River of Dreams was a big album for me when it was new. I don’t know how it is received by others, but I loved every single song on it. I have been disappointed that he basically retired from making new songs, but was glad to hear he released a new one today.
Wow, it’s terrific. I love it. Here it is for those that are interested.
That was pretty good.
River of Dreams was one of my favorite albums by Billy.
I have to say, I saw him live once many years ago in San Diego and it wasn’t the most memorable concert. It was right around his Moscow tour. I think he was worn down at the time.
I liked it. His fans will be pleased. He’ll be 75 in a few months and it’s good to hear his voice is as strong as ever. He can still effortlessly hit the higher notes. A new album coupled with a tour will be a blockbuster.
Is there a new album (or more new songs), or is this a one-off?
Just the single, at least for now. And he had help writing it.
The song was was produced by GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler and, written by Wexler, Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector, and Joel.
The story behind “Turn The Lights Back On” is an interesting one, as Wexler, a huge Billy Joel fan, was set up to meet the legend for what was supposed to be a ten-minute lunch by a mutual connection, Billy’s family doctor (ultimately facilitated by Wexler’s wife). The meeting took place at a restaurant in Sag Harbor, Long Island across the street from Joel’s home, and Freddy, who has written and produced songs for artists including Justin Bieber and The Jonas Brothers, quickly impressed Billy.
A new album would make my year. Nightwish if my favorite band, but a new album from Joel would be kind of amazing.
This song is a great return to form for Joel, and a pretty definitive announcement that he’s returned. And since he’s never really gone away or stopped touring, the only “return” that makes sense is that he’s got a new album on the way. Just my guess.
It didn’t wow me. But few things do on first listen. I’ll catch it again sometime.
Had I just come across “Turn the Lights On” I would have assumed it was a track from one of his albums that just didn’t get a lot of play back in the day. When River of Dreams was released and Joel had a video on MtV, I enjoyed it but couldn’t help but think his sound didn’t really fit in to what was typically played back then. Years later I remember someone asking him about new music and Joel said something like, “Nobody wants to hear new music from me. They just want to hear the songs they love.”
Well I’m happy to have heard a new Billy Joel song. I haven’t heard River of Dreams in years, so I’m going to listen to that now.
From the iHeart link above:
Billy Joel is set to perform “Turn the Lights Back On” for the first time during this year’s Grammy Awards, on Sunday, February 4th.
I doubt I’ll be watching the Grammys! However, I heard it today on his Sirius XM channel.
Same here. It could’ve been off a late-70s album like 52nd Street or The Stranger. Sounds like classic Billy.
Agreed, though to me the melody has more of an 80s vibe to me. Listening to it, the first thing I thought of was actually this deep cut from Survivor - The Search is Over (only a lot less soaring and cheesy).
I hear echoes of “She’s Always a Woman,” so Stranger era. I’m not the biggest Billy Joel fan, though I did go through a phase, but I found this reasonable enough on first listen. It’s a bit milquetoast for me – the melodies are just so predictable and there’s no real surprises, but it’s perfectly nice.
As did I.
Light back on and Darkness. Pretty good song and his voice is alright. Hope he’s still around to play a concert to close Citi Field.
I’m a touch younger than most Billy Joel fans (just shy of 50) but I’d put him as one of my top 5 favorite artists. I have never managed to see him in a live concert (prices were just too high) but own 3 best of, and 6 individual album CDs, plus I -did- manage to see Moving Out when it came through Denver.
(this doesn’t include 4 different cassettes that were played so much they fell apart, 2 paid for and 2 copied back in the days when a dual deck cassette boombox was the best thing a high-school/college student could own)
So, glad to see some non-instrumental music from him again, enjoyed the single, and made sure to purchase an MP3 of it right away (thanks @Mahaloth) so that the PTB see demand for it. 
I keep reading this is his first single in 17 years, but River of Dreams was 30(!) years ago and I thought “Last Words” was the final song he released, the closing song from that album.
What single(s) has he released the past 30 years?
Originally released in 2007 with vocals by Cass Dillon; Billy apparently released his own version in 2009.
Pretty good song, definitely at least middle-tier or higher for his catalog. I suspect there is definite autotune-style processing with his voice though, his range and vocal quality sound better than going way back to Storm Front album. Any processing that was done is very well executed though, I don’t hear any significant telltale autotune artifacts.
If you haven’t seen the official video for the song, you should. It’s a little creepy-CGI, but it captures some magic by showing Billy singing the song throughout his career. I like it a lot.
