[Billy Joel's] Piano Man reflects a new seriousness and musical flexibility….

Joel's best efforts speak to the point about people around him. His sense of detail fleshes out his B-movie characters. "Somewhere Along the Line" holds the album's most concise observations, waxing philosophical without wallowing in pretentious drivel….

Despite Joel's facility at portraying others, he seems unable to come to terms with himself. The title tune tries to reflect the piano man through his patrons, but Joel fails to illuminate his own character. At other times, like in "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," the singer's bristling ego mocks his supposedly objective point of view. (p. 62)

Billy Joel's enthusiasm and musical straightforwardness keep everything together and moving briskly along. (p. 63)

Jack Breschard, in his review of "Piano Man," in Rolling Stone (by Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. © 1974; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission), Issue 156, March 14, 1974, pp. 62-3.