Consumer Guide Album

Billy Joel: Turnstiles [Columbia, 1976]
As Joel's craft improves--I can recall four of these songs merely by glancing at titles--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." But I do catch myself in moments of identification with the three place-name songs on side one--"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" more than the overrated "New York State of Mind." C+