River of Dreams by Billy Joel
http://www.amazon.com/River-Dreams-Billy-Joel/dp/B00000DCHM/ref=pd_bbs_s...
My first cassette tape as a child was River of Dreams (see link above). This particular CD cover reminds me of pieces from Bosch--there is a lot going on. Also, when first seeing a Bosch painting I was disturbed (but intrigued) by the subject matter, and although Billy Joel's Rivers of Dreams is not so shocking...I was 10 and there was a naked couple on the cover.
The cover of the album uses art to represent themes that occur in the music. The River of Dreams runs above his head, the Great Wall of China appears to the right of the river. He also wrote a lullaby to his daughter, whom he holds hands with in the bottom right corner. If you have heard Billy Joel but not this particular CD, you are in for a surprise. It is a somewhat random CD and obviously an attempt by Billy Joel to try something new. (Listen to the Great Wall of China..it's not the Piano Man...trust me).
So here he is, somewhat aged but still talented, trying out some new tunes. He appears in the middle of the cd in a somewhat dream-like state (hence River of Dreams). River of Dreams is also a title of the song, the CD and I think the only song that was heard on the radio. So with this being the focus, Billy Joel is dreaming under a river. There could be a deeper meaning to this, but I'm not Billy Joel or the designer.
Many of Billy Joel's CD covers have been photographs of himself, but now he has made the jump to the medium of paint. Maybe he is saying there is more to him than a photograph can represent, or look at all these ideas I can think of, or look how deep I am. Nevertheless, the CD stands out when placed among his other CDs. The CD asks audience members to contemplate what is placed in front of them. By looking at the painting briefly, you cannot noticed all of the details.
My cassette tape also had all the lyrics. I think in this case he wanted to place emphasis on the lyrics: (1) many of the themes from these songs appear on the front cover (2) the lyrics are printed in the booklet for the purpose of being read.
Overall this CD was an attempt by the artist to create something that can be stared at and thought about, rather than getting to the point instantly. He also wanted to placed special emphasis on the lyrics, which he believes serve a special purpose or get a certain point across.
So far of all the covers that we have seen, I believe that this cover is the most interesting. I agree that there is a lot going on in this cover and a painting is definetely a different approach for an album cover. I still think a naked couple on a cover send out a strong message of immorality at least to me. But in this instance, it seems the naked couple must have something to do with a song because they aren't portrayed in a too distasteful position. I mean it seems like he is saying people dream about sex. I believe the river of dreams seems to be what it sounds like, the stream has different scenes of what possible dreams people could have during the night. Without knowing any of the songs on the cd it is hard to analyze how some of the songs fit into the album cover, but it definetely seems like the different scenes may not be about dream dreams, but about the aspirations of an individual to travel to different places, experience new things, and to just live.
Submitted by matt33172 on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 14:34.I agree, there are a lot of things going on. Its a very literal depiction of a River of Dreams. I think it's kind of interesting there is a volcano in this cover as well as the one I analyzed. It might have something to do with starting something new. I like how theres a lot to look at and you can spend a considerable amount of time looking for new things. I'm not sure if he is dreaming under a river or thats just whats going on in his brain. Is that an anchor on his necklace?
Submitted by er0l12 on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 18:57.I agree with you both. I remember as a small and bored child I would look at the cover for hours (well maybe not hours). I also thought it was intersting that the lyrics were brought into the coverart and I had a good time trying to deceide what part of the painting went with what song.
Submitted by Girl on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 21:57.And yes that is an anchor.
Submitted by Girl on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 21:58.This is an amazing cover.
Submitted by aalbert on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 00:31.This is interesting because when I first take a look at the cover it starts my curiosity to ask myself what happen next. It gives me the curiosity to ask "what happens here?"
Then I went to search for the lyric of River of Dream I found out that there is actually a narrative story behind the song that correspond to the cover. It tells a story about the author's dream starting from "the mountains of faith" and how he travels through obstacles and ends up carried along with the river. I love the album!
Thanks for sharing the album Ashley.
The album cover does have a nice flow, as I hope it would having a name like "River of Dreams." It looks as if the river is running through his head, just like all of the dreams are running through his head. The diversity of the images is intriguing also. I'm assuming these are multiple dreams since he uses the plural form of Dream in the title. If so, then some of his dreams are very peaceful such as the ones on the bottom, and some of the others above the river for the most part are more violent or at least represent negative things. I've never heard the album, are the songs as diverse as the images on the cover?
Submitted by lcsnare on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 04:06.Yes when I was young I remember walking in Marshall Fields and hearing the song, "In the middle of the night, I was walking in my sleep."
and this CD cover would pop out.
It was one of those CD sample buttons that you press and a song from that CD would be played. I was more drawn to this CD cover by the illustrations. It is comforting and very interesting to look at.
Yes, I do agree with you that this is indeed an image that is intended to be looked at in more detail. The artist may have been trying to get your initial attention and maintain it with the depth illustrations.
The illustrations has a very surrealistic kind of arrangements that promotes the visual illusion of what is to be expect from the music.
Submitted by CatTail1986 on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 12:02.