‘River of Dreams’: the album Billy Joel said “got no airplay”
When it comes to stamina and longevity in the music industry, you don’t need to look any further than Billy Joel to find the prime example of the pinnacle. Having trodden the boards of the musical circuits for the past 60 years and more, it’s fair to say he knows a thing or two about what makes a good tune, but the songwriting virtuoso can also extend that, casting an eye over his own work, knowing which records should have received more rapturous acclaim than just his personal seal of approval.
Across the length of his career, Joel has spearheaded multiple iconic eras in the realms of rock and pop, from massive hit albums like The Stranger and An Innocent Man. Spawning seismic successes from these, including ‘She’s Always a Woman’ and ‘Uptown Girl’, the singer has enjoyed plenty of time basking in the limelight, but with that comes the unenviable pressure that each new thing you put out must be better than the last. Inevitably, not all of Joel’s albums have reached the heady heights of their predecessors, and there was one record in particular where he really was not happy about it.
It turned out to be his last commercial release to date, River of Dreams, back in 1993. Reflecting back on it in 2018, when asked whether his high standards were too unrealistic, he said: “Well, I don’t know. But the business changed, too. Albums weren’t meaning what they used to mean in the marketplace. I grew up in the era where an album had to be substantial. It couldn’t be throwaway Christmas shit like Elvis used to do. Then the business changed.”
Of his own album, he professed: “The last album I did, River of Dreams, was as good and maybe better than a lot of other albums that I had made, but it got no airplay.” This statement, although sounding dramatic, is certainly up for debate given that it produced no less than four Grammy nominations – including ‘Album of the Year’ – but at least in Joel’s eyes, it didn’t have the lasting legacy of some of his more seminal records.
With River of Dreams being Joel’s final rock release, he explained why the draining impact meant he felt it was time to leave the recording studio for good. “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?’”
With that searing ultimatum, Joel decided he was much more content with life on the road rather than withering away his hours behind the mixing desk. Only ever releasing one record after that—2001’s Fantasies and Delusions, which is comprised of classical compositions—he has most definitely found his more comfortable niche as a touring act. Even over 30 years later, he possesses the commanding capability to sell out stadiums worldwide and shows no signs of stopping yet.
But has the thought of renewed chart glory ever tantalised him back towards the pull of the studio? For a long time, it didn’t seem like it, but with last year’s release of his first single in decades, ‘Turn the Lights Back On’, there’s still a small glimmer of hope. Let’s just pray the experience hasn’t put him off as much as River of Dreams.
