Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#7 – The Bridge – Billy Joel
Billy Joel’s 10th studio album was his last truly great one. I find a lot to love on 1989’s Storm Front and 1993’s River of Dreams, but this album is special from start to finish.
OK, maybe ‘This is the Time’ is a bit of a speed bump among the album’s nine tracks, but you can’t beat up on the guy for writing a prom theme.
Also… nine tracks. I love the economy of Billy Joel’s albums. Not one has more than 10 songs and several have eight or nine. He gets in, blows your mind, and gets out. Today’s artists, with their 20-track albums and five bonus editions, could learn a thing or two from Mr. Joel.
Joel worked with some great collaborators on The Bridge, having Steve Winwood play organ on ‘Getting Closer’ and duetting with Ray Charles and Cyndi Lauper on ‘Baby Grand’ and ‘Code of Silence,’ respectively. I particularly love ‘Code of Silence,’ on which Lauper got the only co-writing credit on a Billy Joel album (not counting Beethoven on An Innocent Man‘s ‘This Night’).
The Bridge gave us ‘Big Man on Mulberry Street,’ one of Joel’s most atypical and wonderful songs and ‘A Matter of Trust,’ one of the few to feature a lead guitar. ‘Running on Ice’ finds Joel doing The Police, while ‘Baby Grand’ finds him doing Ray Charles (alongside Ray Charles).
So many stylistic zig-zags, and yet this feels like a cohesive work, a sign (coming off the throwback 50s homage of An Innocent Man) that Joel could do pretty much anything well.
Some love is just a lie of the heart
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start
And they may not want it to end
But it will, it’s just a question of when
I’ve lived long enough to have learned
The closer you get to the fire the more you get burned
But that won’t happen to us
‘Cause it’s always been a matter of trust
[Verse 2]
I know you’re an emotional girl
It took a lot for you to not lose your faith in this world
But I can’t offer you proof
But you’re gonna face a moment of truth
It’s hard when you’re always afraid
You just recover when another belief is betrayed
So break my heart if you must
It’s a matter of trust
[Bridge]
You can’t go the distance
With too much resistance
I know you have doubts
But for God’s sake, don’t shut me out
[Verse 3]
This time you’ve got nothing to lose
You can take it, you can leave it whatever you choose
I won’t hold back anything
And I’ll walk away a fool or a king
Some love is just a lie of the mind
It’s make believe until it’s only a matter of time
And some might have learned to adjust
But then it never was a matter of trust
[Bridge]
I’m sure you’re aware love
We’ve both had our share of
Believing too long
When the whole situation was wrong
[Verse 4]
Some love is just a lie of the soul
A constant battle for the ultimate state of control
After you’ve heard lie upon lie
There can hardly be a question of why
Some love is just a lie of the heart
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start
But that can’t happen to us
‘Cause it’s always been a matter of trust
[Outro]
It’s a matter of trust
It’s always been a matter of trust
It’s a matter of trust
‘Cause it’s always been a matter of trust
Meet Me In Montauk 
Needless to say, I’m 100% on board with this pick. “Big Man…” is arguably one of the best songs Joel has done. The only other weak song on this album besides “This is the Time” is “Temptation, “ although I softened on that one, particularly as a father, once I found out it was written about his daughter.
I love everything he does! Loved the documentary about him.
So many of these picks are tickets to a Time Machine taking me back to UF my first two years traipsing from my dorm room to Hyde and Zeke, the local record store, to buy these new albums.
Listening to “Code of Silence” for the first time was a revelation. And having recently discovered Steve Wynwood’s Arc of a Diver, I was thrilled by his appearance on the album (and his own album release which soon became a favorite – Back in the High Life.
What an amazing year for music!