Customer Reviews

52nd Street

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just like the man himself, "52nd Street" is obnoxious and overambitious but thoroughly lovable. After "The Stranger" found Billy flirting with the dark side of AM radio, he went after a streetwise blues & jazz sound with "52nd Street." He found it, sometimes.

But even when he missed and overshot, he created some great, lasting music. "Stiletto" has an irresistible groove and some impressive hellcat piano work, while "Rosalinda's Eyes" and "Half a Mile Away" find him approaching a maturity that carries his angry-young-man themes into a realistic setting. The set's centerpiece, the would-be epic "Zanzibar," is notable for its attempt to shoehorn streetwise romantic cliches into an insanely ambitious arrangement. Featuring trumpet solos by Freddie Hubbard and shifting movements, "Zanzibar" is one of the most entertaining and interesting failures you'll ever want to hear. Which means it isn't a failure at all, but a joyously ridiculous piece of music.

The album's standout, however, is the gorgeously layered "Until the Night." Billy's not the most lovey-dovey fellow, but "Until the Night" is one of the great love songs in history, a tough, unsentimental track that acknowledges how crucial it is to share love when times get difficult. The song aims high and scores even higher - it's a truly transcendent piece of work.

Hey, I'm a Billy Joel fan, so I'm gonna love most of what he does. "52nd Street" might be my favorite album of his. I'm aware that it's not perfect - but heck, who wants to hear a perfect album anyway? For all his forced tough-guy stances, for all his "I'm a white boy singing funky blues" pretense, he hit enough homers with this album to make anyone a true Billy believer.

Oh, and when I was a kid, I assumed verse two of "Zanzibar" really was about baseball.

Billy Joel has always been better at producing first rate singles than recording coherent albums. That said, "52nd Street" is (arguably) the best of his original studio albums. Befitting the title, Joel flirts with adding jazz elements to his usual straightforward pop rock approach. The album starts with three ace hit singles, the rocking "Big Shot," the ballad "Honesty," and the teenage liberation anthem "My Life." After that comes the strongest set of album filler material Joel has ever recorded. The jazz influences comes through most strongly on "Zanibar," the title track, and "Stiletto," the latter of which features some of Joel's best ever piano playing. On top of all of that is "Until the Night," one of Joel's most underrated tunes and one of his best ever love songs.

Overall, a strong album from an artist usually more noteworthy for his hit singles.

After over 10 years of struggling to hit it big, Billy Joel suddenly became an overnight sensation with his 1977 release "The Stranger," a timeless pop masterpiece that sold over seven million copies and generated four Top 40 hits as well as won Joel a few Grammys for his mantle. With his star suddenly burning, Joel was quick to come up with a followup to match the unprecedented success of his breakthrough album. The result was "52nd Street," which managed to match its predecessor in terms of sales as well as quality.

The album begins with its three big hit singles. First up is the crunchy in-your-face rocker "Big Shot," a stinging damnation of fame and the arrogance that comes with its first taste. With its bombastic riff and biting Billy vocal, "Big Shot" is an absolutely Joel classic, and remains a thrill in concert.

Next up is the Sinatra-esque ballad "Honesty," in which Billy openly and sincerely expresses his most important value in a relationship. With its passionate vocal and thoughtful lyrics, "Honesty" will get under your skin with its haunting beauty.

Next up is the album's biggest hit of the three, "My Life," a chugging declaration of youthful independence with some of Joel's most intricate keyboard fills and a punchy in your face rhythm underscored by its obnoxious (in a good way) chorus. Another Joel classic that remains a concert highlight.

With the hits out of the way, we dig into the lesser known album cuts, which begin with the zesty jazz opus "Zanzibar." A classic Joel portrayal of New York nightlife, many label this track is overindulgent and pretentious, but I'm of the opposite opinion. While it doesn't match the previous album's epic number ("Scenes From An Italian Restaurant"), "Zanzibar" carries a zest and flavor all its own that makes a landmark Joel track. The horn solo that closes out the track is incredible.

Next comes my favorite non-album track. "Stiletto" starts of with a dark, ominous sax solo before a few finger snaps underscored by a thumping bass line lead into Joel's hellraising piano stacattos, rivaling "Angry Young Man" and "Root Beer Rag" as the prime example of Joel's unbeatable keyboard prowess.

The mood changes once more with the mellow, Latin tanged "Rosalinda's Eyes," a tender love song reminscent of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." It's a great song and one I wish Billy would dust off in concert.

Next comes another New York centered rocker, the thrilling "Half A Mile Away." With is opening horn roars and Billy's gritty vocals, this is one of the album's highlights and one of his best songs.

"Until The Night" is an epic ballad, and one of his all time bests. A big fave among die hard fans, it's a little lengthy, but Billy keeps it fresh and honest, and the result is an honest, passionate love song.

The album's brief title track closes thigns off. It's nice, but easily the most disposable track on the album. Fortunately, with the advent of cd burners and stop buttons, you can easily end the album with "Until The Night" and let it go out on a high note.

"52nd Street" is another pop masteriece by one of the genre's most talented and influential individuals. Buy it immediately if not already owned.

If you search for tenderness
It isn't hard to find
You can have the love you need to live
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind
It always seems to be so hard to give

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can always find someone
To say they sympathize
If I wear my heart out on my sleeve
But I don't want some pretty face
To tell me pretty lies
All I want is someone to believe

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

Billy Joel takes tunes and turns them into masterpieces on his album 52nd Street. Other Billy Joel fans will have their favorite albums; but for me this one and Piano Man are tops!

The CD track set begins with "Big Shot;" this number starts off with some great guitar as the drums and the percussion mark the beat. Billy sings perfectly of a woman who "went over the line" the night before when she was out on the town. "Honesty," my favorite song on this album, features Billy singing with great sensitivity as he plays piano. Billy sings of how rare it is to find a lover who will love him for who he is rather than just pretending to love him and playing games. Awesome tune! Moreover, "My Life" has a great keyboard arrangement and Billy sings this without a superfluous note!

"Zanzibar" features Billy again singing at his best; he sings about a young man searching for romantic time alone with a woman he likes. "Zanzibar" is a terrific jazzy number with good guitar. "Stiletto" begins with a great horn solo; and Billy plays his piano to perfection. Billy sings this song about a man who stays with his woman even though she treats him poorly.

"Half A Mile Away" has a funky 1970s pop flavor to it that's very catchy; and Billy sings of taking some time for just himself. Love that piano, drums and percussion! The title track, "52nd Street," is a short piece about a man having a good affair with his woman; the drums and percussion enhance the natural beauty of this ballad.

There are some videos on this remastered CD; and the liner notes give you the songs credits, too.

Billy Joel's 52nd Street remains a great album even today; this is timeless, ageless music that just couldn't ever be tossed aside. Hopefully Billy Joel will continue to entertain us for many years to come.

Great job, Billy!

Billy follows up The Stranger with a strong album; some of the songs (Zanzibar, Rosalinda's Eyes) are a little weak, while others are strong (Until The Night, Honesty) and some are just flat out hits (My Life, Big Shot)

This is one of my all time favorite albums. Big Shot and My life are great hits but my favorites have to be Stiletto and Zanzibar. Dont waste another minute, buy this cd now!

I am a huge Billy Joel fan, and of my significant Joel collection, this is one of my favorite albums. Zanzibar is one of my all-time favorite songs and I am allways captivated by his love songs, like Rosalinda's Eyes; I also love Until the Night. With the exception of the title song, which I believe is overated, I greatly enjoy all of this albums titles.

After Billy Joel hit the big time with The Stranger, he had the unenviable task of following up that classic. While 52nd St. isn't as good as The Stranger, it is still a tremendous record. The album opens up with the venomous and hard "Big Shot" and then does a complete 180 with the quite "Honesty". "My Life" is the big hit off the album and it bounces along while "Zanzibar" is the best song on the album. It has a smoky, jazzy feel and is one of the most interesting songs Mr. Joel has ever done. "Stiletto" has some slick piano work and "Rosalinda's Eyes" employs a Latin sound. "Half A Mile Away" is full of horns and verve and "Until The Night" is a slower number in which Mr. Joel stretches his vocal muscle. The title track closes the album out on a jazzy note. 52nd St. proved that Billy Joel was no fluke, as the album became his first chart topper and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

A minor musician sued Joel over the rights to "My Life". The musician claimed he had written the title, and Joel settled out of court. As he worked on and promoted 52nd street, Billy faced a whole host of legal issues. He also had to fight hostile critics, and often responded by tearing up his bad reviews on stage before a mob of cheering fans.

THE STRANGER was a fantastic album, so it would be a daunting task for any musician to deliver a follow up release equal to or better than his previous work. Billy had to undertake the task and turn out another smash hit release to maintain his popularity. He came out with 52nd street, an album noted for its Jazzy appeal and catchy tunes. Though he did not qualitatively beat THE STRANGER, he kept up his huge popularity and boosted his standing in the music industry.

52nd STREET begins with the hard rock tune "Big Shot", one of Bill's live performance favorites. "Honesty", an overplayed radio song, came next. "Honesty" honestly lacked the range and depth of "Just the Way You Are", a STRANGER release. "My Life", the hugely popular hit, came next, and provided the focus of the album. "Zanzibar is an intresting song. "Stiletto" and "Half a Mile Away" show some of Billy's finest musicianship. Those two songs show his skillful piano playing. The rest of the album is decent filler material.

52nd STREET is niether his best or worst album. Indeed as said before it has the unfortunate fate of being cronologically in between THE STRANGER and GLASS HOUSES, Joel's two finest albums. It is overshadowed and sort of left in the dark. But it still makes good listening, and is one of Joel's better works.

Whether you're listening to the beautiful Rosalinda's Eyes or the driving Half a Mile away, 52nd Street delivers a powerhouse punch. With it's jazz influence pouring over great songs like Zanzibar and the title track, this album maintains a steady pulse of great musicianship.

This is definitely among the best that Billy Joel has to offer. Highly recommended for both casual and avid fans.