BILLY JOEL: 52ND STREET (1978)
1) Big Shot; 2) Honesty; 3) My
Life; 4) Zanzibar; 5) Stiletto; 6) Rosalinda's Eyes; 7) Half A Mile Away; 8)
Until The Night; 9) 52nd Street.
This follow-up to The Stranger does not seriously mess with the formula and even
retains the same golden-egg-laying producer, but the general layout,
nevertheless, has somewhat changed, possibly reflecting Billy's awareness of
the market's increased demand for shorter, less ambitious musical pieces. To
say that 52nd Street, in any way
whatsoever, acknowledges the arrival of punk and New Wave, would be a
tremendous overstatement (although I guess that the dirtiness of the wall on
the album sleeve could be taken as «punkish», in some manner), but it does
acknowledge the arrival of disco (ʽMy Lifeʼ), and the lack of multi-part
suites like ʽScenes From An Italian Restaurantʼ is quite telling.
The album title formally refers to the location
of both Billy's record label and the studio where the sessions were held, but,
since 52nd Street is commonly known as the center of NYC's jazz life, 52nd Street is sometimes referred to as
«Billy's jazzy album» — even though its seriously jazzy bits only come through
every once in a while, most notably on Freddie Hubbard's flugelhorn and trumpet
instrumental breaks on ʽZanzibarʼ. In reality, the album, like its
predecessor, goes for an all-encompassing, diverse approach. There is no
single theme or style that dominates over the others, but there are also no
true standouts. It's just a solid Billy Joel record, by Billy Joel's own, not
particularly demanding, standards.
The big hit single was ʽMy Lifeʼ — the disco
song — and I have no idea why it was so big in the first place, but the
keyboard riff at its melodic base is indeed quite catchy, and the arrangement
is a bouncy fun generator, although Billy's lyrical message is once again much
too overtly serious ("go ahead with your own life, leave me alone")
to go along with the fun. Come on now, Mr. Joel! How come you can write funny
music without learning how to be funny?
How can we leave you alone when you are making millions on such an inadequate
approach to art?...
The nearly-as-big hit was ʽBig Shotʼ, whose
opening riff sounds decisively brutal before you understand that the man
really nicked it from Ray Charles' ʽSticks And Stonesʼ. But that's all right,
he put it to good use, as long as, once again, you manage to ignore the lyrics
that viciously lambast some poor spoiled socialite victim of Joel's verbal
cruelty (some have speculated about Bianca Jagger, no less) — and, speaking of
Bianca Jagger, her soon-to-be-ex-husband would pretty soon treat her no less
malignantly in ʽRespectableʼ, but the big difference is, Mick always had a
perfectly clear sense of humor about such things (which showed up first and
foremost in his theatrical-style delivery), whereas Billy here, and there, and
everywhere, sounds deadpan serious, as if he really hates Halston dresses, Elaine's, and Dom Perignon (but in that
case, how is it that he knows so much
about all this stuff?). Anyway, like I said, ignore the lyrics, and the tune is
a decent pop rocker with a slightly hard edge to it — no more, no less.
But enough with the hit singles, or I will have
to say something about the ballad ʽHonestyʼ when I'd much rather talk about
ʽZanzibarʼ, whose Steely Dan vibe with a light touch of mysticism seems to fare
much better than Billy's «angry» songs. Freddie Hubbard's parts are indeed the
obvious highlight, but there is something about the entire tune that makes it
sound genuine. In fact, it seems as if Billy is always at his most natural when
he's not doing much except sit at the bar — the closer he is to that particular
stand, the more convincing his self-expression. "I've got a tab at
Zanzibar, tonight that's where I'll be" — this is, like, the most
believable statement on the entire album. No wonder Hubbard is being so
enthusiastic with his support.
I also happen to like the quiet Latin ballad
ʽRosalinda's Eyesʼ, with elements of jazz fusion woven in and a top-level
chorus resolution (although I sure hope he'd find something less clichéd to
rhyme the title with than "Cuban skies"), and ʽHalf A Mile Awayʼ,
which is a blatant rip-off of Elton John circa ʽLove Lies Bleedingʼ, but a
skilled one. The only true stinker on the entire record is ʽUntil The Nightʼ,
a corny folk ballad that, for some reason, was awarded the dubious honor of the
album's most bombastic style of production — not Phil Spector style, but rather
a proto-power ballad style that could have easily influenced Bryan Adams. (Actually,
Billy says the song was influenced by The Righteous Brothers... but why?).
In short, life is fairly routine, but diversified
and relatively easy-going on 52nd Street.
ʽZanzibarʼ, in particular, shows that Billy could have thrived, sucking on that
Steely Dan vibe à la Aja; his mistake, the way I see it, was
in putting just as much emphasis on his «hard rocker» and «anthemic balladeer»
sides, where ambitions overwhelmed talent. Still, the album is pretty
well-balanced between the relative highs and the relative lows, and I would
even feel justified to mark it with another thumbs up — the difference with The Stranger is that the former took
some risks that unexpectedly paid off, whereas this one hardly ever takes any,
but it still pays off.
Check "52nd Street" (CD) on Amazon
Check "52nd Street" (MP3) on Amazon
Love this album. Very consistent as you said.
ReplyDeletei cant remember where i read this, but ive heard that Big Shot was actually Billy talking about himself
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