Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain (1982/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:51 minutes | 914 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Front cover | © Columbia Records
Recorded: Spring of 1982 at A & R Recording and Media Sound Studios, New York City.
The Nylon Curtain is Billy Joel’s eighth studio album and was released on September 23, 1982. Produced by Phil Ramone, the album is considered to be one of Joel’s most ambitious albums and was a personal favorite of his. The song “Allentown” was a huge hit and spent six weeks at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Billy Joel hit back as hard as he could with Glass Houses, his bid to prove that he could rock as hard as any of those new wave punks. He might not have proven himself a punk — for all of his claims of being a hard rocker, his work inevitably is pop because of his fondness for melody — but he proved to himself that he could still rock, even if the critics didn’t give him any credit for it. It was now time to mature, to move pop/rock into the middle age and, in the process, earn critical respect. In short, The Nylon Curtain is where Billy Joel went serious, consciously crafting a song cycle about Baby Boomers in the Reagan era. Since this was an album about Baby Boomers, he chose to base his music almost entirely on the Beatles, the pivotal rock band for his generation. Joel is naturally inclined to write big melodies like McCartney, but he idolizes Lennon, which makes The Nylon Curtain a fascinating cross between ear candy and social commentary. His desire to record a grand concept album is admirable, but his ever-present lyrical shortcomings mean that the songs paint a picture without arriving at any insights. He occasionally gets lost in his own ambition, as on the waterlogged second side, but the first half of the song suite — “Allentown,” “Laura,” “Pressure,” “Goodnight Saigon,” “She’s Right on Time” — is layered, successful, mature pop that brings Joel tantalizingly close to his ultimate goal of sophisticated pop/rock for mature audiences. –Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist:
1 Allentown 3:50
2 Laura 5:02
3 Pressure 4:38
4 Goodnight Saigon 6:58
5 She’s Right On Time 4:11
6 A Room Of Our Own 4:00
7 Surprises 3:28
8 Scandinavian Skies 5:59
9 Where’s The Orchestra? 3:16
Personnel:
Billy Joel – Vocals, piano, synthesizer, hammond organ, melodica, Prophet V Synthesizer, Synclavier II On “Pressure”
David Brown – electric guitar (lead), acoustic guitar (lead)
Dominic Cortese – accordion on “Where’s the Orchestra?”
Liberty DeVitto – drums, percussion
Eddie Daniels – saxophone and clarinet on “Where’s the Orchestra?”
Russell Javors – electric guitar (rhythm), acoustic guitar (rhythm)
Dave Grusin – string and horn arrangement
Charles McCracken – cello on “Where’s the Orchestra?”
Rob Mounsey – synthesizer on “Scandinavian Skies”
David Nadien – concertmaster on all except “Laura” and “Scandinavian Skies”
Doug Stegmeyer – bass
“String Fever” – strings on “Laura” and “Scandinavian Skies”
Bill Zampino – field snare on “Goodnight Saigon”
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