Billy Joel Expands ‘Turnstiles’ With 54 Unreleased Tracks

Billy Joel is opening a much larger archive around Turnstiles for the album’s 50th anniversary, assembling a five-disc edition that includes 54 audio tracks that have not previously been commercially available.

The expanded collection is scheduled for Dec. 11 through Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. It combines four CDs with a Blu-ray and reaches 67 audio tracks in total, turning the 1976 album into a broad look at the performances, experiments and live shows surrounding a pivotal period in Joel’s career.

Demos, concerts and an unheard song

The set includes a 1975 band demo of “James,” the previously unheard song “Oklahoma” and the first official audio release of the fan favorite “Handball.” Four recordings from abandoned sessions with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson are also part of the archive.

Live material reaches back to Joel’s June 1975 concerts at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and his June 10, 1976 performance at New York’s Bottom Line. Those recordings place the familiar studio album beside the stage version of the band that was taking shape around it.

Turnstiles originally arrived in May 1976 after Joel returned to New York from Los Angeles. Its track list includes “New York State of Mind,” “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” “Summer, Highland Falls” and “Prelude/Angry Young Man,” songs that became central to his live catalog.

The concert film gets an HD restoration

The Blu-ray contains the complete Billy Joel Tonight concert film, assembled from December 1976 performances at Connecticut College. The footage has been transferred, edited and mixed for high definition, expanding a program that first aired as a television special in 1977.

The package also includes a Dolby Atmos mix of the original album, previously unseen rehearsal and production footage, and a 40-page booklet with archival photographs. New liner notes come from music writer David Fricke and Billy Joel Archive director John Jackson.

The anniversary edition is already listed for preorder. Rather than simply remastering eight familiar songs, the project reconstructs the period when Joel’s move back to New York began reshaping both his writing and his public identity.