With Billy Joel in the midst of his unprecedented concert run as a “franchise” at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the time has never been better to revisit one of the most significant concert appearances of the Long Island troubadour’s long musical career.  On May 20, 2014, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will definitively chronicle Joel’s historic 1987 Russian concert tour on A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia.

A Matter of Trust will be available in a Deluxe Edition box set containing the full-length concert film (simply entitled The Concert) on DVD or Blu-ray; a 2-CD set (The Music) expanding the original KOHUEPT concert album; and, as an exclusive, the documentary film A Matter of Trust from Emmy-winning director Jim Brown who has previously brought the stories of Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte to film.  The box set will also contain a book containing new liner notes from contributors such as Gary Graff, Michael Jensen, Neal Preston, Rona Elliot and Wayne Robins.  The concert film will be available separately on DVD and Blu-ray, and the 2-CD set The Music will also be released as a stand-alone title.

When the piano man’s tour in support of his album The Bridge stopped in the Soviet Union the year after the adoption of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost (read: openness or transparency) it made headlines around the world.  Joel became one of the first major American rock artists to play in the Soviet Union post-Berlin Wall.  Backed by his band including Liberty DeVitto (drums), Doug Stegmeyer (bass), Mark Rivera (saxophone), Dave LeBolt (keyboards), Russell Javors and Kevin Dukes (guitars), he stormed through six stadium concerts in Moscow and Leningrad (plus a smaller, acoustic show in Tbilisi) and was credited with introducing many Russian youths to American rock and roll via his big hits (“Uptown Girl,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”), recent songs from The Bridge (“Baby Grand,” “A Matter of Trust”) and even a spirited cover of The Beatles’ “Back in the U.S.S.R.” for good measure.   By the end of the evenings, audience members who had never left Communist Russia were in a New York state of mind.

After the jump, we have more details including the full track listings for all formats!

Performing in front of an audience of predominantly non-English speakers, Joel nonetheless communicated his New York brand of rock to the eager, and appreciative, crowds.  If the concerts reportedly came at a financial loss to Joel, the goodwill gain for the U.S. was enormous.  The entire tour was professionally filmed, and the concerts were also simulcast on radio to reach as wide an audience as possible.  In the fall of 1987, the KOHUEPT album (“KOHEUPT” being a phonetic corruption of the Russian Концерт for “concert”) was first released by Columbia Records; it was eventually certified platinum.  In 1991, the documentary surfaced as A Matter of Trust and additional footage from the concerts was issued as Billy Joel: Live From Leningrad, USSR.

The Concert has restored and remastered material originally issued on Live in Leningrad 1987, unseen since its VHS release.  It’s been expanded with previously unreleased performances of songs including “An Innocent Man,” “The Longest Time” and “Sometimes a Fantasy.”  The 2-CD release The Music adds eleven previously unissued tracks such as “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” “New York State of Mind” and “Piano Man.”

A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia is available in all formats from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings on May 20.  You can pre-order all versions below!

Billy Joel, A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia – Deluxe Edition (Columbia/Legacy, 2014)

2CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Disc 1: A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia documentary (previously unreleased) (Box Set Exclusive) (DVD or BD)

Live in Leningrad (Expanded) (released as SMV Enterprises VHS, 1987)

1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. Allentown
3. Goodnight Saigon
4. Big Man on Mulberry Street
5. Baby Grand
6. An Innocent Man *
7. Honesty *
8. The Longest Time *
9. A Matter of Trust
10. Only the Good Die Young
11. It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me *
12. Sometimes a Fantasy *
13. You May Be Right *
14. Uptown Girl
15. Big Shot
16. Back in the U.S.S.R.
17. Pressure (extra) *

Discs 2-3: Концерт (Expanded) (released as Columbia LP C2X 40996, 1987) (CDs)

1. Odoya
2. Prelude/Angry Young Man
3. Honesty
4. The Ballad of Billy the Kid *
5. She’s Always a Woman *
6. Scenes from An Italian Restaurant *
7. Goodnight Saigon
8. Stiletto
9. Big Man on Mulberry Street
10. Baby Grand
11. What’s Your Name *
12. The Longest Time *
13. An Innocent Man

1. Pressure *
2. Allentown
3. A Matter of Trust
4. Only the Good Die Young
5. It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me *
6. Sometimes a Fantasy
7. You May Be Right *
8. Uptown Girl
9. Big Shot
10. Back in the U.S.S.R.
11. The Times They Are A-Changin’
12. She Loves You (Rehearsal) *
13. New York State of Mind *
14. Piano Man *

(*) denotes previously unreleased track