billy Joel album-by-album thread

My appreciation for Storm Front blossomed last year after I picked up the Friday Music vinyl reissue-much better bass and soundstaging than the flat & thin sounding CD. A great album, top drawer Billy for me.

 

River of Dreams (1993)



Released: 10 August 1993
Recorded: 1992

1. "No Man's Land"
2. "The Great Wall of China"
3. "Blonde Over Blue"
4. "A Minor Variation"
5. "Shades of Grey"
6. "All About Soul"
7. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)"
8. "The River of Dreams"
9. "Two Thousand Years"
10. "Famous Last Words"

Joel's twelfth and, to date, final studio album. He stopped recording new music as a performer after this album although he has subsequently released live albums and composed the music for an instrumental album performed by Richard Joo. River of Dreams presented a much more serious tone from Joel than found in his previous albums, dealing with issues such as trust and long-lasting love. It was rumored that the themes of trust and betrayal, particularly certain lyrics from the songs "A Minor Variation" and "The Great Wall of China", stem from Joel's legal disputes with his former manager and ex-brother-in-law, Frank Weber, who reportedly embezzled millions of dollars from Joel and used dubious accounting practices to cover it up.

The album cover was a painting by Joel's then-wife, Christie Brinkley. In 1993, Rolling Stone gave her the Top Picks award for "The Best Album Cover of the Year".

"No Man's Land" is about the growth of suburbia and its negative environmental and social aspects. It presumably refers somewhat specifically to Long Island (the line about "lots more to read about Lolita and suburban lust" is an indirect reference to Amy Fisher). It was the first song performed on Late Show with David Letterman in August 1993.

"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" - inspired by Alexa Ray Joel, his daughter by Christie Brinkley - was originally written as a prelude to the song "The River of Dreams" in the style of a monophonic Gregorian chant. Joel had written English words in the chant describing a man who had lost his faith, and had then had the words translated into Latin. He changed his mind upon hearing the recording, and incorporated it into the song River of Dreams. He later removed the interlude from the final studio version of "River of Dreams", and instead wrote lyrics to the melody that reflected his sentiment toward Alexa Ray, who was a young child at the time of writing. The version of "River of Dreams" incorporating Lullaby appeared as an alternate version on the box set My Lives, and on An Evening of Questions and Answers...And A Little Music.

Joel performed the song "The River of Dreams" during the 1994 Grammy Awards telecast. In that performance, Joel left a long pause in the middle of the song to protest the decision to cut off Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech after Sinatra received that year's Grammy Legend Award. During the pause, Joel noted he was wasting "valuable advertising time." Click here to see the performance

This is Joel's last studio album to date, and he has called the final track "Famous Last Words" a "self-fulfilling prophecy"; Joel felt he had "reached the point where I wasn't going to write songs anymore" and that it "just seemed this is the time to write that song, to close the book".



See also
River of Dreams EPK
Q&A: Meaning Of "Famous Last Words?" (Nuremberg 1995)
Q&A: "Gloria" In "The River Of Dreams"? (Florida State 1996)
Billy Joel Talks About The Album "River Of Dreams" - SiriusXM 2016

Music videos
"The River of Dreams"
"All About Soul"
"No Man's Land"
"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)"

 

This is Joel's last studio album that we'll be talking about but FYI the thread isn't finished just yet. Still got some new songs released on Greatest Hits Volume III and other loose ends to tidy up after we discuss this album.

 

I think I've listened to River of Dreams all the way through just once. I didn't care for it much. It wasn't terrible, but it did nothing for me either.

 

"River Of Dreams" is where I jumped off the Billy Joel wagon. I didn't enjoy the album at all, except for "Great Wall Of China". And, there are scores and scores of used copies of the CD across the U.S.. I can't even get rid of my copy.

 

I guess nobody cared for this one, but I've always been curious about it. Loved the title track, with it's callbacks to '50s pop and such. And who knew Christie Brinkley could paint? I've heard people slag the cover over the years, but I've always thought it seemed like quite a change of pace both for Joel and for that era (and isn't at all what I'd expect a Christie Brinkley painting to look like).

 

Didn't it go to number one and 5X Platinum?

 

Well, I've always liked this album and have never seen why people are so down on it.

All About Soul is a song I find extremely touching (perhaps for reasons I don't really understand!), plus No Man's Land and Shades of Grey really rock.

I also like Blonde Over Blue and Great Wall
Of China, which are both interesting songs to me... and ok, the title track seems a bit cheesy now but it was a smash hit at the time, and I still enjoy it when it comes on.

 

Yes, but he was big enough by then that a lot of people would go out and buy it without hearing a note. I admit to being among the guilty there.

I love the title track and "All About Soul," and although I haven't listened to it in forever, "Lullabye" is beautiful. I can't even remember how most of the other songs go.

 

Perhaps I should revisit this album one more time to see if I can get anything out of it.

 

You know, I loved it at the time, cooled on it, then replayed it again a couple of months ago and . . . well . . . it's a pretty incredible song. Maybe a bit OTT with the production and the arrangement but screw it. Go big or go home!

 

Storm Front i really liked back in the day as it was a Rock album and i was into Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Aerosmith back in the late 80s early 90's. Still remember the Fire video,as i was a history buff it apealed to me, lots of great singles on these albuym for me.

I like River of Dreams, lullabye holds a place in my heart as i used to cry listening to that song when i just separated from my ex wigfe and i was missing my son terribly. Side B is better than side A for me on this one.

Not bad albums at all for me, just somewhat patchy.

 

Least favorite album of his. I think Billy is incredibly talented, and has a great pop/rock voice - but he's not a soul singer. And he tries to be a lot on this record and it just doesn't work. Literally the two big singles (Lullabye and RoD) are the only tracks I like on this. The first 7 are a slog to listen to. He just seemed out of ideas, and it's apparent to me why this was the last studio album of songs.

A side note - Fantasies and Delusions is a studio album, albeit a classical one, and I see why it's not considered part of this canon of work being discussed.

 

I like the fact that with the title track he was still able to have big hits in the UK - he was one of those artists I was always glad to have around on that basis. But I find the album a real struggle, it's just not my kind of thing at all and it sounds laboured and tired to me. Interestingly, my father who is a long time Joel fan and bought his stuff through the 70s, thinks it's a really strong record. I guess I should try and find out why! I lump it in with Stormfront, just sounds like the game is up, too much effort not enough heart.

 

Sorry to jump in here, but I've been reading through the thread and discovered the Bridge documentary (2014), does anyone know if it's available to stream on any services? I'm not looking to buy a dvd but would happily pay to stream it (have netflix & amazon fire but pretty sure it's not there)

 

I remember Walmart had opened their very first store in my area and I was checking the place out and saw the new Joel album there on the shelf . Even though I hadn't bought his previous couple albums something compelled me to give 'River of Dreams' a shot. Maybe I liked the single, I don't remember. Maybe I was just feeling nostalgic. At any rate, it's just an OK record. I seldom revisit it as a whole but I do occasionally drop in a play a song or three. I like "No Man's Land" and the title track, especially. I like about half of it. The others....not so much. But I like attaching it to the memory of that Walmart grand opening and the end of civilization as we knew it.

 

"Lullabye" was not one of the two big singles. That and "And So It Goes" is pure torture.

"All About Soul" is his last Top 40 hit and those who have not heard the single remix it is the superior version.

 

Forgot about All About Soul. Lullabye was played a lot though on AC radio at the time. No Man's Land was the other single IRRC.

 

I love Billy Joel, He has some really great songs and albums!

 

In honor of this thread, I listened to "River of Dreams" during my run today. I enjoy this album more than the majority of those who have posted, but that's been true of most every album on this thread.

"Shades of Grey" is my favorite song from the album, perhaps because it is a thematic descendant of Bob Dylan's terrific "My Back Pages". Yes, Billy does go for a rather shameless lift from Cream's "Sweet Wine" for the music, but the lyric always struck me as relevant to my own life experiences. In the two decades plus that this song has been out, the ideological gap in the United States has grown (sometimes exponentially it seems), making the song relevant in both a political and a personal sense.

I have loved "Lullabye" from my first listen. I think it will inspire another thread from me in a few minutes. As David Crosby said in a similar song, "How do you tell them there comes an end?"

There never seems to have been much love for "Two Thousand Years", so I guess I get to have it all to myself. I am a sucker for humanist songs (a McCartney specialty) - positive songs about what humans are capable of. "Two Thousand Years" balanced that optimism with questions about why all these accomplishments have not come to pass (while not forgetting those that have). There is also a tinge of semi-ambiguous spirituality in "Two Thousand Years" (he's now with "you" after 2000 years - his wife? the audience? the 2000 year old man? or someone who lived 2000 years ago perhaps?) and "River of Dreams" - interesting coming from a card-carrying Atheist.

A couple of the songs feel (to me) like their potential went unfulfilled. I'm not really sure what Billy's point is in "No Man's Land", other than the fact that his suburban upbringing (or perhaps what has happened to that suburbia) has left some scars. "Famous Last Words", by Billy's own admittance, "took so long to write". And yet the potential that was there - an allegory between the summer resort shutting down for the season and the composer moving on to the next phase of his professional life (where he'll be performing "all those other songs I have to play" instead of writing new ones) ... but it fizzles out without coming together (for me, anyway).

I like 'em all from "Cold Spring Harbor" to "River of Dreams". I take each of them holistically - I don't make "playlists", I don't skip tracks, I don't find ANY song painful to listen to.

 

The second half of the album is so much better than the first, it's not even funny, and I've always wondered why it was sequenced as such. Side one has some unoffensive, but forgettable tunes like "Blonde Over Blue" and "A Minor Variation," and the Storm Front-outtake-sounding "Shades Of Grey," but then side two is five solid-to-great tunes all in a row. I think "Two Thousand Years" and "Famous Last Words" are among Billy's best album cuts, and the title track, while kind of cliched and perhaps overplayed at this point, was an irresistibly fun single.

 

I would generally agree with this sentiment, even with my favorite song residing on side 1. I assume he wanted "Lullabye" and "River of Dreams" to stay together (since they were "born" together, and since a lullabye logically leads into a dream), and "Famous Last Words HAD to be last (and "2000 Years" WOULD have been last otherwise).

 

Yeah, I totally get how and why they're related, but insisting those two go together probably made the album sequencing more difficult. It's weird...there's a continuity to the sound of 7 out of the 10 tracks due to Danny Kortchmar and the drummer's annoying piccolo snare drum sound, but then there's a solo piano ballad, a gospel song with a drum loop, and a song recorded with the Storm Front band.

I think "The River Of Dreams" would've made a good first or second track, but I'm not sure there's any way to sequence the LP where "Shades Of Gray" and "No Man's Land" wouldn't sound a bit out of place.

 

I'm sure I read somewhere that the album is literally sequenced in the order the songs were written?

 

If I could only take 2 Joel albums with me, EASY ANSWER, 52nd St and Glass Houses. This is my favourite period of Joel