Turnstiles [Enhanced Version]

Billy Joel

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 20, 1998)
• Original Release Date: May 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000DCHB
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,978 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
On this 1976 classic, Billy Joel tempers his anger a bit, adding dashes of hope and even sentimentality. In fact, he seems to address this fresh outlook on the scathing "Angry Young Man" and defiant "Say Goodbye to Hollywood." Still, his ballads here mark some of his finest work, from the Ray Charles-influenced "New York State of Mind" to the introspective "Summer, Highland Falls" to the celebratory "I've Loved These Days." Lyrically, "Miami 2017" owes as much to folk as it does to rock. These eight songs seem as if they're therapeutic for Joel: they display a new comfort and satisfaction as he digs deeper within himself to find lyrical themes. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly Billy Joel's best album, March 12, 2002

By	David Pearlman "sound fanatic" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Though "The Stranger" gets most of the nods for best
Billy Joel album, it's this album--which flew considerably
under the radar when it was released a year earlier--that
presents Joel's most consistent set of tunes. There isn't
a weak track on here, and some (I've Loved These Days,
New York State of Mind, Summer Highland Falls)
have become standards. He covers a lot of stylistic ground
here, including Phil Spector, saloon jazz, and direct
balladry, and succeeds every time. The commercial triumph of
"The Stranger" took the world by surprise, but that's only
because they missed this album the first time. Everything
that would make Joel huge in a couple of years is right here.

A must.

dap

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Album that began to build Billy Joel's Legend, February 18, 2005

By	L.A. Scene (Indian Trail, NC USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

After his first three albums, Billy Joel rose from the ranks of "underground" musician and into more of a mainstream star. Those three albums would have what would be considered one or two "classic" songs that would stay with Joel through his career ("Cold Spring Harbor" would have "She's Got a Way"; "Piano Man" would have the title track and "Captain Jack"; "Streetlife Serenade" would have "The Entertainer"). The release of Billy Joel's fourth album - "Turnstiles" would be the album that would begin to mount the legend of "Billy the Kid" with many songs that would stay with Joel throughout his career.

I look at Billy Joel's career as having three phases. The first phase is what I call "Old Billy Joel". This basically includes all of his material from "Cold Spring Harbor" through "Turnstiles". These are perhaps the strongest days as the piano sound, but they also contain most of Joel's least heard material. The next phase is what I call "Middle Billy Joel". This was his most successful period and covers from "The Stranger" to "Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume 1 and 2". Joel would go through a transition during this phase - expanding his musical horizons and exploring different avenues. The final phase is the "Later Billy Joel" phase - this covers "The Bridge" to "River of Dreams". In this phase, Billy would start to incorporate some of his older styles of music while not abandoning his desire to continue to explore new avenues. I consider "Turnstiles to be the end of the Old Billy Joel phase. Billy still maintains his trademark piano sound - but now begins to look to those other musical horizons that would become the trademark of the "Middle Billy Joel" phase.

There are two central themes that are a part of "Turnstiles". The first theme is the "geographical" aspects of this album. There are lots of references to places on this collection. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" references Hollywood (obviously); "Summer, Highland Falls" refers to the town of Highland Falls which is just south of West Point, NY; "New York State of Mind" not only mentions New York, but Miami Beach, Hollywood, The Rockies, Chinatown, Riverside, and the Hudson River; "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" has Miami, Broadway, Empire State, the Palisades (just north of NY), Harlem, the Battery (lower Manhattan), Norfolk, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, Florida, and Mexico. I guess the title "Turnstiles" is a good way to sum these "travel" aspects of the album (even if the Subway doesn't go there).

The second theme is a theme of Retro, Reflection and Reminiscence. This is evident on several songs. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" has a very much a retro type theme with its sound. Although "All You Wanna Do is Dance" makes a references about "Why don't the Beatles get back together", "lost in the seventies" and "oh baby, you want to crawl back into yesterday". The song "James" is a song about a person by that name who seems to have been a friend of Billy's - and the two have gone separate ways. On "I've Loved These Days", the title is clearly indicative of the theme of reflection and reminiscence. You will hear this theme on other lines such as "We'll drink a toast to how it's been" and "We'll have to Change our Ways". Finally "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" looks back at some days in New York "before we all lived here in Florida" (I think Billy is looking back some 41 years in the future from the year 2017).

Musically this is a solid album for Billy Joel. Billy used much of this collection to begin to expand his horizons. There is use of the saxophone on this collection. As mentioned "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" has a retro sound. Billy's piano is center stage, but there is also some interesting percussion and saxophone. "I Loved These Days" also makes nice use of the saxophone. "All You Wanna Do is Dance" has a reggae and calypso type of sound to it - especially with its percussion. "New York State of Mind" - a strong piano song takes a jazz/blues angle. There is of course some classic piano work - like on "Summer, Highland Falls" and "Prelude/AngryYoung Man". Perhaps the best song is the finale - "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". It is classic Billy from a vocal and piano perspective. I love how goes into the uptempo part - complete with guitars and saxophone. This song sometimes gets forgotten about, but its as strong a song as any he has done.

This version of the CD is also an enhanced CD. If you install the "Enhanced CD" on your Windows computer you will get three music videos - "New York State of Mind", "Prelude/Angry Young Man" and "Miami 2017". These are all live clips that Billy performed in concert well after the release of this album. Billy will change up a few words to reflect where he is singing the song. In "New York State of Mind" he will reference "Newsday" (a Long Island paper) instead of the "Daily News". In "Maimi 2017" he will reference "before the mafia took over Jericho" (instead of Mexico). The only problem with the video portion is the quality of the video is just not there.

It is also worth noting that four songs from this album made it to the Broadway production of "Movin' Out" that based on Billy Joel's music. These songs are "Summer, Highland Falls", "James", "Angry Young Man", and "I've Loved These Days".

The liner notes contain all of the lyrics to each song. The one part I did feel was weaker was the production and musician credits. Overall this is a superb album. It sets the stage nicely for Billy Joel to enter the most successful phase of his career. This is highly recommended for the casual and serious Billy Joel fan.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Underrated Billy Joel Album, December 14, 1999

By A Customer

Unfortunately, this album was completely overshadowed by The Stranger, but in it's own way it proves that it belongs with that album as the high-water mark of Billy Joel's career. Don't get me wrong, I like the later stuff too, but this album shows the full songwriting capability of a great talent and, at least for me, the overall songs on this album are more thoughtful than on The Stranger. "Summer, Highland Falls", "New York State of Mind", and "Prelude/Angry Young Man" alone make this a good album. "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "Miami 2017" make it a great album. While most of these songs were re-released as live versions on Songs From The Attic, I prefer the studio versions simply because most of the subtleness is lost before a stadium full of people. This was one that I insisted on getting for my collection.