The Nylon Curtain

❤️

This may be his Magnum Opus, a work of pure brilliance. His commentary woven into superb music, rhythm, and singing. One amazing song after another, songs that will live on for the ages and tell a tale of the 1980s. This a must-have for anyone who enjoys Billy Joel.

The song I purchased thru the iTunes store is distorted and splatty. Why did you ruin this song? The pre-recorded cassette of the same album is cleaner, and it was printed in 1982. Don't bother telling me it's my side, because I purchased several songs this evening, and all of the were clear except this one.

The Nylon Curtain is a beautiful album with beautiful and moving songs, like Goodnight Saigon. Billy really outdid himself in this album.

I bought this album in 1982 (cassette tape). Joel at his best!

Probably my favorite Billy Joel album, if not, a VERY close second. It's great sound and lively feel will always be a favorite of mine.

This is such a great album because it has a large amount of Beatles influence which you cannot find in any other of his albums so i highly suggest to buy this album. by the way check out surprises and scandinavian skies and where is the orchestra? they are awesome!!!

How does Surprises, Scandinavian Skies, and Where's the Orchestra have lyrical shortcomings? Name three songs with better lyrics. I can't.

My head just about exploded on "lyrical shortcomings" as well. In terms of making you feel like he's singing about you, if there's been a better lyricist in the last 30 years, I don't know who he/she is. Chuck Klosterman said that the reason he never thinks of Billy Joel as "cool" is because, when he listens to him, all he can think about is himself--which is about as high as praise can get, I think. Klosterman also loves "Where's the Orchestra." "The Nylon Curtain" is quite simply Billy's Magnum Opus.

When I was a kid, Billy Joel was the first singer I really got into. As I grew older and my tastes matured, I wrote Joel off as a softie and for the longest time (no pun intended) I didn't revisit my Joel collection. Then one day, I had to go back to the album that turned me onto him in the first place. Joel's genius Nylon Curtain. The album is obviously influenced by Sgt. Pepper era Beatles material. The production is Joel's slickest. The Beatles influence really shines through on songs like Laura, Surprises, and Scandinavian Skies. But Billy Joel has concocted something beyond a tribute to his heroes. For one, the content of the songs are far beyond the little soft rock ditties Joel was releasing as singles. Pressure, one of the album's singles, was a fun paranoid masterpiece. The synth laden track deals with pressures of society in fittingly fast up tempo fashion. Laura is the exact opposite of a love song. The dark sinister track also may feature Joel's only use of the F-bomb. Elsewhere, Joel lands in Springsteen territory with Allentown, describing a town's fall when a steel factory closes and the almost epic Goodnight Saigon, Joel's ode to the soldiers in Vietnam. The track's mastery may be in the simple inclusion of helicopter sounds that greet the listener as Joel starts singing softly until he lifts the emotion of the narrator to a climactic finish. I don't think Billy Joel ever really recaptured the beauty of this recording. While Allentown still gets regular airplay on the radio, the rest of the album seems like an oddity and is a far cry from the soft rock Joel recordings he would be known for before and after this record's release. Some might find the Beatles influence too much, but it's still Joel's most fluid consistent record, even if it deters from his normal style.