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Billy Joel: Turnstiles (1976)

Turnstiles is, along with An Innocent Man and The Stranger, in my top three Billy Joel albums. It has pretty much everything you might want from the Piano Man.


It has two beloved classics: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "New York State of Mind." And while I like that they respectively open and close side one, I think these two are the key moments to the album's story, and thus wish they'd been sequenced a bit differently (more on that in a bit).

It has virtuosity. The opening to "Angry Young Man," called "Prelude," with its lightning fast hammered piano, is the most obvious display of Billy's growing talents. But it wasn't just him. Turnstiles is the first recorded appearance of the Billy Joel band - Richie Cannata, Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, and Doug Stegmeyer - and their performances show they were able to handle pretty much anything with aplomb.

It has introspection and wisdom. Billy was only 27 years old when Turnstiles was released, but he had knowledge beyond his years. On "Angry Young Man" he examines the cost of fighhting to correct all of the world's injustices. And while the bridge comes to a conclusion that could be seen as swinging too far the other way - "I once believe in causes too / I had my pointless point of view" - it also has the sting of pragmatic truth: "and life went on no matter who was wrong or right." There's a strong thematic connection between that and "Summer, Highland Falls," made manifest in the lines: "So we'll argue and we'll comprimise and realize that nothing's ever changed." But where "Angry Young Man" looks outward, "Summer" looks inward to the drastic swings of emotion we feel as young adults. It also has an air of nostalgia, as though the narrator has left those times behind. And in turn that connects to the majestic and wistful "I've Loved These Days." On the surface it's about a couple who have lived beyond their means for too long and must now face reality. But if one looks at it metaphorically, it could apply to any situation where people adopt a "live for today" mindset while ignoring the inevitable. This interpretation is made even more apparent by the song's placement right before the apocolyptic "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)." As Billy told biographer Fred Schruers, "I'm always assuming that things are going to have an unhappy ending."

Turnstiles has storytelling. The aforementioned "Miami 2017" is the standout, a sci-fi tale imagining New York City's 1970s decline continuing to the point of complete destruction. The song is bracing, but also funny, clever, and acerbic. Witness the lines about Harlem: "They burned the churches up in Harlem / Like in that Spanish Civil War / The flames were everywhere / But no one really cared / It always burned up there before." "James" is another short-story-in-a-song, this one concerning the consequences of the path not taken. It also has a real-life connection. Jim Bosse was in Billy's high school band, the Lost Souls. He was talented, but chose to go to college and become an optomestrist rather than stay with Billy and seek stardom. "James" makes it clear that Billy feels his friend made the wrong choice. "James," he asks, "do you like your life? / Can you find release? / Will you ever change? / When will you write your masterpiece." And though Billy has sympathy for his friend's need to support his family and live up to expectations, he ultimately concludes, "Do what's good for you  / Or you're not good for anybody."


Taken in whole, Turnstiles is very nearly a concept album about Billy's decision to leave California and return to his native New York. And this is my only quibble with it (besides the lightweight regaee of "All You Wanna Do Is Dance"): with a little reordering it could have packed a more of an emotional punch. My suggestion is that we take the backwards-looking songs that put Billy in a New York state-of-mind and make them Side 1. That would look like this:

1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. Summer Highland Falls
3. All You Wanna Do Is Dance
4. James

Then Side 2 would be left to tell the story of current times and still be able to end with Billy keeping the memory alive.

5. New York State of Mind
6. Say Goodbye to Hollywood
7. I've Loved These Days
8. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Down On Broadway)

Even without my meddling, Turnstiles is a fantastic achievement, and a precursor of all the massive success that was to follow.

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