It was recorded mostly with session musicians—the last such release until 1993's River of Dreams. Joel sang and played piano and other keyboards, including his first work with the Moog synthesizer. Backing musicians included guitarists Don Evans and Al Hertzberg and banjo/pedal steel guitarist Tom Whitehorse.

Joel said that he had been touring in clubs and theatres and opening for big acts such as The Beach Boys, thus leaving him little time to write new songs, but he was under pressure to put out a new album after Piano Man. He also says that he did not have many new songs, hence the inclusion of the instrumentals "Root Beer Rag" and "The Mexican Connection". The back cover features a barefooted Joel sitting in a chair looking cross; Joel says that he had had his wisdom teeth extracted two days before the shoot.^[5] The front cover is a painting by Brian Hagiwara of a hotel and café located at 651 South Centre Street in Los Angeles, California.^{[6][unreliable source?]}

In a retrospective interview, Joel said of the album: "Interesting musical ideas, but nothing to say lyrically. I was trying to be Debussy in the title track — it didn’t work."^[7]

In addition to the usual two-channel stereo version, the album was also released by Columbia in a four-channel quadraphonic mix on LP record and 8-track tape in 1974. The quad LP release was encoded in the SQ matrix system. In 2015, the album was re-issued by Audio Fidelity in the Super Audio CD format containing both the complete stereo and quadraphonic mixes.

All tracks written and composed by Billy Joel.

One side (Side one)

1. "Streetlife Serenader" – 5:17
2. "Los Angelenos" – 3:41
3. "The Great Suburban Showdown" – 3:44
4. "Root Beer Rag" (Instrumental) – 2:59
5. "Roberta" – 4:32

Another side (Side two)

1. "The Entertainer" – 3:48
2. "Last of the Big Time Spenders" – 4:34
3. "Weekend Song" – 3:29
4. "Souvenir" – 2:00
5. "The Mexican Connection" (Instrumental) – 3:37