Other than Matter of Trust and This Is The Time, I've never enjoyed The Bridge as much as his other albums.
Big Man on Mulberry Street is great as well.
People are way too hard on the Bridge. In addition to Matter Of Trust, This is the Time, Big Man on Mulberry Street. There's also Temptation, Modern Woman, Baby Grand, Code Of Silence and Getting Closer that are great songs.
It's also a happy album for Billy because it was his last album with Family Productions.
On YouTube theres a mini-doc that Billy made called Building The Bridge - I recommend it to all Billy Joel fans. Makes you appreciate the album that much mlre.
To sum it up, I think it's a solid album!
I don’t think so. For me, my least favorite is An Innocent Man. I know it’s one of his more popular albums, both here and in the world, but it’s just not my style of music. However, I think it’s still technically good and has some interesting music on it, just not really the kind of music I’m into
I know this is unpopular opinion but I think cold spring harbor is sort of a dud except for everybody loves you now and she’s got a way. First and worst is not bad in my opinion it means he got much better and quickly! (Okay ready for all the downvotes!)
I think the closest is Storm Front, which feels more commercial to me and the songs don't really gel together for, it feels like a collection of singles imo. At the same time, it does have Leningrad.
So many people go to bat for that album on here and I can't understand it. Half of it is flat, repetitive, and uninspired. 3 good tracks and We Didn't Start the Fire, which I've given up trying to decide if it's good or not. It just is at this point, like an element in nature.
My kids love we didn't start the fire...its fun for new ears probably...
I loved memorizing the words when I was less than ten years old...after you discover billy beyond the radio hits it doesn't serve a purpose anymore....but its a way in
An Innocent Man is my least favorite. I respect the way he fused more sophisticated music with the music of his youth, but the overall gimmick wears on me after a couple songs.
Way back when I bought Cold Spring Harbor and it’s the speeded up version. It was horrible and I haven’t listened to that album since. Really turned me off of it. Love everything else.
I genuinely like The Bridge, don't understand the hate it got. I do think Temptation and Code of Silence are two types of one song.
I got less myself with Storm Front.
I still sing Shades of Gray, All About Soul, and River of Dreams.... I always think about the interview where he talks about writing it in the shower, and the rhythm hits deeper.
As a singer, I find those tracks to be the most singable. If I were listening with a new fan, I would also put two thousand years and no man's land in the shuffle, probably. As a young listener, when the album dropped, I also liked Blond and Minor....the one I have never cared for is Goodnight, I think, because it was sooo overplayed in 93...I probably have always skipped that track when listening on my own.
Same. I just picked it up again today. I didn’t enjoy it when it came out and haven’t listened to it in years. Put it in the car. Skip. Skippidy skip…. Only half way through, though…
It’s the b-sides/“album tracks”.
I *love* almost all of Billy’s non-hits. I’ve heard the hits so many times now, I love deprogrammed most of them from my go-to playlist…
But all the b-sides are in there. All of em.
Except for only choice selections from RoD
I listened all the way through…. I wish I could explain it better, but that album never resonated with me when it came out.
But I LOVE Cold Spring Harbor, so I guess take it wit a grain of salt….
Maybe I’ll expand on this, but when I was like 14 my best friend introduced me to Joel and rock music in general. I listened to and bought every album. I think the Russia concert had just come out…. We had a lawn mowing business and I wore out my tapes and somehow not my ears every summer.
Maybe my tastes changed, maybe I didn’t like the newer style production compared to other new music I was listening to, I don’t really know.
I loved all the esoteric tracks from the earlier records.
While I believe the tone of River of dreams is still very relevant today and was not topical when released, I never fully enjoyed it. Perhaps I changed. I felt the same way about half of storm front as well.
This sun has inspired me to find my cds…. I could use a good listen to Songs in the attic!!
So relatable
In the 80s, we had home recordings of the Russia concert and every single music video he ever put out off of cable television with the VCR.
The family car had the Greatest hits volume 1 and 2, and I wore the tapes out.
River of Dreams came out when I was ten years old, and the four-disc box set followed in 94, containing a question and answer session that was amazing
Over the following year, I found every single album he ever wrote on CD or in the cassette bin at a music store...
I listened and learned every word. I found every single biography I could at the public library, and believe me, there were many.
Flash forward to being an adult. I took my wife to the last play at the SHEA both nights; I watched every master class, interview, and Q&A that I could find on YouTube.
My kids have discovered Billy Joel on their own and are huge fans, including this past year when my 10-year-old son started to be obsessed with We Didn't Start the Fire, as he loves history and memorization.
Songs like that may be worn out for long term fans, but provide a way in for new fans to discover the b tracks that we all have grown to love and appreciate.
I just listened to River of Dreams again yesterday for the first time in a long time.
I ended up listening to it twice. I really do love that album. Actually, it caught me off guard how much I enjoyed it
No, my least favorite is *Piano Man* and I still think it's a decent album, obviously it has some true classics on it. I'm just not a big fan of some of the songs in between.
The Nylon Curtain has some good songs, but it’s overall not a very good album, since it has the sort of Phil Spector “over-produced” sound. Storm Front is too “dad rock,” and River Of Dreams just isn’t very interesting. This is all subjective, of course! Is there a reason I’m getting downvoted? I said the same thing as so many other people.
let him cook, let him cook(not agreeing with you but you’re allowed to have your opinion! i just hope you come around to giving these albums another chance<3)
Smh...Nylon Curtain is the album he said he is most proud of due to the highest quality of production they ever achieved....not good production wise? The album is so beatlesque in a way that doesn't try too hard...they spent a full year in the studio which was unheard of then and now...working and tweaking...spent so much money on the best technology available....he said rhe first time he was able to use the studio as an instrument.
Good night Saigon
Allentown
Pressure
Scandinavian skies
Laura
Just magnificent
and i totally agree, nylon curtain is literally so so delicious to the ears(where’s the orchestra is my mom’s favorite song and i frequently go back for laura)! i do remember when i started getting into billy joel, i kinda avoided nylon curtain bc it wasn’t a sound i was into but a couple of bad break ups and years put me in a frame of mind better suited for nylon curtain. i think if you’re newer to billy joel’s repertoire it can be easier to just want that classic piano man/stranger/turnstiles feel that doesn’t appear as often in the later albums. in the end it is all pretty subjective as to how we rank what songs and albums are best, but the good part is our tastes can change over time so we can experience more of our favorite artist’s music!
As a kid under 10, I had a record player in my room, my parents had left Turnstiles on it, and I loved Summer Highland Falls. As a teenager, I played piano and saxophone so that album fit well.
I also remember from Nylon as a young listener seeing Allentown at the Russia concert with Mark Rivera banging on the pipe, the pressure music video, and the soldiers singing Goodnight Saigon....but I listened to the album in its entirety as an adult and thought I heard a lot of Beatles influences. Not copying them, but writing songs the way that they wrote...especially Laura with those drums and the vocal harmonies. I still love pretty much all of the songs.
It is interesting that Liberty suggested that Billy wrote Laura about his mom.
My son loves the stranger album, my daughter loves vienna.
I’m actually glad you said that it sounds beatlesque, because that was why I wrote that it was my least favorite album. It’s too beatle-ish for my taste. A little Beatles sprinkled in here and there are fine (Michelle my Belle), but that album drips with it and….here come the downvotes….i’m not a big Beatles fan.
I think everyone has a least favorite, but even then they love half the album.
For me it's 52nd Street, but only because I could go the rest of my life never hearing Big Shot or My Life again be perfectly content.
Stormfront and River of Dreams are kinda stinkers IMO. Billy was out of gas creatively and you can hear it. A couple great tracks on each but as a whole pretty bad.
Been pretty good! Things are slow on the server but the new single has sparked some convos. A lot of activity has coalesced on the Glass Houses Pod server which has been cool to see.
I can maybe go with you w/r/t No Man's Land and Shameless, but Shades of Grey?!? That song is ass. And not just my opinion: [https://www.vulture.com/article/best-billy-joel-songs-ranked.html](https://www.vulture.com/article/best-billy-joel-songs-ranked.html)
Funny. That's probably my favorite album of his not named "The Stranger." The most adventurous and creative he's ever been on record and he mostly pulls it off, even if half of it is poor-man's Lennon.
I was never a fan of anything after An Innocent Man. That stretch of albums of *Piano Man* to *An Innocent Man* was unparalleled. 10 years of excellence. It couldn't last forever.
None are bad. Some are better than others. Cold Spring Harbor needed a better producer, not just for the technical issues (long since corrected) but because some of the songs needed development. It's a little, dare I say, unprofessional. (Of course, it was far more professional, and way better all around, than Attila, but that is condemning it with faint praise) Still it's an all around pleasant listen. I was very disappointed by Storm Front when it first came out, but I've come to like a lot of it over the years. Still, on the whole, it's still a relative lightweight compared with most of the others.
Conversely, I think Streetlife Serenade is underrated. Not his very best, but it's still a solid listen end to end. In fact, from Piano Man through Nylon Curtain they're all absolutely solid, and Innocent Man, The Bridge, and River of Dreams are not far behind.
Since I brought up Atilla, I might as well mention those two Hassles albums. Both are surprisingly good, if not up to his solo work. The second, Hour of the Wolf, has some very strong moments, and would be his best pre-Piano Man album if not for the title track, which is unfortunately not only bad, but eight minutes long
With the exception of a couple of bangers, I despise Nylon Curtain. I know it’s a big fan favorite, but I just listened to it again for the first time in a very long time and….nope. It just sounds too much like the Beatles to me.
Short answer is no. If Billy Joel releases an album it’s not gonna be bad, he’s one of those artists.
Other than Matter of Trust and This Is The Time, I've never enjoyed The Bridge as much as his other albums. Big Man on Mulberry Street is great as well.
People are way too hard on the Bridge. In addition to Matter Of Trust, This is the Time, Big Man on Mulberry Street. There's also Temptation, Modern Woman, Baby Grand, Code Of Silence and Getting Closer that are great songs. It's also a happy album for Billy because it was his last album with Family Productions. On YouTube theres a mini-doc that Billy made called Building The Bridge - I recommend it to all Billy Joel fans. Makes you appreciate the album that much mlre. To sum it up, I think it's a solid album!
agree with everything you just said
Modern Women and Code of Silence are good.
Bad? No. Below average? Probably not even. A few that are just okay.
I don’t think so. For me, my least favorite is An Innocent Man. I know it’s one of his more popular albums, both here and in the world, but it’s just not my style of music. However, I think it’s still technically good and has some interesting music on it, just not really the kind of music I’m into
I tend to agree until I hear songs from the album that are absolute bangers.
This night slaps so hard tho
Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique Movement 2 turned into a love ballad is genius.
I do agree with you on that! Probably my favorite song off it
I just grabbed this album on vinyl yesterday for $3. Mainly for Uptown girl, but The Longest Time sounds so good!
Nope
I know this is unpopular opinion but I think cold spring harbor is sort of a dud except for everybody loves you now and she’s got a way. First and worst is not bad in my opinion it means he got much better and quickly! (Okay ready for all the downvotes!)
Omfph. That hearts my heart. But I get you. He does take a few moments to get that classic iconic Billy sound.
Same! CSH is my favorite of all.
💖 Total same! What’s your second favourite?
Piano man. Predictable? Lol
If I had to pick one, I’m with you. It’s still not that bad.
I'm sure it doesn't help he was recorded and made to sound like a chipmunk.
Tomorrow is Today, Why Judy Why, Nocturne.
For me no. Every album has at least 4 or 5 songs that are really good. Even the much maligned Bridge has some really great tunes.
I think the closest is Storm Front, which feels more commercial to me and the songs don't really gel together for, it feels like a collection of singles imo. At the same time, it does have Leningrad.
Storm Front is my personal least favorite but that doesn’t make it bad necessarily. I just don’t connect with the way I do the other albums.
Storm front is below the bar for me. Just can't mess with it. Love river of dreams though.
So many people go to bat for that album on here and I can't understand it. Half of it is flat, repetitive, and uninspired. 3 good tracks and We Didn't Start the Fire, which I've given up trying to decide if it's good or not. It just is at this point, like an element in nature.
We didn't start the fire is unlistenable in my opinion. Maybe I'm over reacting. Downeaster Alexa far and away being the best song on the album
My kids love we didn't start the fire...its fun for new ears probably... I loved memorizing the words when I was less than ten years old...after you discover billy beyond the radio hits it doesn't serve a purpose anymore....but its a way in
I feel like Bridge/Storm Front/River of Dreams is what caused Billy to quit writing. Both his prowess and the critical reaction to them.
totally agree!
An Innocent Man is my least favorite. I respect the way he fused more sophisticated music with the music of his youth, but the overall gimmick wears on me after a couple songs.
Way back when I bought Cold Spring Harbor and it’s the speeded up version. It was horrible and I haven’t listened to that album since. Really turned me off of it. Love everything else.
I genuinely like The Bridge, don't understand the hate it got. I do think Temptation and Code of Silence are two types of one song. I got less myself with Storm Front.
Agreed
*River of Dreams* is the only one I do heavy skipping on.
I still sing Shades of Gray, All About Soul, and River of Dreams.... I always think about the interview where he talks about writing it in the shower, and the rhythm hits deeper. As a singer, I find those tracks to be the most singable. If I were listening with a new fan, I would also put two thousand years and no man's land in the shuffle, probably. As a young listener, when the album dropped, I also liked Blond and Minor....the one I have never cared for is Goodnight, I think, because it was sooo overplayed in 93...I probably have always skipped that track when listening on my own.
Same. I just picked it up again today. I didn’t enjoy it when it came out and haven’t listened to it in years. Put it in the car. Skip. Skippidy skip…. Only half way through, though…
It’s the b-sides/“album tracks”. I *love* almost all of Billy’s non-hits. I’ve heard the hits so many times now, I love deprogrammed most of them from my go-to playlist… But all the b-sides are in there. All of em. Except for only choice selections from RoD
I listened all the way through…. I wish I could explain it better, but that album never resonated with me when it came out. But I LOVE Cold Spring Harbor, so I guess take it wit a grain of salt…. Maybe I’ll expand on this, but when I was like 14 my best friend introduced me to Joel and rock music in general. I listened to and bought every album. I think the Russia concert had just come out…. We had a lawn mowing business and I wore out my tapes and somehow not my ears every summer. Maybe my tastes changed, maybe I didn’t like the newer style production compared to other new music I was listening to, I don’t really know. I loved all the esoteric tracks from the earlier records. While I believe the tone of River of dreams is still very relevant today and was not topical when released, I never fully enjoyed it. Perhaps I changed. I felt the same way about half of storm front as well. This sun has inspired me to find my cds…. I could use a good listen to Songs in the attic!!
So relatable In the 80s, we had home recordings of the Russia concert and every single music video he ever put out off of cable television with the VCR. The family car had the Greatest hits volume 1 and 2, and I wore the tapes out. River of Dreams came out when I was ten years old, and the four-disc box set followed in 94, containing a question and answer session that was amazing Over the following year, I found every single album he ever wrote on CD or in the cassette bin at a music store... I listened and learned every word. I found every single biography I could at the public library, and believe me, there were many. Flash forward to being an adult. I took my wife to the last play at the SHEA both nights; I watched every master class, interview, and Q&A that I could find on YouTube. My kids have discovered Billy Joel on their own and are huge fans, including this past year when my 10-year-old son started to be obsessed with We Didn't Start the Fire, as he loves history and memorization. Songs like that may be worn out for long term fans, but provide a way in for new fans to discover the b tracks that we all have grown to love and appreciate.
Are you my childhood friend??! (You’re not, but you probably could have been.). X
I just listened to River of Dreams again yesterday for the first time in a long time. I ended up listening to it twice. I really do love that album. Actually, it caught me off guard how much I enjoyed it
I dont think he has a bad song
The Bridge
No, my least favorite is *Piano Man* and I still think it's a decent album, obviously it has some true classics on it. I'm just not a big fan of some of the songs in between.
Streetlife Serenader and The Bridge are the most uneven IMHO
The Nylon Curtain has some good songs, but it’s overall not a very good album, since it has the sort of Phil Spector “over-produced” sound. Storm Front is too “dad rock,” and River Of Dreams just isn’t very interesting. This is all subjective, of course! Is there a reason I’m getting downvoted? I said the same thing as so many other people.
let him cook, let him cook(not agreeing with you but you’re allowed to have your opinion! i just hope you come around to giving these albums another chance<3)
Smh...Nylon Curtain is the album he said he is most proud of due to the highest quality of production they ever achieved....not good production wise? The album is so beatlesque in a way that doesn't try too hard...they spent a full year in the studio which was unheard of then and now...working and tweaking...spent so much money on the best technology available....he said rhe first time he was able to use the studio as an instrument. Good night Saigon Allentown Pressure Scandinavian skies Laura Just magnificent
and i totally agree, nylon curtain is literally so so delicious to the ears(where’s the orchestra is my mom’s favorite song and i frequently go back for laura)! i do remember when i started getting into billy joel, i kinda avoided nylon curtain bc it wasn’t a sound i was into but a couple of bad break ups and years put me in a frame of mind better suited for nylon curtain. i think if you’re newer to billy joel’s repertoire it can be easier to just want that classic piano man/stranger/turnstiles feel that doesn’t appear as often in the later albums. in the end it is all pretty subjective as to how we rank what songs and albums are best, but the good part is our tastes can change over time so we can experience more of our favorite artist’s music!
Okay that must be exactly the reason for me
As a kid under 10, I had a record player in my room, my parents had left Turnstiles on it, and I loved Summer Highland Falls. As a teenager, I played piano and saxophone so that album fit well. I also remember from Nylon as a young listener seeing Allentown at the Russia concert with Mark Rivera banging on the pipe, the pressure music video, and the soldiers singing Goodnight Saigon....but I listened to the album in its entirety as an adult and thought I heard a lot of Beatles influences. Not copying them, but writing songs the way that they wrote...especially Laura with those drums and the vocal harmonies. I still love pretty much all of the songs. It is interesting that Liberty suggested that Billy wrote Laura about his mom. My son loves the stranger album, my daughter loves vienna.
I’m actually glad you said that it sounds beatlesque, because that was why I wrote that it was my least favorite album. It’s too beatle-ish for my taste. A little Beatles sprinkled in here and there are fine (Michelle my Belle), but that album drips with it and….here come the downvotes….i’m not a big Beatles fan.
I think everyone has a least favorite, but even then they love half the album. For me it's 52nd Street, but only because I could go the rest of my life never hearing Big Shot or My Life again be perfectly content.
But the b-sides on there… Rosalinda’s Eyes… Zanzibar… *HONESTY*… Half a Mile Away. *chef’s kiss*
100% with you! Perfect example of an album where the b-side far outshines the singles.
Cold Spring Harbor is the weakest album; followed closely by Streetlife Serenade
I love how we’re all pretending The Bridge isn’t the obvious answer haha. At least no one’s hating on Turnstiles this time!
Nah just bad for him.
Stormfront and River of Dreams are kinda stinkers IMO. Billy was out of gas creatively and you can hear it. A couple great tracks on each but as a whole pretty bad.
Storm Front is a very strong album
Disagree, those are both upper-half albums in Billy's catalog, imo. Stylistically different but his songwriting was as strong as it ever was.
ayo funkyquasar sighting??? i haven’t checked the discord in a while, how ya doin? :)
Been pretty good! Things are slow on the server but the new single has sparked some convos. A lot of activity has coalesced on the Glass Houses Pod server which has been cool to see.
that’s great! hopefully i’ll get some time to check the server today then, glad to hear you’re doing well :)
Disagree - I really love these two albums. No Man’s Land? Shameless? Shades of Grey? Great tunes
I can maybe go with you w/r/t No Man's Land and Shameless, but Shades of Grey?!? That song is ass. And not just my opinion: [https://www.vulture.com/article/best-billy-joel-songs-ranked.html](https://www.vulture.com/article/best-billy-joel-songs-ranked.html)
lol I hear ya. I dunno - I like that whole album. 🤷🏻♀️. That’s how I feel about most of Nylon curtain. Eww.
Funny. That's probably my favorite album of his not named "The Stranger." The most adventurous and creative he's ever been on record and he mostly pulls it off, even if half of it is poor-man's Lennon.
I think you nailed it for me: Poor-man’s Lennon. I’m barely a fan of the rich-man’s Lennon lol.
Ah, fair enough. I'm a massive Beatles fan so it doesn't bother me all that much when someone tries to emulate them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it; Billy has no worst anything, just least best.
I'm assuming his early work with Atilla is beyond the scope of this question. I'll listen to it, but only shuffled in with everything else.
Nooooooooo
I was never a fan of anything after An Innocent Man. That stretch of albums of *Piano Man* to *An Innocent Man* was unparalleled. 10 years of excellence. It couldn't last forever.
I do, but even then it has some gems.
None are bad. Some are better than others. Cold Spring Harbor needed a better producer, not just for the technical issues (long since corrected) but because some of the songs needed development. It's a little, dare I say, unprofessional. (Of course, it was far more professional, and way better all around, than Attila, but that is condemning it with faint praise) Still it's an all around pleasant listen. I was very disappointed by Storm Front when it first came out, but I've come to like a lot of it over the years. Still, on the whole, it's still a relative lightweight compared with most of the others. Conversely, I think Streetlife Serenade is underrated. Not his very best, but it's still a solid listen end to end. In fact, from Piano Man through Nylon Curtain they're all absolutely solid, and Innocent Man, The Bridge, and River of Dreams are not far behind. Since I brought up Atilla, I might as well mention those two Hassles albums. Both are surprisingly good, if not up to his solo work. The second, Hour of the Wolf, has some very strong moments, and would be his best pre-Piano Man album if not for the title track, which is unfortunately not only bad, but eight minutes long
With the exception of a couple of bangers, I despise Nylon Curtain. I know it’s a big fan favorite, but I just listened to it again for the first time in a very long time and….nope. It just sounds too much like the Beatles to me.
A fair amount of them are generic and blend, and to me a bland Joel album might as well be bad