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 It's All About Soul Nov 17, 2008
A more thoughtful serious album presents Joel's adaptation to 90's music
without changing his unique smooth and funky Billy Joel style.
Most famous for the transcendental combination of transcendental spirituality and rock -River of Dreams, the beautiful tender lullaby "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" dedicated to his daughter Alexa and the earthy All About Soul.
Again Joel never fails to impress.
A life of greatness Dec 07, 2007
The first song I heard from Billy Joel was "Vienna" and it really touched my life to the point I have been a life long fan. Every album has a song that has taught me something new or made me think of a better way to go. This album was no different, being 40 something, i can see that this was truely a album of reflection and becoming the wise old man.
Billy in a different hemisphere Jul 18, 2007
This is a new coat of sound for Billy Joel. Far away from his ballads of piano men and New York City, this album for the most part takes on a more imaginative feel mixed with harder rock than what traditional Joel fans might be accustomed to. Bluntly put, its either a hit or miss. Once I became familiar with Billy's new sound here, it became a hit to me, however I can still understand how others would object to it.
"No Man's Land" pops open the album with just that, pop. Like cold water in the face, this may seem a bit much at first. If it doesn't please you, do as I did and simply save it for another time. It might grow on you. Next you're greeted with a catchy chorus of voices in "The Great Wall Of China" that's a tad down tempo from the previous track. One of the better songs on here and if one listenes closely, beneath the rough exteriors lies a core beat reminiscent of Billy's early days. "Blonde Over Blue" may blend in with the rest of the material just a little. Skip down to the interesting "A Minor Variation" where Billy seems to shed all of his former music schemes to embrace something new here. The style set in this song seems to accomodate his voice finely, just rough enough around the edges. You might be familiar with "All About Soul" if you've heard Billy's 'Essential' CD along with the sweet lullaby "Goodnight My Angel", the next really good one. I love this song and its nice to explore Billy's quieter side here. Following is the title track well deserving of that status. This is the song that got me into this album. Before, I used to listen to it all of the time on the 'Essential' collection. Probably the best 'new' thing Billy Joel has managed to conjure up in these last few years. My favorite anyway. After a slow fade to the end, you find yourself listening to just the man and his piano until the drums and backup kick in on "Two Thousand Years". I hope you are able to hear the reaccuring chorus delivered up here in the Amazon sample. It really is the strong point of the song accompanied with accordion, an unusual tool for Joel, but one which balances out the song and seems to help make it timeless. "Famous Last Words" is an appropriate ending for this work, upbeat and familiar in style to his classic work. This song seemed to satisfy any doubts I had about the strength of the album in it's entirety. I'd say it brought the album from a 3 star to a 4 star in satisfaction.
So there it is. One more winning creation from the prolific and perennial Billy Joel, and I even like the artwork. Despite it's deviation from the iconic Billy, it still seems to satisfy, but try it for yourself.
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Oh Billy, where art thou? Jun 14, 2007
All the way back in 1993, Billy Joel released the stunning single "River Of Dreams." With its gospel inflected chorus and snappy pop arrangement, I considered it one of the best singles of the year and was eager to hear the album. Little did we know that Joel was effectively closing the door on his pop career, with only one new song issued in the years since (other than his classical work). But much like "The Nylon Curtain," Joel tackled the recording of "River Of Dreams" from a mature perspective but now also from the vantage point of a family man and father.
That meant that his old brashness was tempered with a mature wisdom. As simplistic as it may seem, "Shades Of Grey" making the claim that "I'm old and tired of war, I hear the other man's words but I'm not that sure anymore" are a universal poem from a man moving through his late 40's. That's not to say he has totally mellowed. His former manager and ex-brother-in-law gets a musical spanking on "Great Wall Of China" (he was accused of embezzling from Joel while serving as his manager).
The main topic, however, remains love. Christie Brinkley was still his wife and the love songs on "River of Dreams" are all directed to her (she designed the cover, as well). His daughter Alexa is the focus of a beautiful "Lullabye," once more showing this to be Billy The Family Man album. His optimism comes through on the last two songs, "2000 Years" and "Famous Last Words," which bluntly stated "It's time to put this book away, ain't that the story of my life?" Who knew that the last verse on the album would be the epithet of his popular music career?
Just the same, as an album of immaculate pop, "River Of Dreams" is an excellent way to close the curtain. I may be hoping for Joel to return to the studio, but this will always have a place on my CD shelf. But one can always hope that Joel may once again feel like he has something new to say.
Famous Last Words? Apr 06, 2007
I'm still cautiously optimistic that Billy will one day find the urge to make another pop/rock album, but if not, this one makes for a fine end to a spectacular career. Clearly, it's not to everyone's tastes, but no album he ever made was (and for the record, as big a fan as I am of the piano man, there are a number of his albums that I consider to be quite weak, 'Storm Front' in particular). Danny Korchmar is in the producer's chair and it's a vast improvement on Mick Jones, the rock dynamics Billy sought with Jones are still present in Korchmar's production, but there's greater subtlety and range. It helps that the songs are absolutely top notch as well, of course!
There are many highlights on the album, but the opening and closing pairs of tracks are all absolute stunners. 'No Man's Land' is a great, driving opener and anybody familiar with Joel's career will instantly recognise precisely whom 'The Great Wall of China' is aimed at...let's just say his ex (but not his ex-wife!) The next six tracks are all very good (this is one of only a few Joel CDs where there are no 'must skip' tracks), including the smash hit title track, although I can understand some people being a bit sick of it, I don't think I'll ever tire of it.
But then we come to 'Two Thousand Years', probably the best pre-millenium song ever written and one of my favourite Joel tracks of all time, and the brilliant album closer, 'Famous Last Words'. The only thing wrong with this track is that Billy has often used it's lyrics 'These are the last words I have to say' as something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, despite the fact that on several occasions he also sings, 'there will be other words some other day' and it is these lyrics on which my hope rests. Whatever happens, this is a great album that should be in any Joel fan's collection.
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