Show Notes
With a pair of award-winning, chart-topping albums under his belt, Billy Joel entered A&R Recording in 1979 with the intention of abandoning the sound that made him a superstar. He did so by showcasing the musicians who were instrumental to his success.
The result was Glass Houses. Released on March 12, 1980, the album lurched Billy out of the classically-informed, jazz-influenced, singer-songwriter idiom he’d cultivated over three releases. Written in the wake of Punk and New Wave, his first record of the decade was stripped down, guitar-focussed and often confrontational.
Glass Houses was the second of Billy’s solo albums, and his first since 1976 to not use session musicians. With the backing tracks recorded almost completely live, it put his tight knit backing band, now known as the Lords of 52nd Street, front and center.
The stylistic shift yielded a platinum-selling record with a handful of Top Ten hits and concert staples to this day. It also set the precedent for Billy’s genre-hopping success throughout the 80s. But, in retrospect, it was an album that could have flopped, and one that could only have been successful in a brief timeframe.
In our first of four episodes covering Glass Houses, we’ll explore the making of the record, from what was on the charts at the time, to how the songs evolved from rough demos to polished gems, and when and how the band put it all together.
Join us as we dig deep into the making of Glass Houses.
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More from Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast
This week, we are joined by Dan Orlando of the Lords of 52nd Street.
The conversation continues on Glass Houses – A Billy Joel Podcast with Frank Simms, Peter Hewlett, and George Simms, three of the voices who helped define Billy Joel’s live sound throughout the 1980s.
For the first time on Glass Houses – A Billy Joel Podcast, we bring together all three of Billy Joel’s 1980s backing vocalists: Frank Simms, Peter Hewlett, and George Simms.
In this episode of Glass Houses – A Billy Joel Podcast, Michael is flying solo and heading back to Michigan to resurrect our playlist series with a musical trip through the 1990s and 2000s.
This week on Glass Houses – A Billy Joel Podcast, Michael and Jack each count down their Top 10 Billy Joel bridges.