Billy Joel
Storm Front

THE REVIEW

Having become a fully-fledged rockstar in the seventies, Billy Joel enters the eighties with the responsibility of having to replicate the success of numerous hit singles that have made him one of the most successful confidential pop-rock singer-songwriters.

If the first three albums of the new decade, 'GLASS HOUSES' (1980), 'THE NYLON CURTAIN' (1982), and 'AN INNOCENT MAN' (1983) confirmed his greatness, the second half of the '80s saw Joel fall into an artistic and personal crisis that culminated in the 1986 album, 'THE BRIDGE'.

His artistic career is thus at a crossroads, and Joel decides to cut ties with the past, and as often happens, love helps him. Having distanced himself from the specters of alcoholism that will follow him for life, in '85, he marries the stunning model CHRISTIE BRINKLEY, with whom he will have a daughter, Alexa, setting out to compose the album of his rebirth.

'Storm Front' is released in '89, produced by former Foreigner MICK JONES (the old producer and companion of a thousand adventures Phil Ramone is abandoned, precisely to make a clean break with the past), and the album presents itself with a sharp and rock sound but above all the songwriting returns to levels of excellence.

"THAT'S NOT HER STYLE" opens the album energetically, the song is a raw blues with Don Brooks's harmonica raging throughout its duration.

"WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE" is the first single chosen to promote the album. The song is built on an original list of names, facts, events from 1949 (the year of Joel's birth) to 1989, repeated in rapid succession that lead to the energetic chorus. The song was quite successful and pushed the album to the top of the Billboard chart.

"THE DOWNEASTER 'ALEXA'" is the touching song dedicated to his newly-born daughter. "I GOT TO EXTREMES" and "STATE OF GRACE" are two other songs with a rock-melodic feel while in "STORM FRONT" (featuring the horns of the Menphis horns) and "WHEN IN ROME" the soul coordinates that made the fortune of "An Innocent Man" from 1983 can be glimpsed.

"SHAMELESS" brings Joel back to the atmospheres of his best albums from the '70s, with an excellent vocal interpretation, very soul. "LENINGRAD" is another touching piano ballad that tells the story and childhood of Viktor, a Russian born in 1944, contrasting it with Joel's childhood. A melancholic song accompanied, I recall, by an equally sad and somber black-and-white video. The album closes with another ballad for voice and piano alone, "AND SO IT GOES".

Accompanied by the trusty Liberty DeVitto on drums and David Brown on guitars and a handful of musicians chosen for the occasion, 'Storm Front' is the usual well-played and produced Joel album that has relaunched our artist's career, who will return to grand arena concerts and still record 'RIVER OF DREAMS' in 1993 before completely abandoning pop-rock and turning to classical music.