Billy Joel’s The Bridge released

First posted 5/9/2011; updated 9/22/2020.

The Bridge Billy Joel

Released: July 29, 1986 Peak: 7 US, 38 UK, 10 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.06 UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Running on Ice This Is the Time (11/15/86, 18 US, 1 AC, 32 AR, 26 CN, 73 AU) A Matter of Trust (8/9/86, 10 US, 17 AC, 14 AR, 52 UK, 15 CN, 3 AU) Modern Woman (6/7/86, 10 US, 7 AC, 34 AR, 27 CN, 21 AU) Baby Grand (with Ray Charles) (4/4/87, 75 US, 3 AC, 78 AU) Big Man on Mulberry Street Temptation Code of Silence Getting Closer Total Running Time: 40:06

Rating: 3.146 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: “Riding high on the blockbuster An Innocent Man and with a new jet-setting bride at his side, Billy Joel took full advantage of the high life, as is clear from The Bridge, an album that unwittingly celebrates the excesses of the Reagan years.” AMG He “advantage of his wealth and status, recruiting a hero (Ray Charles)” AMG for a sentimental ode to the piano with Baby Grand, although it is “weighed down by Joel’s vocal affectations.” AMG He also brought in “new wave kid” AMG Cyndi Lauper to duet on Code of Silence and turned to “Sting for inspiration” AMG for Running on Ice. The album also finds Joel “fronting a big band [with] Big Man on Mulberry Street, writing “the catchy but fluffy” AMG Modern Woman for the movie Ruthless People, “and picking up the guitar (A Matter of Trust), just for the hell of it.” AMG “This Is the Time was one of Joel’s most touching and modern songs: his ‘Boys of Summer,’ complete with similar life-is-fleeting sentiments.” DB “You could say that it’s eclectic, but it’s scattershot because it’s just Joel showing off his musical skills” AMG and it can end up sounding like “flabby, hammy R&B.” DB It ultimately ends up “his most uneven since Streetlife Serenade” AMG from 1974. “Nevertheless, Joel still has enough panache and is riding on so much exuberance that The Bridge remains an entertaining listen, especially if it's viewed as a Reagan-era artifact. It just doesn’t compare to what came before.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Billy Joel’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine DB David Browne (6/07). Blender magazine. Pages 114-5.