52nd Street
| Billy Joel
52nd Street
52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released in 1978. It was the first of four Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, and it earned him two Grammys. Three songs reached the Top 40 in the United States, contributing to the album's success: "My Life" (#3), "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24). -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Rolling Stone
Both lyrically and musically, Joel’s compositions tend to be very direct (there’s not much beneath the surface), a little awkward, somewhat overstated and extremely melodic.
-
Classic Rock Review
Building on the styles of those previous albums, 52nd Street is a bit more sophisticated and jazzy, with looser, street-wise arrangements.
-
Sputnik Music
Joel proves he can have fun while providing a more-than sufficient successor to his insurmountable classic.
-
All Music
Instead of breaking from the sound of The Stranger, Joel chose to expand it, making it more sophisticated and somewhat jazzy.
-
The Absolute Sound
Loosely conceived as a collection of New York episodes and packed with Latin and jazz influences, Joel’s song- smithing and machine gun keyboards have never been tighter.
-
Super Seventies
52nd Street evokes the carnivalesque neon glare of nighttime Manhattan, using painterly strokes of jazz here and there to terrific effect.
-
Blogcritics
52nd Street would contain a little jazz, a little rock ‘n’ roll, and a lot of pure pop. It would also feature some of the best piano playing of his career. He showed much creative growth while maintaining his commercial appeal, which is difficult at best.
-
Nelly Agbon Alcala
It features the awesome harmony of Billy Joel's great vocals, piano, guitar, horns and percussion.
-
Yacht Rock
You don’t get Yacht in 52nd Street, but you do get Billy Joel doing what Billy Joel does best: copy a bunch of styles, make them his own using his trademark New York pitbull style, put out a couple hits and otherwise collect a decent paycheck. In some ways, he is the ultimate royal scammer.
-
Album Reviews
52nd Street won a Grammy for best album in 1980, but I find it to be one of Joel’s weaker albums from the period.
-
W.L. Swarts Reviews The Universe
It’s smooth, light, classic pop-rock that remains listenable and surprisingly fresh more than three decades after its original release!
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments