Billy Joel - 52nd Street

by Robert VanDerWal

Title

Billy Joel - 52nd Street

Artist

Robert VanDerWal

Medium

Digital Art - Photography

Description

52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American songwriter-singer Billy Joel released on Oct 12, 1978. The follow-up to his breakthrough success album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to make it feel differentiated from his previous album efforts. It was the first of four Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, and it earned him two Grammy's. Three songs reached the Top 40 in the United States, contributing to the album's success: “My Life” (#3), “Big Shot” (#14), and “Honesty” (#24). It was similarly well received by critics, earning the 1979 Grammy for Album of the Year. This Grammy was presented to its producer, Phil Ramone. Upon Ramone's death, 52nd Street's Album of the Year Grammy was passed on to Joel. Additionally, the album is notable for being among the first albums commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982 in Japan (it was one of fifty CDs released that day, including The Stranger, but bore the first catalogue number in the sequence, 35DP-1, and so is frequently cited as the first to be released). In keeping with this history, it was also the first release when Sony returned to manufacturing vinyl records in 2018.

The title is a reference to 52 Street, one of New York City's jazz centers in the middle of the century. Joel's label was headquartered on 52nd Street in the CBS Building at the time of the album's release. The studio where recording took place was also on 52nd Street, one block away from the CBS Building.

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March 16th, 2020

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