Ooh, the agony … the heartache … the self-sacrifice is killing. Yep, here we have another young man pouring his soul out while his heart bleeds. Singer-songwriters as a breed seem exceptionally prone to over-acting and self-pity, placing their own heads on the guillotine. Having made a fair impact with "Piano Man," Joel offers his head to the block, withdrawing it with some creditable moments during the course of ["Street-life Serenade"], but basically creating the impression of a verbose uncle boring everyone with stories of his own problems and experiences…. His singing lifts a record that too often drifts into a dirge-like moroseness. Seems he's struggled for many years and wants to get revenge on us all by telling us about it, while the dourness of the arrangements don't help at all. There are really just two outstanding songs, "Streetlife Serenader" and "The Entertainer."… Both concern the wandering musicians and...