The Bridge by Billy Joel
The Bridge is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on July 29, 1986. It marked the final Billy Joel album produced by Phil Ramone. The Bridge yielded several successful singles, including "A Matter of Trust" , "Modern Woman" and "This Is the Time". Joel began work on the album—on which two of his major influences (Ray Charles and Steve Winwood) made guest appearances—in 1985. Charles sang a duet with Joel on the song "Baby Grand," and Winwood played Hammond organ on the song "Getting Closer". Other notable musicians who made guest appearances on the album include jazz musicians Ron Carter and Michael Brecker, who both played on the jazzy track "Big Man on Mulberry Street."
This Denver-based quartet used a grassroots campaign of their local radio station and newspaper to land a major label recording contract. Their demo of “Over My Head (Cable Car)” was named one of KTCL’s top 30 most played songs of 2004 and Westword Magazine awarded them “Best New Band.” It helps that the band’s piano-based pop rock easily slots in next to adult-contemporary favourites like Five For Fighting and David Gray without missing a beat. Singer Isaac Slade and guitarist Jon King write polite, catchy songs that are earnest and upbeat in their general veneer, recalling both the heartland Americana of Counting Crows and the heart-on-sleeve emotional overkill of Dashboard Confessional. What their debut album lacks in originality or edge is made up for with sincerity and unpretentious presentation. That said, many of the songs here sound similar. “Over My Head”, “How to Save A Life” and “All At Once” are all moderately paced pop songs that sound as if they were written to accompany a network teen drama – filled with pathos and nicely scrubbed.
