Ryan's Reviews

Name about ten famous musicals from, say, the last ninety years: "Show Boat", "Anything Goes", "Oklahoma!", "My Fair Lady", "West Side Story", "Hello, Dolly!", "Fiddler on the Roof", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Sweeney Todd" and "Les Misérables". I'll add another ten: "The King and I", "The Sound of Music", "Gypsy", "Oliver!", "Hair", "Godspell", "The Rocky Horror Show", "A Chorus Line", "Evita" and "Annie". "A Chorus Line" performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival became the longest running production in the history of the Broadway musical, until it was beaten by "Cats", which was then beaten by "The Phantom of the Opera". The last two, if you didn't know, were composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Now let's say we name about ten musicals that were...

10 August 1993 saw the release of the twelfth and what would be the last studio album of mainstream songs written and performed by Billy Joel. The album was called "River of Dreams" and was produced by Billy with Danny Kortchmar, along with Joe Nicolo and David Thoener co-producing. It was Billy's first album after "Storm Front" released four years prior which had marked a sea change in his musical career. "Storm Front" had been the first time since before 1977 that Billy would not work with producer Phil Ramone on a studio album. It also saw a change in line-up for Billy's band with the departure of Russell Javors on rhythm guitar and bassist Doug Stegmeyer. "Storm Front" had been produced by Billy with Mick Jones from the band Foreigner. The new album would bring in Danny Kortchmar, although it had originally begun with Billy himself. Seven songs were written and recorded as demos in 1992, which have been referred to as "The Shelte...

By 1989, Billy Joel had released ten studio albums: "Cold Spring Harbor", "Piano Man", "Streetlife Serenade", "Turnstiles", "The Stranger", "52nd Street", "Glass Houses", "The Nylon Curtain", "An Innocent Man" and "The Bridge", in addition to "Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II" and the two live albums "Songs in the Attic" and "Концерт". On 17 October 1989, "Storm Front" was released on Columbia Records marking a sea change in Billy's career. All of the albums from "The Stranger" onward had been produced by Phil Ramone. All of the albums had contained the work of Billy's band members who had recorded and toured with him since the days of "Turnstiles" and "The Stranger". The new album would be co-produced by Billy himself with Mick Jones, best known as one of the members of the group Foreigner. Instead of rh...