Track Listing

1. No Man's Land
2. Great Wall Of China
3. Blonde Over Blue
4. Minor Variation
5. Shades Of Grey
6. All About Soul
7. Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)
8. River Of Dreams
9. Two Thousand Years
10. Famous Last Words

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31334 in Music
• Released on: 1998-06-01
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
RIVER OF DREAMS finds Billy Joel once again in the familiarterritory that he staked out early on in his long and very successful career: well crafted songs, strong vocals sung with conviction, and thoughtful production, built solidly fromthe ground up. Joel has always been a stylistic chameleon. He can conjure up '50s doowop or a beautiful Beatlesque melody and then suddenly turn on a dime and come at you with a hard-edged, urgently rocking tale about life, love lost and lessons to be learned.
On "River of Dreams" Billy rocks hard, but with a maturity and insight befitting the grey that flecks his beard. Of course just when you think you know where Billy Joel is going he will always surprise you. "Good Night My Angel' is a beautiful lullaby with a strong classicalundercurrent that would make Brahms smile. Other key tracksare "All About Soul", the title cut and the reflective ode "2000 Years".

Customer Reviews

Good collection of songs, Joel's last studio album
Contrary to another review, this is manifestly not Billy Joel's best CD yet. Far from it, and if you are looking to start in on the Billy Joel catalogue, go to The Stranger and An Innocent Man first.
That said, it's still got some excellent stuff on it.
The core of the album is the triptych of songs that kick off the second half: All About Soul, Goodnight My Angel and River of Dreams. This is rock but with the cares and perspectives of middle-age.
All About Soul is that rare thing, a love song not about falling in love but about marriage. It's lyrically moving, while musically it really rocks. The only tragedy for Joel is that Christie Brinkley was just about to dump him for a better looking model.
(But he didn't know that at the time.)
Then there's Goodnight My Angel, a quiet piano lullaby from a father's perspective about how to answer his young child when she asks about what happens when people seem to die. The next song, River of Dreams, completes his answer, with Gospel backing while the lyrics explore what it means to be sort of agnostically spiritual. How music helps you to live on.
Otherwise, nothing really stands out and the first half in particular lacks the melodies that cover so much else in his back catalogue. Still, it's never less than respectable and 2000 years is a good finisher, albeit lacks contemporary reference as it's dated itself to the Millenium.
For fans, there's definitely enough to enjoy. For fringers, go elsewhere first, or just download the core three songs from i-tunes.

Billy Joel's Best CD yet!
This CD has a wonderful mixture of up beat rock and soul, catering for any taste and mood. Use it as background music or crank it up full either way River of Dreams is a great CD.