Billy Joel
Glass Houses

THE REVIEW

Closed the '70s at the height of fame and record sales, thanks to worldwide hits like "Honesty" and "Just the Way You Are," just to name a couple... the American singer-songwriter tries to change his skin. From the album cover, you can understand his transformation where Joel appears dressed as a typical New York thug about to throw a rock at a large glass window.

The shift towards rock is obvious right from the first track "You May Be Right," which would not have looked out of place on any Stones album of the era. The rock'n'roll revival is evident in tracks like "Sometimes a Fantasy" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," the latter will be yet another hugely successful single. Hard-rock shadows emerge in "Close to the Borderline" and "Sleeping with the Television On," while reggae peeks in with "I Don't Want to Be Alone." The masterpiece of the album is "All for Leyna" where Joel reaffirms his romantic vein, combining it with a moving and impactful interpretation.
This album will be the first of a trilogy that will lead Joel to rediscover old sounds. The next step will be "The Nylon Curtain" where Beatles echoes will appear and "An Innocent Man" where instead '50s rock'n'roll, soul, and gospel will feature.

In short, a successful album, which reconfirms Billy Joel as one of the greatest songwriters of the past thirty years, often underestimated, just look at the controversies that have arisen for the free concert on the upcoming July 31st in Rome. Some claim that he won't be able to gather the audience that McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, and Elton John gathered in past years... but those people haven't tried to compare the solo career of the former Beatle with that of Joel...