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THE NYLON CURTAIN
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The Nylon Curtain is widely considered to be Billy Joel's most ambitious and cmplex album. By 1982, Billy had turned 33 and despite his career success, life had dealt him some setbacks. He had been in a serious motorcycle accident and his marriage to Elizabeth was about to end. Billy was at a crossroads in his life as was the entire country in the early Eighties. In The Nylon Curtain, Billy reflects not only on his life as a man in his thirties, but also on the state of America. In songs like "Allentown," "Pressure," and "Goodnight Saigon," Billy addresses key social and political issues of his generation, the Baby Boomers. And in "Laura," "A Room of Our Own" and "She's Right On Time," Billy provides a nuanced look at adult relationships in the modern age. As Billy told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2022: "That was right in the middle of the Reagan era, and things were changing in America," I was very aware of it. It was baby-boomer peaking time, the early '80s. Things did change then. I was very proud of that album. The songs seem to still resonate with audiences and with younger people as well." |
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Billy explained, "I think people my age - the post World War II babies - are thinking the same things: Whatever happened to the horn of plenty, the limitless horizons? Where's the clean air? Where's the clean water? Where is everything? Halfway through the album, I said, 'What am I doing here? I've got a song about Allentown, a song about Vietnam ... I suppose this is my stab at the great American novel." In addition to its broader themes, The Nylon Curtain was also was more musically complex and rich. The album contains some of the most layered and intricate sounds of any of Billy's work, from the John Lennon-like vocals of "Laura" to the ethereal yet jarring "Scandinavian Skies." The sounds of The Nylon Curtain were influenced by The Beatles, particularly The Beatles' albums from the mid to late 1960s. Billy said that he wanted The Nylon Curtain to be an "FM album," one that you can listen to over and over again and find new things each time as Billy had done with The Beatles' later albums. Producer Phil Ramone wrote in his memoir, Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music, "The time for a departure from Billy's past work seemed right. . . . I saw Billy's suggestion as an opportunity to make a credible avant-garde statement." As stated in Ultimate Classic Rock they "employed a variety of sound effects - helicopter sounds for 'Goodnight Saigon,' industrial clangor for 'Allentown' and airport ambience in 'Scandinavian Skies.' Our palette was vast," Ramone wrote, "we broke our own mold with The Nylon Curtain. It was our form of musical expressionism, and the closest we came to approaching a concept album." The highlight of the album may be the little-known "Where's The Orchestra?" which operates as a philosophical metaphor about life. If all the world is a stage, then "wasn't this supposed to be a musical?" Whereas Billy asked a similar question about suburban angst several years ago in "Movin' Out" ("is that all you get for your money?"), here he now asks a deeper and broader question about life and adulthood. Where, indeed, is the orchestra? The name of the album, The Nylon Curtain, was a play on the term "The Iron Curtain" which referred to the former Soviet Union. While America is not the "iron" curtain, there is still a barrier here, there are obstacles to our dreams and desires, both as individuals and as a broader society. It is a theme Billy explored earlier, most notably in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," but here it is central to most of The Nylon Curtain. While The Nylon Curtain was not the mega-seller that some of Billy's earlier and later albums were, and while it may be his least accessible work, it is a considerable achievement on all fronts: musically, lyrically, and thematically. And after the closing lines Billy and his band went on a worldwide tour to promote The Nylon Curtain. A concert in late 1982 at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum was recorded and released on video (VHS) as Live from Long Island. This is probably his best recorded concert that was an official release, and was the first since 1976's Billy Joel Tonight. The video was later released on VHS and laserdisc, but not on DVD much to the chagrin of Billy Joel fans. A YouTube playlist can be viewed here or at the Video & Audio tab, above.
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Listen to an audio interview (WIOQ) by DJ Ed Sciaky with Billy Joel from 1982 about The Nylon Curtain; click on the play button below or you can listen to it on YouTube). Sciaky had helped popularize Billy Joel in the Philadelphia area back in the early 1970s by playing a live version of "Captain Jack" on WMMR radio before it was officially released on Piano Man.
* * * * * Lennon's death in late 1980 was still weighing on Billy's mind and art, see here. From a SiriusXM snippet on Soundcloud (no longer available), apparently both Billy Joel and John Lennon had wanted to meet each other when they both lived on Long Island's North Shore. Billy later discovered from a mutual acquaintance that Lennon "used to row his boat by my house , my house was right on the water, and he said . . 'I'd like to go say hi to Billy Joel but I don't want to bother him.' And the funny thing is I used to drive my boat by his house" and thought the same thing. "I wish he had just stopped and knocked on the door. It would have been nice. It would have been a nice thing." A similar interview snippet about this can be heard below (see player. below; full interview available for license from DennySomach.com).
After recording The Nylon Curtain, Billy said, “I had never realized how much John Lennon had meant to me, how much he and Paul [McCartney] were the irreplaceable sweet and sour,” as quoted in Fred Schruers' Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography. “It was only later that I realized I was channeling John in a lot of the vocals on that album." See related article. |
Columbia Records publicity photo from The Nylon Curtain songbook (1982)
Promotional poster for The Nylon Curtain. I had this poster years ago on my bedroom wall.
The Nylon Curtain inside sleeve cover. Well we're living here in Levittown.
Billy in concert from 1982.
The Nylon Curtain tour book cover. Billy wore that red jacket during much of the Glass Houses tour (1980).
John Lennon's New York City t-shirt on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2009). Photo: Timothy Clary. Original photo: Bob Gruen.
"There's comfort in my coffee cup"
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Songs
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1. Allentown (3:52) 2. Laura (5:05) 3. Pressure (4:40) 4. Goodnight Saigon (7:04) 5. She's Right On Time (4:14) 6. A Room Of Our Own (4:04) 7. Surprises (3:26) 8. Scandinavian Skies (6:00) 9. Where's The Orchestra? (3:17) Words and Music by Billy Joel Released September 23, 1982 |
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Allentown
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Laura
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Pressure
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Goodnight Saigon
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She's Right On Time
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A Room of Our Own
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Surprises
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Scandinavian Skies
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Where's The Orchestra?
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Covers for "Laura," "A Room of Our Own," "Surprises," "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's The Orchestra?" are fictional. "Surprises" photo from VinylGif. "Scandinavian Skies" photo from YouTube video by user Thelatepetercook.
Spotify
Video Album
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Click on song title to go to song page.
1. Allentown (3:52) 2. Laura (5:05) 3. Pressure (4:40) 4. Goodnight Saigon (7:04) |
5. She's Right On Time (4:14) 6. A Room Of Our Own (4:04) 7. Surprises (3:26) 8. Scandinavian Skies (6:00) 9. Where's The Orchestra? (3:17) |
Stream
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Spotify
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Apple Music
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YouTube and Others
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Interviews
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Various Interviews. This playlist contains a series of video and audio recordings in which Billy discusses The Nylon Curtain, or are interviews from the time when the album was released. Thanks to Pianoluvr2006 for posting much of this on YouTube.
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MTV Night School with Billy Joel. Billy appeared on MTV's Night School in 1983, one of his first Q&A sessions. Billy is humorous and very gracious in answering questions from the audience. This was apparently filmed at The New School in Manhattan.
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Live Performances
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Live from Long Island (1982). This is one of the better Billy Joel concerts, filmed at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum on December 29, 1982. It was broadcast on HBO, and later released on video. There are multiple versions here, including a shorter version from Japan television. The last song in the playlist, Auld Lang Syne, is from December 31 at the same venue.
An audio playlist of the complete concert is on YouTube as well. It has been put together from various sources. The first clip is the full concert, audio only, posted by Activer Music. Read a review of the HBO concert special from The New York Times in 1983. |
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AllMusic
Cosmic American blog Critical Playground blog People Magazine (1982) PopDose PopMatters Rolling Stone The New York Times (1982) Ultimate Classic Rock 
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"On The Nylon Curtain. "Goodnight Saigon" and "Allentown" find Joel tackling subjects farther from home and larger than his own neighborhood, and they bring out the painterly side of him that has always identified with that master of American light, Edward Hopper." Stephen Holden, Rolling Stone (October 14, 1982)
"It tends to get lost in discussions of Billy Joel‘s most popular works, but The Nylon Curtain, which was released on Sept. 23, 1982, is his underrated masterpiece. . . . Musically, the album shows Joel paying tribute to late-period Beatles. His vocal phrasing on “Laura” alternates between John Lennon in the verse and Paul McCartney in the chorus and bridge, as if he was recording his own version of “I’ve Got a Feeling.” Meanwhile, the bluesy piano on “A Room of Our Own” gives a nod to Abbey Road and the cello in “Scandinavian Skies” echoes “I Am the Walrus.” David Lifton, Ultimate Classic Rock (September 23, 2015)
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Copy of print ad available for purchase on eBay by Bats!
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Track List
Click on song title to go to song page.
1. Allentown (3:52) 2. Laura (5:05) 3. Pressure (4:40) 4. Goodnight Saigon (7:04) 5. She's Right On Time (4:14) 6. A Room Of Our Own (4:04) 7. Surprises (3:26) 8. Scandinavian Skies (6:00) 9. Where's The Orchestra? (3:17)
Information Released: September 23, 1982 Recorded: Spring 1982, A&R Recording Studios and Media Sound Studios, New York Genre: Pop/Rock Length: 41:57 Label: Columbia/Family Productions Producer: Phil Ramone Words and Music by Billy Joel |
Personnel
Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic & electric pianos, synthesizers, Hammond organ, melodica, Prophet-5 synthesizer, Synclavier II on "Pressure", acoustic guitar on "Allentown" Liberty DeVitto – drums, percussion Doug Stegmeyer – bass guitar David Brown – electric & acoustic guitars (lead) Russell Javors – electric & acoustic guitars (rhythm) Dominic Cortese – accordion on "Where's the Orchestra?" Eddie Daniels – saxophone and clarinet on "Where's the Orchestra?" Dave Grusin – string and horn arrangements Charles McCracken – cello on "Where's the Orchestra?" Rob Mounsey – synthesizer on "Scandinavian Skies" David Nadien – concertmaster on all except "Laura" and "Scandinavian Skies" |
"String Fever" – strings on "Laura" and "Scandinavian Skies" Bill Zampino – field snare on "Goodnight Saigon" Production Phil Ramone - producer Laura Loncteaux - assistant producer James Boyer - engineer, remix Bradshaw Leigh - associate engineer Michael Christopher - assistant engineer Larry Franke - assistant engineer Andy Hoffman - assistant engineer Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC - mastering engineer Kenneth Topolsky - production manager Paula Scher - artwork John Berg - inner sleeve design Chris Austopchuk - front cover Benno Friedman - back cover |
Covers for "Laura," "A Room of Our Own," "Surprises," "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's The Orchestra?" are fictional. "Surprises" photo from VinylGif. "Scandinavian Skies" photo from YouTube video by user Thelatepetercook.
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Credit: Rolling Stone (1982)?
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