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52nd Street
Billy Joel
CBS, 1978
http://www.billyjoel.com/
REVIEW BY: Michael R. Smith
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/09/2007
Why is it that Billy Joel’s albums always feel lopsided to me? The first half always seems to be much better than the second. Maybe he feels that nobody will have the patience to sit through an entire album from beginning to end? As if it’s better to have all the good songs up front to make the best first impression?
Well, if that’s the case, he slipped up just a bit with 52nd Street. The best song doesn’t come until No. 8, “Until The Night.” As the longest song on the album, it is a grand, sweeping epic and comes replete with a scorching sax solo and Billy making use of his lower register. It’s one of those songs that starts off slow and builds to an explosive climax. No doubt this was the song that won over voters when they selected 52nd Street as the Album Of The Year at the 1979 Grammy Awards. “Until The Night” should and could have been a hit single.
The other songs on Side Two don’t fare quite as well…in other words, it’s back to business as usual. A flute solo just doesn’t salvage the dopey and ridiculous sounding love song “Rosalinda’s Eyes.” If Billy was trying to capture a Cuban sound, he fails miserably. And then there’s the big and brassy sound of “Half A Mile Away,” which is where I ran to after hearing what sounded to be a carbon copy of the theme music to the Grammy Awards telecast -- I kid you not. Maybe that’s how this album won Album Of The Year. Hmmm…
Another tiresome aspect of Billy Joel’s music is that far too many of his songs “tell a story.” I mean, if you have that many stories to tell, why didn’t you become a country singer? Then again, it is doubtful that a song dripping in sarcasm like “Big Shot” would ever translate to the country market.
My main complaint is that too many of Joel's songs share the same themes and sound identical to one another. I challenge anyone to tell the difference between “Big Shot,” “My Life” and “Movin’ Out" after hearing them for the first time. Hell, even the three photos of Billy Joel on the sleeve of 52nd Street are identical! We know you are a trained musician, Billy. You don’t need to pose with a trumpet to prove it.
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