Cold Spring Harbor is of value chiefly because it presents the performing and composing genius of Billy Joel in its fledgling stages…. [There] are intermittent flashes of brilliance, musical foreshadowings of things to come, and hints of the influences that were to shape the man's grander accomplishments. (p. 17)

"She's Got A Way" is very unexceptional. It's a typical romantic tune, with rhymes that are extremely obvious from beginning to end….

The fast-paced "Everybody Loves You Now" is quite a bit better and might even be worth resurrecting in the current Joel repertoire. It is far less of a paean than the first two tunes [on the album]; it is the first example we'd yet heard of the very telling Joel sardonicism….

[The] lyric is smug and accusatory….

The attitude is mature, and likewise there is an inkling of a maturing talent at work here. (p. 19)

["Falling Of The...