River of Dreams explained

River of Dreams
Type:Album
Artist:Billy Joel
Cover:Billy Joel - River of Dreams.jpg
Studio:The Boathouse at the Island Boatyard, Shelter Island
Cove City Sound Studios, Glen Cove, New York
The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre:Pop
Length:49:10
Label:Columbia
Producer:Billy Joel, Danny Kortchmar, Joe Nicolo, David Thoener
Prev Year:1990
Next Title:Greatest Hits Volume III
Next Year:1997

River of Dreams is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on August 10, 1993. River of Dreams presented a more serious tone than found in Joel's previous albums, dealing with issues such as trust and long-lasting love. It was rumored that the themes of trust and betrayal, particularly certain lyrics from the songs "A Minor Variation" and "The Great Wall of China", stem from Joel's legal disputes with his former manager and ex-brother-in-law, Frank Weber, who reportedly embezzled millions of dollars from Joel and used dubious accounting practices to cover it up.[1] It was Joel's fourth and last album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart, a position it held for three consecutive weeks.

River of Dreams is the last rock album Joel has released to date, as his next album, Fantasies & Delusions (2001), features classical compositions with solo piano performed by Hyung-ki "Richard" Joo. Since River of Dreams, Joel has recorded occasional pop/rock singles and continues to play live.

The album cover was a painting by Joel's then-wife, Christie Brinkley. In 1993, Rolling Stone gave her the Top Picks award for "The Best Album Cover of the Year".[2]

The same cover, in 2024, was named one of the worst 50 album covers of all time by Rolling Stone.[3]

Background

In the summer of 1992, Billy Joel held a series of writing and recording sessions on Shelter Island, New York;[4] these sessions eventually produced seven tracks, self-produced by Joel.[5]

Joel was dissatisfied with the results, and so, on the recommendation of Don Henley, he brought in session guitarist Danny Kortchmar for another take on the songs. Kortchmar agreed to produce, provided he be allowed to use session musicians on the recordings, to which Joel agreed. Only one song from the Shelter Island sessions, "Shades of Grey", would make the final album in its original produced form.

In a 2018 interview with Vulture, Joel expressed disappointment that the album did not yield any hit singles beyond the title track. He further attributed his decision to stop releasing pop albums to the lack of airplay. "The thing was, I put a lot of work into River of Dreams and it was as if the business had left me behind because there are substantial songs on that album that never went anywhere. So I said, 'What's the point of putting myself through writing and recording if it doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean out there in the world?'"[6]

Track listing

All songs were written and composed by Billy Joel.

  1. "No Man's Land" – 4:48
  2. "The Great Wall of China" – 5:45
  3. "Blonde Over Blue" – 4:55
  4. "A Minor Variation" – 5:36
  5. "Shades of Grey" – 4:10
  6. "All About Soul" – 6:01
  7. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" – 3:32
  8. "The River of Dreams" – 4:05
  9. "Two Thousand Years" – 5:19
  10. "Famous Last Words" – 5:01

A Voyage on the River of Dreams

A Voyage on the River of Dreams is an Australian 3-CD box set released in 1994, which includes the studio album, River of Dreams, along with a 6-track live CD from the '93–'94 River of Dreams Tour, plus a Questions & Answers CD recorded at Princeton University.[7] This box set made the charts in Australia (No. 33) and New Zealand (No. 47), the only places besides Japan where the set was officially released.[8]

Disc one (River of Dreams – Studio album) – as per original album

Disc two (Billy Joel Live)All songs written and composed by Billy Joel, except where noted

  1. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Elton John/Bernie Taupin) – 5:08
  2. "No Man's Land" – 5:44
  3. "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" – 5:52
  4. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" – 3:40
  5. "The River of Dreams" – 5:28
  6. "A Hard Day's Night" (Lennon–McCartney) – 3:20

Disc three (Questions & Answers Disc)

  1. "Q & A recorded at Princeton University"

Personnel

Production

Aftermath

River of Dreams stands as Billy Joel's most recent studio album of original material in the pop/rock genre. Joel has often stated that the album was designed to stand as his final record and that while he still composes music, he no longer writes within the pop/rock music vein and has no more interest in the recording industry.[9] Joel's succeeding studio album Fantasies & Delusions, released in 2001, was an instrumental album of classical piano pieces containing no pop songs whatsoever. In 2019, a group of Billy Joel fans created a petition at Change.org asking him to put out at least one more studio album with new songs of original materials in the pop/rock genre,[10] but it obtained less than 300 signatures, and some of the signatories stated that they wanted Joel to record cover songs or remakes of his earlier hits rather than new material.[11]

Accolades

Grammy Awards

|-| width="35" align="center" rowspan="4"|1994 || River of Dreams || Album of the Year[12] || |-|rowspan=3|"The River of Dreams" || Song of the Year || |-| Record of the Year || |-| Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male ||

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for River of Dreams!Chart (1993–94)!Peak
position
Danish Albums (IFPI)[13] 8
European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)6
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] 21
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[15] 33
Icelandic Albums (Tonlist)[16] 4
Irish Albums (IRMA)[17] 9
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[18] 17
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[19] 3
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[20] 6
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[21] 19
Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)[22] 3

Year-end charts

1993 year-end chart performance for River of Dreams!Chart (1993)!Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[23] 7
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 14
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[25] 27
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[26] 89
European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)[27] 27
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 21
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[29] 79
New Zealand Albums (RIANZ)[30] 18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 17
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 43
US Billboard 200[33] 23
1994 year-end chart performance for River of Dreams!Chart (1994)!Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[34] 26
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[35] 93
US Billboard 200[36] 34

Notes and References

  1. News: Goldman. Andrew. Billy Joel on Not Working and Not Giving Up Drinking. January 3, 2014. New York Times. May 24, 2013.
  2. Web site: Christie Brinkley biography. Official website. March 19, 2009.
  3. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/worst-album-covers-1235044141/billy-joel-river-of-dreams-1235044151/ The 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time
  4. Web site: River of Dreams article. ONE FINAL SERENADE: THE SONGS OF BILLY JOEL (BILLY JOEL FAN SITE). en. July 13, 2019.
  5. Book: Schruers, Fred. Billy Joel. Crown Archetype. 2014. 978-0-8041-4019-5. 218–220.
  6. Web site: Marchese . David . July 23, 2018 . Billy Joel on His Songwriting Silence, the Country Today, and His Ideal Farewell . February 2, 2024. Vulture . en.
  7. Web site: Billy Joel – A Voyage On the River of Dreams Australia Box Set . Eil.com . October 14, 1994 . August 25, 2011.
  8. Web site: Steffen . Hung . Billy Joel – A Voyage On the River of Dreams . australian-charts.com . November 27, 1994 . August 25, 2011.
  9. Billy Joel on Turning 70, Donald Trump and Why He Writes Music Just For Himself Now. Rolling Stone. May 30, 2019.
  10. Web site: Fans are petitioning Billy Joel to release a new album . 98.7 The River. February 18, 2019.
  11. "We want Billy Joel to record and release a new studio album soon", Change.org.
  12. Web site: THE 36TH GRAMMY NOMINATIONS : Grammy Nods: The Populists Lead the Way : Awards: Sting, who already has 10 Grammys, earns six nominations. The competition includes Whitney Houston, Billy Joel and R.E.M.. Los Angeles Times. January 7, 1994. August 29, 2011.
  13. Web site: Top 10 Sales in Europe. Music and Media. American Radio History. October 30, 1993. December 29, 2019.
  14. Book: Pennanen, Timo . 2006 . Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 . 1st . Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava . Helsinki. 978-951-1-21053-5 . 263 . fi .
  15. Web site: MAHASZ.
  16. Web site: Tonlist Top 40 . DV . February 9, 2017 .
  17. Web site: Top 10 Sales in Europe. Music and Media. American Radio History. September 4, 1993. December 29, 2019.
  18. Web site: Classifiche. Musica e dischi. it. May 31, 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Billy Joel".
  19. Web site: ビリー・ジョエル-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック . Highest position and charting weeks of River of Dreams by Billy Joel. ja . oricon.co.jp . Oricon Style. August 29, 2011.
  20. Hits of the World . Billboard . April 12, 1993 . February 9, 2012.
  21. Book: Salaverri, Fernando . Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 . 1st . September 2005 . Fundación Autor-SGAE . Spain . 84-8048-639-2.
    • Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: albums chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
  23. Web site: End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Albums 1993. ARIA Charts . Australian Recording Industry Association. August 29, 2011.
  24. Web site: Austriancharts.at – Jahreshitparade 1993 . Hung Medien . May 30, 2010.
  25. RPM Top 100 Albums of 1993. RPM. October 3, 2011.
  26. Web site: Dutch Charts = dutchcharts.nl . August 29, 2011.
  27. December 18, 1993 . 1993 Year-End Sales Charts - Eurochart Hot 100 Albums 1993 . . 15 . April 27, 2022.
  28. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts: 1993. de. GfK Entertainment. April 27, 2022.
  29. Web site: 1993年 アルバム年間TOP100 . Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1993 . ja . January 1, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121104163727/http://www.geocities.jp/object_ori/1993a.html . November 4, 2012 . dead.
  30. Web site: The Top 50 Albums of 1993. February 4, 2015.
  31. Web site: Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1993 . Hung Medien . May 29, 2011.
  32. Web site: UK best albums 1993 . August 19, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120927004009/http://uktop40.republika.pl/najlep%20sprzalbumy%20uk%201993.html . September 27, 2012 .
  33. Web site: CHART: Billboard Top Pop Albums of 1993. August 22, 2011.
  34. Web site: End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Albums 1994. ARIA Charts . Australian Recording Industry Association. August 29, 2011.
  35. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts: 1994. de. GfK Entertainment. April 27, 2022.
  36. CHART: Billboard Top Pop Albums of 1994. . August 22, 2011.

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