Glass Houses - A Billy Joel Podcast
Join lifelong Billy Joel fans, Michael and Jack, as they take deep dives in to Billy’s history, songs, albums, tours, band members, and more. Part of Pantheon Podcasts,
Episodes
April 9, 2024 • 61 mins
2014 was a renaissance for Billy Joel. It’s almost hard to believe, given all the time he’s spent in the spotlight a decade later. But, he’d been relatively quiet in the late aughts and early 2010s. That made the flurry of activity this year all the more surprising.
Billy kicked off his Madison Square Garden residency in January of 2014, which he supported with a number of high-profile media appearances. The unprecedented run ear...
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March 26, 2024 • 71 mins
What the new compilation Billy Joel Live Through the Years - Japan Edition lacks in new material, it more than makes up for in providing context to 40-plus years of music.
The double-disc set, only released in Japan, features 32 live tracks recorded between 1972 and 2008. Starting with the Sigma Sound radio broadcast and culminating with a limited-release single, it tracks how Billy’s live show evolved through multiple bands and ...
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March 12, 2024 • 75 mins
The River of Dreams album was Billy Joel’s introduction to a new generation of fans in the early 90s. With chart-topping songs, a notorious Grammy appearance, and an extensive world tour, it was a landmark in Billy’s career.
But for drummer Zachary Alford, it was one of his first experiences in a major label session, and another step in his quickly-blossoming career.
Hot on the heels of high-profile world tours, Zachary got the...
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February 27, 2024 • 86 mins
Before Billy Joel was a household name, and before he was even a solo recording artist or known as a piano player, he released his first album on United Artists Records in 1967.
That album was The Hassles, by the band of the same name. Billy, still a teenager, wasn’t in the spotlight. Rather, he was the organ player who contributed a few original songs and vocals.
For this album episode, we’re reviewing the deluxe re-release f...
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February 13, 2024 • 99 mins
It’s easy to write off the lyrical content of love songs. They’re often fairly simple, and are more emotional than thought-provoking. But a good love song, like any song, reveals something about the writer, and, often, the listener.
For our Valentine’s Day episode, we’re discussing our favorite Billy Joel love songs. But, we ended up doing more than discussing the lyrics and music.
We also found ourselves reflecting on ho...
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January 30, 2024 • 98 mins
Although Disc Two of My Lives kicks off with a live version of a classic 70s song, the rest of the track list features Billy Joel B-Sides and early versions of songs from the 80s along with a few album tracks.
While it seems random initially, there’s a light narrative running through the selections. Here, you can compare work-in-progress tracks to the final versions, along with hit songs from the same era. Together, they provi...
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January 16, 2024 • 63 mins
Since his days playing clubs and theaters in the early 70s, Billy Joel was always known for his passionate, high-energy concerts. That reputation only grew, literally and figuratively, as he graduated into arenas and stadiums after 1977’s The Stranger.
That makes his stop at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on The Bridge tour a unique evening. Billy and the band were in fine form on October 13, 1986. But Billy seems to be in a muc...
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January 2, 2024 • 57 mins
1993 was both the kickoff to a new album cycle and the end of an era for Billy Joel. River of Dreams came out in August, and was certified three times platinum by the end of the year. It was preceded by what was now a well-oiled publicity machine, and followed immediately by a world tour.
But, the album was his last release of new pop songs. As such, it would be the last time Billy would run this playbook. Fortunately, we reme...
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December 19, 2023 • 71 mins
With 2023 coming to a close, we’re taking a look back at our year of podcasting and what’s happened in the world of Billy Joel. As always for our last episode of the year, we’re bringing some leftovers to the table: Odds and ends that didn’t quite make it into other episodes.
Don’t worry, they’re just as tasty as our main courses. And you don’t even have to microwave them.
You’ll hear excerpts from our interview with Edwa...
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December 5, 2023 • 66 mins
If you had to explain why Liberty DeVitto is a great drummer to someone who’d never heard a BIlly Joel record, how would you do it? That’s the question we’re exploring in our 100th episode.
It’s a somewhat tricky proposition. Liberty’s a well-regarded drummer who’s played on dozens of Top 20 records and toured with some of the biggest acts in the world. But he’s not a flashy player, nor is he the most prolific. You can’t point...
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November 21, 2023 • 74 mins
Every two weeks, Michael and I release a podcast episode where we tell someone else’s stories. Except that’s not quite true. As we discuss every note on an album, or labor over every second of a concert recording, we also talk about ourselves.
It’s one way music becomes more than just art. Billy Joel’s story becomes part of our stories, which becomes part of each other’s, and ultimately a narrative of its own, all told in a lang...
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November 7, 2023 • 76 mins
To paraphrase another famous rock band, Billy Joel’s The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2 goes to 11.
The box set treats fans to 21 years of classic songs with just shy of a dozen records. That’s including an album never released on vinyl before, and a long-awaited expanded version of a fan favorite.
Released November 3, 2023, the collection includes every studio album from Glass Houses in 1980 through 2001’s Fantasies and Delusi...
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October 24, 2023 • 90 mins
The My Lives box set is a curious addition to the Billy Joel discography. The four-CD / one-DVD set, released in 2005, is a mix of unreleased demos, alternate takes, live recordings, cover songs, and a handful of album tracks.
At the time, it was the first glimpse many fans got at unreleased material and songs-in-progress. The first disc, in particular, offers a chronological journey from Billy’s earliest solo compositions thr...
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October 10, 2023 • 82 mins
Unreleased for decades, Billy Joel’s 1972 Sigma Sound Studios concert was arguably the kick-start to his career. With a flop record in Cold Spring Harbor under his belt. Billy and his then-backing band performed live on the air for WMMR in Philadelphia.
The session yielded a version of “Captain Jack” that became the station’s most-requested song for years. It drew the attention of Columbia Records, who went on to sign Billy an...
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September 26, 2023 • 60 mins
With a new album out and a New York-based band in place, Billy Joel was starting to heat up in 1976. His show at the Bottom Line in Manhattan on June 10th of that year is the proof.
The album, Turnstiles, had just come out a few weeks prior. And the orchestra, as Billy was now calling the band, had been on the road for just over two months.
The performance was simulcast on seven radio stations, leaving listeners today with...
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September 12, 2023 • 65 mins
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 h...
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August 29, 2023 • 71 mins
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...
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August 15, 2023 • 83 mins
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 c...
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August 1, 2023 • 66 mins
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 hi...
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July 18, 2023 • 54 mins
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 alon...
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