In 2015, Billy Joel wasn't just selling out shows. He was making headlines across the nation. His songwriting was praised by everyone from George Gershwin to Snoop Dogg. He made an unexpected festival appearance, and journalists were diving into his history, introducing him to a brand new generation of fans.

It's almost hard to believe that just a few years earlier, it looked like Billy was gearing up for retirement. But with his Madison Square Garden residency, launched in 2014, he was firmly back in the spotlight. 

Our year-in-review covers it all: The setlists, reviews, feature articles, and awards. Plus, we've got firsthand memories from one of us who attended a Garden residency show that year.

Join us as we dig deep into Billy Joel in 2015.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man album earned him a new generation of fans upon its release in 1983. But the accompanying tour didn’t kick off until the next calendar year. Dubbed “From A Piano Man to An Innocent Man,” the shows were unlike any other Billy had mounted until this point. 

The core band was augmented with backup singers and a horn section. And, with a handful of new hit songs, older concert staples were no longer in the sets.

While some accounts show a rocky start, the band eventually hit its stride. Today, the production is well-documented thanks to a televised show from Wembley Arena in the UK that was broadcast live.

Thanks to our research and contributions from friends of the podcast, we’re bringing you a much more detailed look at the An Innocent Man tour. We’ll look at tour dates, typical setlists, and reviews of the tour that outline its evolution in nearly 70 shows over 6 months. 

Join us as we dig deep into Billy Joel’s From A Piano Man to An Innocent Man Tour of 1984.

Live audio courtesy of Eric Fellen.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With An Innocent Man, Billy Joel took an important step forward by taking a big leap backward. Released August 8, 1983, the ten-song album sold a million copies within two months of its release and four million just a year later. And, it boasts a Number One single with two more hitting the Top Ten.

The album, famously, is an homage to the pre-British Invasion music from Billy’s youth. But as stylized as the tracks are, the song cycle is more than just nostalgia. A close listen reveals a unique mash-up of youthful music paired with much more mature, wiser lyrics. 

But analysis aside, it’s easily Billy’s most fun album. And, it’s the one that introduced him to a new set of fans – effectively securing his stardom for the next decade. 

For this album episode, we’re doing something a little different: Along with our biographical information and overall critiques, we did a listen-through where we comment on the songs in real time. Listeners can hear exactly what we’re hearing when we make an observation. 

Join us, as we dig deep into Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1987, Billy Joel and his band embarked on an unprecedented tour of the Soviet Union. And, when the original documentary “A Matter of Trust” came out, fans got a behind-the-scenes look at what turned out to be a controversial career move.

At the time, the country was still under Communist rule, shrouded in secrecy, and, to put it mildly, deeply mistrusted by the West. Even many of Billy’s fans opposed the tour, even booing him at concerts when he announced the trip. 

But, Billy and his companions were greeted by warm, welcoming people behind the Iron Curtain. And, they were introduced to a rich culture steeped in centuries of tradition that was also evolving with the latest trends and styles found in the United States and Europe. 

Those people and interactions turned out to be the focus of the tour and film that documented it. Along with plenty of performance footage, including a well-known onstage catastrophe, the bulk of the footage is Billy and the band meeting families, new friends, and fellow musicians from the other side of the world. 

For this episode, we’re reviewing the original documentary from 1987 with a new introduction added in 1991. We’re thinking about how the behind-the-scenes footage informs the performances, and what it’s like watching a meeting of disparate cultures today in 2023.

Join us as we dig deep into “A Matter of Trust.”

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first song on an album sets the stage for the record, but what about the closer? Should the last song act as a grand finale, leave you wanting more, or exist somewhere in between? 

In this episode, we’re finding out what worked best for Billy Joel. We’re ranking    the closing songs on his 12 studio albums, plus the live Songs in the Attic, from our least to most-favorite. 

And, this time around, we’re not doing it alone: We’re also including rankings from listeners of the podcast on our discord server. 

Join us, as we dig deep into the final grooves on Billy Joel’s records.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summer is upon us and this summer, we are entering the season of celebrating Billy Joel's An Innocent Man. In celebration of the album's 40th anniversary, I (Michael) wanted to kick things off with this playlist episode.

I'm celebrating that songs that inspired An Innocent Man. Some are obvious and some are more subtle but these next songs are classics in American popular music and It was a blast stringing them all together in the same sequence of the album. 

1. Wilson Pickett - "Stagger Lee" ("Easy Money")

2. The Drifters - "Under The Boardwalk" ("An Innocent Man")

3. The Tymes - "So In Love" ("The Longest Time")

4a. Beethoven - "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 - Pathetique ("This Night")

4b. Little Anthony and the Imperials "Tears On My Pillow" ("This Night")

5. The Supremes - "You Can't Hurry Love" ("Tell Her About It")

6. The Four Seasons - "Big Girls Don't Cry" ("Uptown Girl")

7. Sam Cooke - "(What A) Wonderful World" ("Careless Talk")

8. Little Richard - "Lucille" ("Christie Lee")

9. Jackie DeShannon - "What The World Needs Now Is Love" ("Leave A Tender Moment Alone")

10. Betty Wright - "Clean Up Woman" ("Keeping The Faith")

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live in Frankfurt is probably the closest BIlly Joel got to being in a Spinal Tap sequel. The show, recorded on June 18, 1994, is just as notable for its mishaps as it is the band’s solid performance. 

The show captures the band on the River of Dreams tour, and the full video gives a warts-and-all look at what can go wrong at a concert: We watch as the band struggles through what appears to be stifling heat inside the arena, and navigates the pitfalls of faulty stage mechanics. 

Still, the seven-piece ensemble puts on a scorching performance, with plenty of spotlights on the various players and Billy loosening up and getting a little daring by the end of the show. 

A truncated version of the concert was released with the My Lives box set in 2005 and as a standalone DVD release titled Live From the River of Dreams in 2007. Since then, the full show has cropped up on YouTube. For this episode, we’re reviewing the entire performance. 

Join us, as we dig deep into Billy Joel live in Frankfurt, June 18, 1994.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greatest Hits Volume III had a lot to live up to. Volumes one and two documented Billy on a hot streak, releasing hit after hit and album after album. Those compilation records, released in one double package, became an iconic, best-selling release all its own. 

By contrast, Greatest Hits Volume III came out a few years after what became Billy’s final pop album. He had been mostly out of the spotlight after the River of Dreams tour, so the new compilation had fewer albums to cover and included three cover songs – no new compositions. 

Thanks to those new tracks, Greatest Hits Volume III feels like a glimpse into an alternate path Billy could have taken starting in the late 80s. Those songs, plus a remixed “All About Soul,” would be the last glimpse fans would get of new vocal material for nearly a decade. 

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For over five decades, Billy Joel's illustrious career has produced a wealth of media, capturing his journey as one of the 20th century's most celebrated songwriters. 

Enter John Jackson, Billy's full-time archivist, tasked with collecting and organizing artifacts that range from photos and newspaper clippings to studio outtakes and raw video footage.

Some items become part of booklets or box sets, or get released as new official concert recordings. But many others help Jackson – who developed a passion for this work as a teenager – to paint a comprehensive, detailed picture of the man and his music. 

Join us as we explore the Billy Joel vault with archivist John Jackson.

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fans and critics alike took Billy Joel’s live shows in 1976 and 1977 as a sign that Turnstiles was going to be his big break. That wasn’t the case, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Starting six weeks before the album’s May 1976 release, the Turnstiles tour was Billy’s most intense schedule to date. It still stacks up against his busiest chart-topping years. 

With the Lords of 52nd Street lineup now mostly in place, Billy’s shows quickly blossomed into energetic, barnburning performances. And, over the span of more than 170 shows in 13 months, audiences and even critics took notice. 

Today, we can hear how the band came together as a live touring unit through two famous bootlegs and an official release from the beginning and near the end of the tour. Observations in newspaper reviews reveal how the crew and production were coming into their own as well. 

The Turnstiles album wasn’t the leap to superstardom that many concert reviewers predicted. That would come by the end of 1977 with the release of The Stranger. But, the hundreds of hours performing and thousands of miles traveled along the way, set the stage for that success. 

------

Email us: [email protected]

Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast on the web / social media:

Support the podcast:

Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices