Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast

Even when looking at five decades of songwriting, album releases and concerts, 1978 stands as arguably the busiest, most successful, and most defining year of Billy Joel’s career.   The year began with the smash hit album The Stranger still racing up the charts after its release the previous fall.    12 months later, Billy would wrap up 1978 with a string of hit songs, gold and platinum albums and...

This fall, an often-overlooked live Billy Joel release is getting a second lease on life.    The 1990 video release Live At Yankee Stadium is getting a makeover with remixed and remastered sound, an extra song, and a brand new edit. And, after a limited run in theaters, it’ll be available on Blu-ray along with a 2-CD or 3-LP release featuring 11 never before released performances.    While the Yan...

By 1984, Billy Joel was known for changing styles from album to album. What’s less recognized was how often he changed voices. And, one night that year in England, those voices were all on display.    Close listening to any Billy Joel record reveals a variety of tones, accents, and affectations in the singing. Add to that the many impressions he’s done over the years in interviews and concerts.   ...

This is the second installment of our two-part series covering Billy Joel’s television appearances from 1980 through 1984. While the bulk of the spots we’ve covered so far found him promoting The Nylon Curtain, the latter batch has him on the promotional trail for the An Innocent Man album and addressing his tabloid notoriety with then-girlfriend, soon-to-be wife Christie Brinkley.    Join us as w...

If people used to buy albums for the front cover, then they got to know the music at home while checking out the back.   The flip side of a record jacket should complement the album and front artwork while giving listeners more to explore as they listened at home.    Billy’s albums are no exception. While there’s plenty of variety on his front covers, the back covers are surprisingly uniform.    S...

By 1980. Billy Joel was ready for prime time. Starting with a feature on 20/20 during the lead up to Glass Houses,  he graduated  from just playing a song or two on a talk show to getting regular MTV spotlights, being the subject of news features, and appearing on morning shows for a week at a time.    As Billy's popularity reached its peak, he also honed his interview style. Over multiple appeara...

When Billy Joel's The Nylon Curtain was released into the world in the fall of 1982, it was considered one of his most ambitious albums to date.    Despite the rich layer and textures of the album's sonic landscape, many of the songs translated to a live setting with apparent ease. The Nylon Curtain saw our first glimpse of many of these songs on stage. While the singles "Allentown," "Pressure," a...

Years before Billy Joel started doing master classes, and long before MTV stopped showing music videos, there was Night School.    Broadcast in late 1982, Night School was a half-hour show on MTV where Billy fielded questions from an audience of young fans. Fresh off the success of The Nylon Curtain, he tells stories, gives some behind-the-scenes glimpses of the music industry and, of course, play...

Billy Joel may not be the first artist that comes to mind when you think of MTV. But, he was making music videos before the landmark cable channel got its start in 1981.    A close look at those videos reveals the progression of the medium as it became more popular, more stylized, and more important as the decade went on.    A handful of those videos were released on home video in 1986 as Billy Jo...

1969 should have been the year Billy Joel broke through. Today, we know it would be another few years before his solo career began, and a few more after that until things really took off.    Instead, the end of the decade saw his longtime band put out a second album that went nowhere. Then, the duo he formed after barely got off the ground.    It must have felt like an anticlimactic end to a decad...

With the appearance of the Kirin Dry Gigs from 1988 appearing on YouTube earlier this year, a long-lost footnote in Billy Joel history has finally resurfaced.    This one-off gig in Japan finds Billy performing with just one member of his longtime touring band. They’re joined by players who performed on other tours in the 80s, musicians who would go on to tour with Billy in support of Storm Front,...

The Covid-19 pandemic and quarantines of 2020 caused disruptions in the music industry that we’re still feeling a few years later. But while we’re fortunate that the lack of live music will fade into memory, the releases of quarantine albums may very well add up to an interesting reflection of these unprecedented times.    With no opportunities to tour and limits on how and when musicians could ga...

2022 is turning out to be a big year for Billy Joel. Just by the end of February, fans enjoyed a unique weekend of music in a city where Billy doesn’t often play. And, new vinyl releases expanding on last year’s box set, include an album few fans have ever owned on vinyl before.    We’re covering these events in this episode while also looking at a much quieter, often overlooked point in Billy’s c...

Billy Joel’s second solo album included his most iconic song. And the one that provided his breakthrough success and pointed the way for his post-West Coast work. But surrounding the title track and "Captain Jack" are the sounds of a songwriter still finding his way. Fortunately for us, that path is still pretty exciting.    Released in 1973, Piano Man lays much of the blueprint for the hits to co...

For Billy Joel, or at least his record label, 1997 seems to be a year of acknowledgement. It had been four years since his last album, and since then Billy had been telling anyone who’d listen that he was finished writing pop songs.    Now, it seemed like Columbia Records was ready to accept that – on their terms, of course.    1997 saw the release of Billy Joel: Greatest Hits Volume III and a com...

If you’ve gone to one of Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden residency shows, saw one of his concerts near your hometown, or picked up any of his reissues or box sets over the past decade plus, then you’re familiar with the work of Edward O’Dowd.    Since 2008, the graphic designer and art director has created the iconic logos Billy uses for tour dates, show announcements, and album covers. He’s re...

Whoever said, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” never had to design the front of a rock and roll album. Before the internet put all the music in the world at everyone’s fingertips, that front cover first served as a siren call to anyone browsing in a record store.    Then, when you sat down and listened to the songs while checking out the artwork and liner notes, that image had to complement a...

Spread over three days in Cuba, the Havana Jam ‘79 featured Columbia recording artists alongside native musicians and bands. It was a monumental, historic event that hardly anyone knows about anymore.    But Ernesto Juan knows the story. And, he’s been trying to tell it for the past decade.    The Cuban-born journalist, documentarian and translator became engrossed with the festival around the tim...

Sometimes the best part about the holidays are the leftovers. Picking at the feast you just enjoyed the day before can taste better than when it was just cooked.   And, as the 2021 holiday season wraps up, we’re bringing you a second helping of Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast.   It’s been an amazing year for us, and with all the great topics and interviews we touched on, not everything made it...

Once again, we’re taking a break from Billy — mostly, anyway — during those weird weeks between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays to bring you some different music.   Jack’s at the board with a playlist that’s split into three categories.   First up is “I’ve Loved These Days.” It’s a somewhat tongue-in-cheek way of looking at artists who spent 2020 writing new music that got released in 2021.  ...

Welcome back to our two-part series on Russell Javors. As the rhythm guitarist for Billy Joel, Russell was a fixture in Billy’s band on record and on stage for much of their storied run from 1976’s Turnstiles through 1986’s The Bridge.    His playing was always understated and in service to the song, but at the same time an integral part of each track. And, he’s a celebrated songwriter in his own...

Billy Joel released his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor, in November 1971. Almost 50 years to the day, his fans are celebrating a string of exciting new announcements.    In our most timely episode yet, we’ll cover the latest developments in the Billy Joel world.    On Friday, November 5, Billy brought his record-breaking residency back to Madison Square Garden after a nearly two-year hiatus...

Billy Joel’s monthly residency at Madison Square Garden resumes on November 5th after nearly a year and a half off due to the pandemic. In the leadup to the show, we sat down with guitarist Mike DelGuidice to talk about what he’s been up to during that time.    Even with the Garden shows and annual summer tour off the calendar, Mike made the most of the shutdowns. He formed a new band, retooled hi...

Probably the last thing you think of when it comes to Billy Joel’s music is reggae but that influence is there. And if it’s subtle, it’s because it comes from arguably the most understated member of the classic Lords of 52nd Street, Russell Javors.   In a band where the spotlight is squarely on the piano, Russell’s rhythm guitar playing was tight, economical, and often in the background.   But it...

The fact that a Billy Joel bootleg is named after a Bruce Springsteen song should clue in the listener that this show’s a little different from what you may expect.    Recorded at Maurice Gusman Concert Hall in Miami, FL on October 31, 1977,  Thunder Road isn’t a radical change from the Billy we know. But, there’s a big focus on a part of live act that never quite made it onto official records.  ...