52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1978, by Columbia Records. Presenting itself as the follow-up to his breakthrough studio album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the new album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to differentiate it from his previous studio albums.
The album's title is a reference to 52nd Street, a popular street location in Midtown Manhattan for jazz musicians, beginning during the Great Depression and continuing through to the 1950s. Joel's label was headquartered within the CBS Building on West 52nd Street at the time of the album's release. The studio where recording took place, A&R Recording, was also on 52nd Street; the studio's freight elevator appears on the album cover.
52nd Street was an instant commercial success, becoming Joel's first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, a spot it held for eight non-consecutive weeks. Three songs reached the Top 40 in the United States, contributing to the album's success: "My Life" (number 3), "Big Shot" (number 14), and "Honesty" (number 24). It was similarly well received by critics, earning two Grammy awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards. The latter Grammy was presented to its producer, Phil Ramone. Upon Ramone's death, 52nd Streets Album of the Year Grammy was passed on to Joel.
The album was among the first commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982, in Japan. It was one of 50 CDs released that day by the CBS/Sony label, 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.
Reception
Reviewing 52nd Street for The Village Voice in 1979, Robert Christgau noted Joel's talent for writing catchy songs and likened him to Elton John, albeit with more "smarm". The Globe and Mail determined that "the music really is starting to sound repetitive and formulaic—as though the songwriter's musical vocabulary is too limited to match his sense of the big city's varied dramas."
Retrospectively, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised Joel for expanding stylistically on 1977's The Stranger, describing 52nd Street as "more sophisticated and somewhat jazzy". In 2003, 52nd Street was ranked number 352 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and at 354 on a 2012 revised list.
Track listing
All songs written by Billy Joel.
Song notes
The song "Rosalinda's Eyes" was inspired by Joel's mother, Rosalind Nyman Joel.
The song "Big Shot" was inspired by a dinner with Bianca Jagger.
Personnel
- Billy Joel – vocals, acoustic piano, Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano, Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizers
- Richie Cannata – organ, saxophones, clarinet
- Steve Khan – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- David Spinozza – acoustic guitar (2)
- David Brown – electric guitar (3)
- Russell Javors – acoustic guitar (3)
- Hugh McCracken – nylon guitar (6, 8)
- Eric Gale – electric guitar (7)
- Doug Stegmeyer – bass, backing vocals
- Liberty DeVitto – drums
- Mike Mainieri – vibraphone and marimba (4, 6)
- Ralph MacDonald – percussion (6, 7)
- David Freidman – orchestral chimes and percussion (8)
- Freddie Hubbard – flugelhorn and trumpet (4)
- George Marge – sopranino recorder (6)
- Robert Freedman – horn and string orchestrations (2, 8)
- Dave Grusin – horn orchestrations (7)
- David Nadien – concertmaster (2, 7, 8)
- Peter Cetera & Donnie Dacus – backing vocals (3)
- Frank Floyd, Babi Floyd, Milt Grayson, Zack Sanders, & Ray Simpson – backing vocals (7)
Production
- Phil Ramone – producer, mixing
- Kathy Kurs – associate producer
- Carol Peters – associate producer
- Jim Boyer – engineer, mixing
- David Martone – assistant engineer
- Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, NY)
- John Berg – cover design
- Jim Houghton – photography
Accolades
Grammy Awards
|-
| style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|1980 || rowspan="2"| 52nd Street || Album of the Year ||
|-
American Music Awards
|-
| style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="1"|1980 || Billy Joel (performer) || Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist||
|-
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:left;"
|-
!scope="col"|Chart (1978–80)
!scope="col"|Peak<br /> position
|-
|align="left"|Australian (Kent Music Report)
|align="center"|1
|-
|
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Albums (RPM)
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)
|align="center"|33
|-
|align="left"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
|align="center"|28
|-
|align="left"|French Albums (SNEP)
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|Icelandic Albums (Tónlist)
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)
|align="center"|12
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
|align="center"|9
|-
|align="left"|New Zealand Albums (RIANZ)
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)
|align="center"|5
|-
|align="left"|Spanish Albums (AFE)
|align="center"|13
|-
|align="left"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)
|align="center"|18
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
|align="center"|21
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums (OCC)
|align="center"|10
|-
|
|-
|align="left"|West German Albums (Media Control)
|align="center"|19
|-
|align="left"|Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)
|align="center"|3
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1978)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Albums Chart (RPM)
|48
|-
!Chart (1979)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Australian Albums Chart
|17
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Albums Chart
|16
|-
|align="left"|French Albums Chart
|25
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart (Oricon)
|14
|-
|align="left"|New Zealand Albums Chart (RIANZ)
|10
|-
|align="left"|Norwegian Albums Chart (Vinter Period) (VG-lista)
|7
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart
|61
|-
|align="left"|US Billboard 200
|1
|-
!Chart (1980)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart
|81
|}