This is probably the Billy Joel album that is my least favorite. The quadraphonic mix, however, is very discrete, and for those that like the early quad mixes where instruments are isolated in their own channels and the mix spread out, this is a release for you.
At this point in his career, Billy Joel was not the superstar he ended up being after "The Stranger" album came out, he was more of a one hit wonder after "Piano Man". There were no hit singles from "Steetlife Serenade", although "The Entertainer" was offered and failed to chart with success. In the lyric to the song, he complained about his "beautiful song" being too long (for radio) and being cut down to 3:05, referring to "Piano Man" being shortened for airplay and the 45.
Containing two instrumentals, "Root Beer Rag" is the best of them, and may be the best track on the album. It's was used quite a bit by radio stations as show intro or commercial background music. The short "Souvenir" is in some ways a follow up to the song "Tomorrow is Today" from Cold Spring Harbor echoing the same theme that every day is the same and what's the point of it all.
For me, it's a '10' for quad, a '5' for content, and the LP sounds nice decoded, so I'm giving it a '7'.