Turnstiles (album)

Joel recorded Turnstiles in part as a celebration of his return to his native New York City. Three of the album's tracks reference New York: "Summer, Highland Falls", "New York State of Mind" and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". It begins with "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (inspired by the Ronettes song "Be My Baby") and also includes "I've Loved These Days", a tongue-in-cheek expression of regret at leaving behind Hollywood decadence. In an interview, Joel stated that the lyrics to the song "James" referred to various different people he knew in real life, with the title character being a "composite" of those people. In the song "Prelude/Angry Young Man", Joel opens and closes the song rapidly hammering the piano, which was meant to simulate the drum part in the song "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris. The songs were first recorded at Caribou Ranch (near Nederland, Colorado), with members of Elton John's band (Nigel Olsson on drums and Dee Murray on bass) and produced by Chicago producer James William Guercio. Dissatisfied with the results, Joel took over as producer and returned to New York, where he re-recorded the album from start to finish, with his own touring band, which consisted of Long Island musicians Richie Cannata and the members of the band Topper: Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, Barbra Streisand covered "New York State of Mind" on her album Superman, released in the Spring of 1977, opening up Billy Joel's music to a mainstream audience. He thanked her for the exposure, and also told her his New York relatives were duly impressed to have the Queen of Brooklyn cover one of his songs. ==Critical reception==

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote that Joel's craft improves, but "he becomes more obnoxious: the anti-idealism of 'Angry Young Man' isn't any more appealing in tandem with the pseudoironic sybaritism of 'I've Loved These Days.'" Cash Box said that the single "I've Loved These Days" creates "a perfect mood of grand cinema romance" and commented on "its elegant strings and crashing piano." Record World said that "both melody and lyrics stand out on this powerful ballad, that could put him over the top." ==Track listing==

Many tracks have alternate mixes exclusive to the Quadrophonic LP release including "New York State of Mind", "Prelude/Angry Young Man", "I've Loved These Days" and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". Contrary to some sources, the saxophone solo on "New York State of Mind" was never re-recorded by Phil Woods for the release of Greatest Hits, Vols. I and II. The only time that Phil Woods performed on a Billy Joel recording was the song "Just the Way You Are" in 1977. ==Personnel==

Adapted from the AllMusic credits. • Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, electric piano, Moog synthesizer, clavinet, organs • Howie Emerson – electric and acoustic guitars • Russell Javors – electric and acoustic guitars • James Smith – acoustic guitar • Doug Stegmeyer – bass guitar • Liberty DeVitto – drums • Mingo Lewis – percussion • Richie Cannata – saxophones, clarinet • Ken Ascher – orchestral arrangements Production • Jerry Abramowitz – cover photography • John Berg – cover design • Gerard Huerta – cover lettering • Bruce Botnick – mixing • John Bradley – engineer, project supervisor • Jo Buckley – production coordination • Billy Joel – producer • Don Puluse – engineer • Brian Ruggles – basic track consultant • Lou Waxman – tape engineer ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications ==References==