There are plenty of hits here, including the Four Seasons homage “Uptown Girl,” the acapella doo-wop of “The Longest Time,” the Drifters-like balladry of the powerful title track, the Motown-tinged Number One hit “Tell Her About It,” the stunningly pretty “Leave a Tender Moment Alone,” and the soulful “Keeping the Faith.” Even the non-hits are deliriously fun as well, be it the Sam Cooke-tinged sway of “Careless Talk,” the Little Richard-esque “Christie Lee,” or, best of all, “This Night,” in which Joel ingeniously takes an old Beethoven melody and turns it into the chorus of a sweeping doo-wop ballad. Like the best songs of the ‘50s and early ‘60s, these songs are all overflowing with hooks from start to finish. It’s a remarkably creative move, and one that very few other songwriters have ever been as bold or daring to try themselves.
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In a much more playful mood than he was on The Nylon Curtain, Joel was also suddenly nostalgic for the music of his youth. Rather than simply make an album of ‘50s and ‘60s covers, though, Joel went ahead and wrote a full album of new material that simply incorporated the sounds of the “good old days.” Hence, nearly every track here bears an obvious musical influence in golden greats like Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, The Tymes, The Supremes, or Little Anthony and the Imperials. This album is not only a dramatic improvement on its predecessor, it might very well be the single-most creative album of Joel’s career and one of the most unique albums in pop music. Still, the album’s first five songs are all very much worth owning. Side Two starts off promisingly with “She’s Right on Time,” but the rest of the disc just seems uninspired and lifeless. Since Joel so rarely uses any profanity in his lyrics, the moment packs a real wallop.) The paranoid frenetic pop of “Pressure” is a real adrenaline rush, while the much more subdued balladry of “Goodnight Saigon” is a moving tribute to Vietnam vets. (Joel even drops a very unexpected profanity during the bridge. “Allentown” is one of Joel’s very few excursions into sociopolitical commentary that doesn’t over-reach, its thoughtful take on the decline of the American manufacturing industry also thankfully being welded to one of Joel’s finest melodies, resulting in a song that’s stunningly quite addictive and hooky when you consider its subject matter. The non-single “Laura” is an angry ballad with a late-Beatles vibe to it (especially in its George Harrison-like guitar solo) the lyric itself isn’t very musical, but the melody is great and the song packs a real emotional punch. Joel’s first studio outing after the live disc Songs in the Attic, The Nylon Curtain gets off to a phenomenal start and then proceeds to dovetail quite a bit in its back half. That might have been fatal, but thankfully, the album’s first half is really, really excellent. The only misfires, really, are the album-closing “Through the Long Night,” which is a fine song that just seems out of place on such a rough-edged album, and the bilingual ballad “C’etait Toi (You Were the One),” which may be Joel’s worst song. “All for Leyna” and “Close to the Borderline” are both despondent yet quite hooky rockers that hit with as much intensity as “You May Be Right,” while the playful romps “I Don’t Want to Be Alone” and “Sleeping with the Television On” are every bit as catchy and addictive as any of the singles. The album yielded several notable hits in the vaguely New Wave-tinged Number One “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” the Afro-Cuban lilt of “Don’t Ask Me Why,” the aggressive rocker “Sometimes a Fantasy,” and the maniacal “You May Be Right.” They’re all strong singles – especially “You May Be Right” – but, like 52nd Street, what’s most impressive about the album is just how fun and incessantly catchy the majority of the non-singles are. A notable departure from the more pop-and-jazz-tinged stylings of his last two albums, Glass Houses showcases an angrier side of Joel, one determined to prove to critics once and for all that he can rock out convincingly, and he succeeds to the degree that the only tracks that really don’t work here are all ballads.