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For the first time, a box set will take a deep dive into the creation of a Billy Joel album – in this case, one of his most pivotal: 1976’s Turnstiles, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Coming from Legacy Recordings on December 11, this 4CD/Blu-ray set will offer a thorough look at the album’s pivotal production, from early demos to live shows. In total, the collection boasts more than 50 previously unreleased tracks, including unheard demos, rarely heard songs and selections from the album’s mythic early sessions. The set also features an unreleased 1976 at The Bottom Line in New York City and an expanded audiovisual restoration of Billy Joel Tonight, the late 1976 concerts taped for television. The set’s liner notes include a new essay by David Fricke as well as notes from the director of Joel’s archive, box set producer John Jackson.

Numbers would tell you that Joel’s third album for Columbia (and fourth overall) was a trifle compared to what the Piano Man would imminently release in the years that followed. It peaked at a mere No. 122 on the Billboard LP survey and was never certified past platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. But, as fans can tell you, the album is sort of the nexus point for the music and qualities that made Billy one of the biggest musicians of the ’70s and ’80s.

After attaining a Top 40 hit with that 1973 song of the same name, Joel struggled to follow it up with another hit. He’d ultimately, finally retreat from Los Angeles – the city he’d fled to after escaping a contract with Artie Ripp that resulted in 1971 debut Cold Spring Harbor – heading back to New York to produce Turnstiles on his own. Crucially – for the first time, but not the last – he would employ his crystallizing touring band in the studio, including guitarists Russell Javors and Howie Emerson, the rhythm section of bassist Doug Stegmeyer and drummer Liberty DeVitto, and saxophonist Richie Cannata. (Emerson would be replaced by David Brown in the band’s best-known line-up.) The eight songs they recorded included some of Joel’s most enduring standards and live barn-burners, including the timeless “New York State of Mind,” the sharp-edged “Prelude/Angry Young Man” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway),” and the Spector-esque “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (later covered by Ronnie Spector herself, with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band backing her).

But, as the first disc of the set showcases, there was a lot of road to get to that point. Joel demoed many of the songs on piano with Michael Stewart, producer of Joel’s first two Columbia LPs, and even cut some rough versions with his band before a 1975 concert stop at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. (Five tracks from that multi-night run appear here, all different from the double live album prepared for a Joel vinyl box set and later released for Record Store Day.)

Joel would next commit to sessions in January 1976 with longtime Chicago producer James William Guercio. (Contrary to popular belief, these sessions were not held at Guercio’s Caribou Studios ranch in Colorado, but at one of Columbia’s New York City studios.) For reasons not fully known but rather detested by Billy – who states as much in last year’s two-part HBO documentary on his career – Guercio paired him with the recently-departed rhythm section of Elton John’s band, bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson. “You have no question of why this didn’t move forward,” Jackson told The Second Disc in an interview before the documentary premiered. “It is not Liberty and Richie and Russell. This [band] works for one person; that doesn’t mean it’s gonna work for somebody else.” (Jackson also suggested the sessions were something “I can promise you will never come out”; things change.) After five tracks from the Guercio sessions, the first disc closes with three more with the producer, this time featuring Stegmeyer (already Joel’s live bassist) and DeVitto (who, like Stegmeyer, was a member of the band Topper) as Joel’s rhythm section.

The album’s second disc features a remaster of the original Turnstiles album (committed to tape at Ultrasonic Studios in Hempstead, Long Island – incidentally the site of Joel’s formative recording experiences as a youth in the band The Hassles) along with several alternate takes and mixes. From there, it’s on to a trove of live material. The oft-bootlegged June 10, 1976 rave-up at The Bottom Line, recorded in the weeks after the album was issued, offers almost every song from Turnstiles plus a healthy selection of Joel’s other staples. By year’s end, Joel has put together his own management team, operating under the moniker Home Run Productions. (Manager Dennis Arfa, live engineer Brian Ruggles and lighting tech Steve Cohen still work for Joel to this day.) They took Joel’s road-tested show to the Palmer Auditorium at Connecticut College in New London for a two-night run taped for the special Billy Joel Tonight, a staple of music television fare released comprehensively for the first time. Mixed for the first time from the available original multitrack tapes, the accompanying Blu-ray features even more than what’s heard on CD, separating both the first night’s set and offering a selection of rehearsals and pick-ups – most of them unreleased, but intended for the special. An Atmos mix of the original album by engineer Bradshaw Leigh rounds out the last disc.

This box – only the second time a Billy Joel album has been reissued as an expansive, multi-disc set, after The Stranger in 2008 – offers a really exciting path forward at celebrating even more of Joel’s celebrated discography. But until then, the expanded Turnstiles will be released in December and can be pre-ordered at the links below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Turnstiles (50th Anniversary Edition) (Columbia/Legacy, 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Demos and Early Versions (previously unreleased except where noted)

1. All You Wanna Do is Dance (Band Demo – 2/7/1975)
2. James (Band Demo – 6/9/1975)
3. New York State of Mind (Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA – 6/9/1975 – Set 1)
4. All You Wanna Do is Dance (Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA – 6/10/1975 – Set 1)
5. Oklahoma (Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA – 6/9/1975 – Set 1)
6. Roberta (Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA – 6/9/1975 – Set 2)
7. Everybody Has a Dream (Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA – 6/10/1975 – Set 2)
8. All You Wanna Do is Dance (Piano Demo – 1975)
9. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) (Piano Demo – 1975)
10. New York State of Mind (Piano Demo – 1975)
11. James (Piano Demo – 1975)
12. Oklahoma (Piano Demo – 1975)
13. New Ideas: Say Goodbye to Hollywood/Angry Young Man/Brenda and Eddie) (Piano Demo – 1975)
14. These Rhinestone Days (Piano Demo – 1975) (released on My Lives – Columbia/Legacy C5K 93520, 2005)
15. Prelude/Angry Young Man (Take 9: Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson session – 1/19/1976)
16. I’ve Loved These Days (Take 1: Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson session – 1/20/1976)
17. James (Take 3: Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson session – 1/21/1976)
18. Everybody Has a Dream (Take 1: Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson session – 1/21/1976)
19. Sadness or Euphoria (Summer, Highland Falls) (Take 2: Doug Stegmeyer, Liberty DeVitto session – 1/23/1976)
20. All You Wanna Do is Dance (Take 2: Doug Stegmeyer, Liberty DeVitto session – 1/23/1976)
21. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) (Take 1: Doug Stegmeyer, Liberty DeVitto session – 1/23/1976)

CD 2: Album Sessions (Tracks 1-8 released as Columbia PC 33848, 1976; all others previously unreleased)

1. Say Goodbye to Hollywood
2. Summer, Highland Falls
3. All You Wanna Do is Dance
4. New York Sate of Mind
5. James
6. Prelude/Angry Young Man
7. I’ve Loved These Days
8. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
9. James (Alternate Mix with Strings/Reprise with Acoustic Guitar, Bongos and Saxophone)
10. Summer, Highland Falls (Alternate Acoustic Version)
11. Say Goodbye to Hollywood (Alternate)
12. I’ve Loved These Days (Alternate Orchestral Mix)
13. Conversation with Ed Sciacky, Philadelphia, PA – 6/18/1976

CD 3: Live At The Bottom Line, New York, NY – 6/10/1976 (previously unreleased)

1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. Somewhere Along the Line
3. Summer, Highland Falls
4. Piano Man
5. Root Beer Rag
6. James
7. Travelin’ Prayer
8. New York State of Mind
9. The Entertainer
10. The Ballad of Billy the Kid
11. I’ve Loved These Days
12. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
13. Captain Jack
14. All You Wanna Do is Dance
15. Ain’t No Crime
16. Weekend Song
17. Souvenir

CD 4: Billy Joel Tonight (previously unreleased except where noted)

1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. Somewhere Along the Line
3. Summer, Highland Falls
4. Handball
5. Piano Man
6. James
7. Travelin’ Prayer
8. New York State of Mind
9. The Entertainer
10. You’re My Home
11. Root Beer Rag
12. Roberta
13. The Ballad of Billy the Kid
14. I’ve Loved These Days
15. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
16. Captain Jack
17. Souvenir

All tracks recorded at Palmer Auditorium, University of Connecticut, New London, CT – 12/5 and 12/6/1976. Tracks 3, 8, 13 and 17 released on Souvenir promo LP – Columbia AS 326, 1977

Blu-ray

Billy Joel Tonight: The Concert (rec. at Palmer Auditorium, University of Connecticut, New London, CT – 12/5/1976; * included in original TV special)

1. Prelude/Angry Young Man *
2. Somewhere Along the Line
3. Summer, Highland Falls
4. Piano Man *
5. Handball *
6. James/Still Crazy After All These Years
7. Travelin’ Prayer/Jungleland
8. New York State of Mind *
9. The Entertainer *
10. You’re My Home *
11. Root Beer Rag
12. Roberta
13. The Ballad of Billy the Kid
14. I’ve Loved These Days
15. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) *
16. Captain Jack *
17. Worse Comes to Worst
18. Ain’t No Crime
19. Weekend Song
20. If I Only Had the Words (t0 Tell You)
21. Souvenir

Billy Joel Tonight: Rehearsals and Production Inserts (rec. at Palmer Auditorium, University of Connecticut, New London, CT – 12/6/1976; * included in original TV special)

1. Stop in Nevada (incomplete rehearsal)
2. She’s Got a Way
3. Say Goodbye to Hollywood
4. Streetlife Serenader
5. The Great Suburban Showdown
6. All You Wanna Do is Dance
7. I’ve Loved These Days
8. Honky Tonk Women
9. Covers Medley: You Are So Beautiful/Born to Run/Hey Mister, That’s Me Up on the Jukebox/Tell Me Why/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Bennie and The Jets
10. Souvenir
11. Nocturne *

Dolby Atmos mix of original album