In Defense of Billy Joel’s "The Bridge"

Didn't he fire a good portion of his regular band before recording this album?

 

Storm Front (above) may be uneven, but it is WAY WAY better than The Bridge. At least half of Storm Front is pretty good stuff. No way I can say that about The Bridge.

 

Not drum machine, Simmons electronic drums.

 

This was the last hurrah for them, only Liberty and David Brown were retained for "Storm Front.

 

For some reason my daughter, an infant when this album was released, loved the sound of this record. No matter how fussy she was, I'd put this on and damn if she didn't get quiet and listen. Can't explain it, not like it's particularly soothing or anything. So, no matter what the general historical consensus of this album is, it will always be ok in my book. Now that she's 29, I'll have to play it an see what happens.

 

Love This Is The Time, A Matter of Trust, and Modern Woman. These were all over the radio at the time, too. Rest of the album is good but the singles are definitely the highlight. Why all the hate?

Also, would love to see this on SACD but I guess the Blu-spec CD is the closest we'll see to an audiophile release.

 

I enjoy The Bridge more now than when it was released. Side 1 was always strong in my book, but it's taken me years to warm up to Side 2. But I'm there now.

Just re-acquired it on vinyl as a matter of fact!

 

I am not a billy Joel fan but really like the melody to matter of trust.

 

That was a cool little piece--notice how two of the songs he discussed involved overcoming writers block? Now if only Billy would come out of his twenty+ year funk and do another album of original vocal material!

 

Remember this?

 

River of Dreams makes it look like a masterpiece!

 

I really don't get the River of Dreams hate. I see solid tunes all over that album. More consistently than both Storm Front and The Bridge.

 

Dark-horse, against-the-grain selections.

I like that.

 

I like both a lot better than the overrated An Innocent Man, which is my least favourite BJ-album.

 

Certainly the most overrated Billy Joel album. I remember eagerly getting a copy the day it came out, having been happily impressed by The Nylon Curtain, and hoping/expecting something more along those lines. And instead hearing a collection of low achiever oldies homages. To use the overused baseball analogy, I was expecting another home run, and I heard a tentative bunt. It was a massive hit, which The Nylon Curtain was not, so clearly it was a good commercial move. But to me it was a big disappointment and, in retrospect, the beginning of the long slow end.

 

Where does one find these in good quality?

 

Where can I find more info on the "Shelter Island Sessions"?

 

River Of Dreams has the worst production I've ever heard. The drums blow.

You can listen to them here.

 

Unfortunately, it's not a funk. If you look at the clip for the River of Dreams album he mentions that he felt River of Dreams was it for him and that's why he wrote the song "Famous Last Words". He's maintained his stance that it doesn't interest him to do new songs. I don't really understand that when he consistently does concerts of his old music. It's not like he's doing something else with his life and that pop star life is all behind him. You'd think he'd want to do something new.

 

Outside of the 4 singles from this album, I never really cared for it. Perhaps if I listened to it more I would like it, but I see no real desire to give it multiple spins. The singles, however, represent a part of my childhood that I enjoyed and these songs were all over the radio in the summer of 1986, which was the best summer I ever had in my entire life. So anytime I happen to hear these 4 songs, I'm back to my youth for a few minutes.

 

An Innocent Man does have it's share of weak material. It was probably here his decline as a songwriter started, but no one noticed because it was such a big hit.

 

I always skip "Careless Talk", "Christie Lee" "Keepin' The Faith", and especially "The Longest Time", only because i'm still sick of hearing it so damn much!

But, I think some of his best songs are on "An Innocent Man".

 

They're the ones I'm not keen on too. I could live without Easy Money as well..

Don't mind The Longest Time. I even liked the rewrite he did of it... River Of Dreams!

 

How was that a re-write?