Music Album Review: ‘Billy Joel – 52nd Street’

52nd Street Revisited: Billy Joel and the Art of Returning

There’s something hauntingly familiar about the first album that makes you feel seen. For me, it was 52nd Street—acquired through teenage negotiation, a bulky eight-track cassette wrested from my sister when she moved out. At the time, “My Life” felt like rebellion’s anthem, its defiance a kind of armor against growing up. I didn’t know then that independence could be lonely, and freedom could feel unfinished.

The eight-track era faded—as did my stereo—and 52nd Street was boxed away with the other relics of adolescence. But music, like memory, knows how to linger. Years later, a few tracks from The Nylon Curtain drifted through the speakers at a friend’s house, and the spark reignited. I found myself collecting Joel’s work again, slowly, in cassette and CD formats, as if stitching together something forgotten. When I spotted the remastered 52nd Street, I didn’t hesitate. Some albums don’t just belong in your collection—they belong in your story.

The nine-track lineup of 52nd Street showcases Joel’s range, not just musically but emotionally. There’s the swaggering confidence of “Big Shot,” countered by the raw vulnerability in “Honesty,” with its resigned observation—“Honesty is such a lonely word / Everyone is so untrue.” “Zanzibar” reads like a short story, cinematic in scope, while “Rosalinda’s Eyes” sways with Latin warmth and longing. Even the closing title track feels like a curtain call for a Broadway show that never needed staging—just a saxophone and a memory.

Joel’s work often dances between bravado and ache, just as we do in our own lives—especially in the unsettled moments, like now. Maybe that’s why 52nd Street feels timeless. It doesn’t ask us to be certain; it just plays on through the transitions.

🎶 Track List – 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

Enhanced CD

Track Listings

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
10	Big Shot (Promotional Video Footage)
11	Honesty (Promotional Video Footage)
12	My Life (Promotional Video Footage)