‘River of Dreams’: The album Billy Joel described as a “quantum leap”
Billy Joel might be one of the most widely celebrated assets across the entire entertainment industry, but no matter where you stand on the greatness-seeking musical maestro, there’s no arguing with his work ethic. His music might not be for everybody, but regardless of your position, his dedication to the craft places him above most when it comes to intuition and technical intelligence.
During the early 1990s, interest in Joel’s artistry transitioned into more personal territory. Interviewers asked for the impetus behind certain songs and how they connected to his life on a more intimate level. Often, he seemed lost for words, but once inspiration struck, the insights he provided were deep and meaningful.
This was also a common thread that permeated his 1993 release, River of Dreams, which materialised as a result of numerous things Joel had encountered in his personal life, namely his dispute with his ex-brother-in-law, Frank Weber, who scammed the musician in the most financially detrimental way while taking advantage of his trust to do so.
As a result, River of Dreams contained themes of loss, love, trust, and betrayal while incorporating a more serious, introspective tone than his previous releases. Although the musician would go on to release more classically leaning records following River of Dreams, this album, in particular, saw him utilising his signature rock edge while tapping the breaks to explore more complex emotional mindsets.
These complexities also blended with Joel’s personal take on dream states and how, often, the waking psyche can merge with dream logic to create something that is both existential and abstract. Ever since childhood, he has observed how he dreams differently from others, with music and lyrics often coming to him in his subconscious state. As he explained to Psychology Today: “When you wake up singing a song and having a certain rhythm running through your mind, and you can’t get rid of it, it means something.”
He continued: “Sometimes kids would come into school and say, I had this dream about a monster, or I had this dream that I saw you or somebody died; I had a nightmare, I thought to myself, ‘Gee, I have a completely different kind of dream.”
Joel added: “I dreamed a melody or a great rhythm or a chord pattern or symphonic fragment for a song. It was always music, but it wasn’t always the same kind of music. I have had literal dreams like other people, but more often than not, it’s an abstract kind of dream.”
Leaning into this interest while creating River of Dreams meant that Joel could access a more refined sense of greatness lyrically, reaching into voids he previously left unexplored and crafting imagery that relied on things that existed outside of his usual familiarity. The record might have received his most divisive reception yet, but musically, there’s no disputing its superiority.
This is something Joel recognised himself, as when he was asked by Vulture to discuss what he regards as his best-ever lyric, he immediately pointed to River of Dreams. “Probably something on River of Dreams. I like that song, ‘No Man’s Land’,” he concluded. “‘Raise up a multiplex, and we will make a sacrifice.’ This biblical imagery is skewed by consumerism — I’m proud of that. There are some good lyrics in ‘All About Soul’ too. I thought I made a quantum leap lyrically on that album”.
