• AllMyVinyl #101
• Band: Billy Joel
• Album Title: Glass Houses
• Release Date: 12 Mar 1980
• Date purchased: 3 Nov 2023
• Location purchased: Gift received
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

I’ve been a Joel fan for longer than I’ve been buying physical media for music.  One of the earliest people I ever listened to – back in in era when I couldn’t afford anything, and music consumption was almost exclusively off of FM radio and things IO recorded myself to cassette tape from there.   Was already following him when the decade turned to 1980 and this album came out early in that year.

This album brings a lot of memories for me.  It came out and was current when I turned 15 years old, so I was a prime target for an album like this.  Back in the day I bought it on vinyl and cassette tape.  I can’t recall now in 2024 which one I bought first, but it was probably vinyl as in 1980/81 I was still primarily vinyl as I had no portable music systems yet.  I also got it on CD somewhere along the line too.  I still have the CD in my booklet of old CD’s I owned (long ago trashed the jewel cases to save space, kept all the interiors).  The cassette is long gone.  The original vinyl survived into 2023, it was a survivor of my mom’s basement.  However, the copy I am playing now is a new printing.  In 2023, my family bought me the “Billy Joel Vinyl Collection Volume 2” as an early Christmas present that yet.  It covered from Glass Houses through the rest of his catalog.   I’m pretty sure the original vinyl from 1980 is still with my brother, as I didn’t need two of them (He kept a couple as a “finder’s fee”) – haha).  This 2023 pressing isn’t any sort of new remaster that I’m aware of, but the original really didn’t need one, IMO.

This is another one of those albums I know so well, I could probably write the remarks on the songs without actually listening to the album at the same time, but I’m not doing that.  It’s a great album, so today’s entry in the series is a great excuse to give it a spin.

You May Be Right – Right out of the gate, this is a statement – this is a rock & roll album for sure.   Billy Joel’s stuff to this point was mostly Billy and the piano with a band with him.  I always felt this was a change in direction that fully planted its feet in proper rock and roll – full band.  I know the piano is in here, but it’s a really a minor part.  He’s moved past being the guy who sits at the piano and plays there being the guy you could see standing at the front of the stage behind the microphone.  When I was 14 in 1980 when this came out I always visualized the glass breaking sound effect at the start of the song with the cover art as being married.  I always assumed the sound effect was recorded for here and while I never really thought he broke the windows on the cover art, I did visualize it.

Sometimes a Fantasy – Carries on from the first song with the same rock & roll vibe.  Also the second song in a row that started with a sound effect – this time the numbers on a touchtone telephone being pushed.   I don’t have anything particularly great to say about this track – but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it.  I do – a lot.  It’s married well with track one, but finding it hard to write about it.  In reading about it, the lyrics have something to do with phone sex – something that was totally lost on me as a teenager.  :)

Don’t Ask Me Why – This third song brings the tone down a bit.  Most definitely not slow, but not the “guitar in your face” the first two songs were.  A very nicely paced slower song.  It’s got a nice solid beat that runs through it.   It goes slightly reggae in the bridge section, which is a change of pace from the rest of the song, but I love Billy’s vocal delivery here in combination with said beat.

It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me – We’re back to the rock feel.  In fact, this is probably the biggest hit off the album.  There also was a music video produced (although it’s performance based).  If you know anything from this album, I’ll lay money it’s this one.  It has been a staple of his live setlists ever since.  It was such a big hit that Weird Al wanted to parody it, but Billy denied the request (Al’s version was gonna be “It’s Still Billy Joel to Me”.   I love the sound in the solo section of the song – great stretch there.

All for Leyna – The piano makes a major appearance here.  It’s a rock song, but with the piano as the driving feel here.  Also Billy’s vocal delivery is strained – which fits the lyrics for sure.  Lyrically this is about a man who tortures himself for a woman (the titular Leyna). Lyrically he electrocutes himself on a train’s third rail, nearly drowned to death on the beach, sitting by himself in his bedroom waiting for her to come back. He also mentions failing in school, losing my friends, don’t want to eat, don’t want to sleep..  I always thought this was about some woman in his life, but he and his first wife didn’t get divorced for another two years.   This always felt tied to the song “Stiletto” from the prior album (52nd Street). The two of them together has always led me to believe they were about some woman from his life who really wronged him.

I Don’t Want to be Alone – A different sound than the rest of the album before this.  It has my favorite thing – the old time change.  It starts off slow, gets fast, back to slow..  I love the different sounds that comprise this whole track.  It’s not just one style, it’s a few mashed together and I think it works well.

Sleeping with the Television On – So we’re falling asleep with the TV on while with someone named Diane?  This is one I wasn’t sure what the lyrics were about, but I loved the beat.  It’s one that gets me boppin’ in my chair. Even now writing this as the song is on, I find myself getting into it.  It’s not the most complex track musically, but I love the delivery of the lyrics (even if I don’t know what they’re about).  Songs don’t have to be complex to work – this is one of those for sure.

C’etait Toi – Subtitled “You Were the One”.  This one has part of the song sung in French.  It was the first song I had ever heard that had lyrics not in English.  I always wished I could ask Billy why part of the song was in Frech – what was his creative decision there?   Musically it’s a slower song for sure than the most of the album.  But over the years I find myself kind of wishing more of the song was song in French.   The sound that runs in the background of this song is a callback to his earlier works and sounds like it would fit one of his albums like Turnstiles or Streetlife Serenade.

Close to the Borderline – This starts off with a nice drum beat (hello Liberty!) and then leads into a guitar riff.  This is one I always seem to forget out.  A great rock and roll track – drums, guitar, bass, vocals – very traditional there.  It’s one that when you think of this album generally gets overlooked.  Not sure if the main riff here is played by David Brown or Russell Javors – if I had to guess it’s Brown.  Song makes me want to air drum listening to it.  :)

Through the Long Night – The album closes out with a much slower song – most of the band is absent here for the majority of it.  The song seems to be mostly a vehicle for Billy’s vocals – that’s the main raw for this song IMO.   It’s got some background vocals here – not sure if Billy is singing with himself, or it’s some of his band with him.  It’s an outlier for this album – most of this album is outright rock and roll, this is not.  Good closer to the album, though.

As I said earlier, this album brings up a lot of memories – nearly all good from my teenage years.   It was around this time I discovered “rock & roll”, and I’m sure this album helped, as it’s the most “rock & roll” in Billy’s catalogue.