Billy Joel: Turnstiles (1976)

I don't know if you've tried this before, but if you look at the front cover of the fourth Billy Joel album "Turnstiles" you'll actually see all of the different people from the songs. Well, most of them anyway. So grab a copy or put in a search on Google, and let's take a look. 

Well, that's Billy of course, but to the left of him is the song "I've Loved These Days". On the right is the grandparent telling their grandchild the story of "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". Next to them on the left is "All You Wanna Do is Dance". That's "James" behind her on the left and next to him on the left again is "Prelude/Angry Young Man". Not sure who the character is behind "Miami 2017" but I'm going to guess that it's probably "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" or "Summer, Highland Falls".

Then you've got the Turnstiles themselves, what I like to think of as the little grooves in between each of the songs, and by the end of it we have this classic, the precursor to Billy's 1977 classic "The Stranger".

"Turnstiles" was released 19 May 1976 on Columbia Records, two years after "Streetlife Serenade" (see my earlier post) which was the follow-on from "Piano Man" (1973). The album had had a troubled production before that, going from sessions recorded at producer James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band (thanks Wiki, I never realized that connection before), to Billy himself producing once he returned to New York and re-recorded everything with his touring band.

Emphasis on Billy's touring band! Because this is the first time I believe that they played on one of his albums, which they would do right up until "The Bridge" released in 1986 (which recently celebrated its 35 year anniversary. I'll come to that one later.) That's right—if you didn't know this—Billy's band played on all of those albums from "Turnstiles" onward, most of which were produced by Phil Ramone. This is important, because it plays a part in the classic Billy Joel sound.

The difference with this album is that Phil wasn't producing him yet. And it was the only time Billy himself would produce until "River of Dreams" nearly twenty years later, which as we now know turned out to be his last pop album.

I've said before that Billy's albums are all different and this one is no exception. "Streetlife Serenade" feels like it could be happening in a suburban world in LA. "Turnstiles" in comparison is a celebration of New York.

The album cover itself, which I mentioned above, was taken in the uptown platform of New York City Subway's Astor Place station. This is also the album that contains one of Billy's immortal numbers: "New York State of Mind". It's like an anthem and I'm always surprised to learn that it wasn't released as a single back then, because it feels like it was one, from the moment it debuted.

Single wise, there were only two singles from this at the time I believe: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (which Bette Midler covered on her 1977 "Broken Blossom" LP which I'll be getting around to as well) and "James". "Say Goodbye" did fairly well, reaching 45 on the Australian Singles Chart, 27 on the Canadian Singles Chart, and as high as 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "James", I am not sure about.

The album managed 12 on the Australian Albums chart, which has shot up a lot from 85 on "Streetlife Serenade", whereas it's dropped to 122 on the US Billboard 200 from the 35 of "Streetlife Serenade". Australia and the US seem to have had differing opinions then. The album itself overall ended up going platinum, and when you put this together with "Streetlife Serenade" and "Piano Man" before that, Billy has managed to secure himself another record with Columbia. The rest, as they say, is history.

Let's have a look at the album itself, which I was happily listening to again yesterday.

"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" --- we begin with this classic, which pays homage to the Ronettes "Be My Baby". Note: "You Took the Words Right out of my Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" from Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman's "Bat out of Hell" also does this, so there's a neat connection here for me too. It's a good, strong, melodic, bouncy start to the album, but this is about Billy leaving Los Angeles and returning to New York. He's in a New York State of... we'll get to that.

"Summer, Highland Falls" --- one of my favourite songs on here. Absolutely adore this from beginning to end! The piano, the melody, the lyrics, this is what made me a Billy Joel fan in my 20s all over again.

"All You Wanna Do is Dance" --- if I were the record company, I would have released this as a single as well. I can hear it being played on the radio. And yet it wasn't.

"New York State of Mind" --- I cannot really capture my feelings about this one. It also feels like something that could have taken place in a great American musical, being performed on Broadway in the 1970s, which is only fitting given that it's celebrating New York.

"James" --- probably the one song on here I connect with the least, even though I really appreciate the lyrics here particularly. And yet they released this as a single. It feels more like the B-side, which is nothing against this song. Don't get me wrong.

"Prelude/Angry Young Man" --- I mentioned "Bat out of Hell" earlier and a friend of mine thinks this is Billy Joel's "Bat", from the dramatic piano intro, to the fast-paced, rock and roll theatrical style of the song. I can see it and I agree. I can also see how this was amazing in concert. I wouldn't want to have cold fingers while trying to play the "Prelude" at the piano though. Ouch. For me, this is one of the highlights of a very strong album.

"I've Loved These Days" --- this is one of the songs that I really discovered through "Songs in the Attic" and it's such a gem. Also, just listen to those lyrics. As a teenager hearing that, I wished I could write something as brilliant as that lyrically. When it was a demo, this song was called "These Rhinestone Days". You can hear it on the 2005 "My Lives" set.

"Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" --- the album wraps up with this killer. Again, it feels like something from a musical. It also feels like a great science fiction post-apocalyptic film that might have been made around this time. It had been inspired by a headline that Billy had read about New York, when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1975, which is when he decided he wanted to go back. Considering this album is a celebration of NY, what a great way to round things off. I like it more though when it's done live. It just has more energy and power, and then there's the audience reaction feeding off it, this immense crowd of people which could almost be like the thousands of extras in the sci-fi movie.

So that brings us to the end of "Turnstiles". It's been a great musical journey. Was there anything else? Apparently four of the songs on the Quadrophonic Vinyl have alternate mixes. I wonder what those are like!

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.