Billy Joel-52nd Street (1978)

 


Artist: Billy Joel

Title: 52nd Street

Label: Columbia

Format: 8-Track

Catalog Number: FCA-35609

Year of Release: 1978

Country and Year of Edition: US 1978 Dolby

Sell Price: $3.09

Sell Date: 3/29/26

Condition: VG/VG+ untested

Discogs Last Sold: 5/22/25 VG+/no cover $3.11

Low: $1.50

Median: $3.00

Average: $2.64

High: $3.11

Current low price: $1.99 

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 511

Have/Want: 115/49

Where Sold: Fort Worth, TX

Time It Took To Sell:  2 years 

Where and When Buught: Ebay lot

Gwiz-gau Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

I always thought 52nd Street was a bit of a tail-off from The Stranger strictly in terms of start to finish listenability.  As a kid that was because I thought side two flagged a little bit.  The 8-track shuffles the deck, and doubles up on the side 1 closer "Zanzibar" to eat up some space on a couple tracks, cleverly edited in the middle to open up track 2 with the instrumental jazz bridge kicking off the second track.

I can't deny despite my downgrade of side two, that I don't know the record cold start to finish despite having last heard it around 1980.  Absence really didn't make the heart grow fonder on this, but I have to acknowledge a certain above the grade level of craftsmanship of this set of songs even if I've never really wanted to actually hear it all these years.  Not quite Rock, not quite Pop but it sold in both those fields.  Something about it seems a little more conceptually serious than a typical pop album no matter what Ken Tucker said.  That's Billy FUCKIN' Joel to you sir.

That Broadway grit puts the piano man at the midtown piano bar with his old man's car parked in the lot around the corner with his Jazzmaster in the back seat.  It is after 4am and the curtains are safely down.  He might drive back to Long Island drunk or he might drink until 10 in the morning if Rosalina's eyes get too sleepy to continue listening and Rosie has left in the wee wee hours.  Billy might take a nap on the leather bench when the janitor comes in to clean up to avoid getting chewed out by the old man for a few more hours.

They know Billy here.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

The Stranger (1977)

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