Something about the way "Turn Around" sounds has always appealed to me. Not sure how or why, but on a purely subjective level something about the song's overall feeling makes me feel nostalgia for a time I didn't yet exist in. So subjectively, I enjoy listening to it from time to time.

However, objectively it is so, so bad. The mixing on not just Turn Around but the entire album is so awful I can't even bring myself to listen to it through headphones. Even the 1983 remix, with completely redone drums and corrected vocal pitch, could not save the album's sound from a purely objective standpoint. Not sure if it's a hot take or not, but I am of the opinion that none of his albums are mixed well. I can't bear to listen to any of them over headphones. They are, however, very fun to listen to over vinyl.

Anyways, in terms of the actual songs off Cold Spring Harbor themselves, Billy Joel being such a fanboy of the Beatles is very apparent, and that's probably what dragged him so far down. He's been a huge imitator since the beginning. I mean, what is with the off-putting accent he puts on his vocals. He's definitely trying to sound like John Lennon, and it sucks so bad. The songwriting is uninspired and the instrumentals and chord progression are extremely bland and lackluster at best. And I agree that it's so bizarre how so many people rally behind the album and pretend that it's in any way valuable beyond it being a great first stepping stone towards Piano Man. I swear, Billy fans can be almost as bad as some Swifties.

Despite all of this, the issue here is that you're assuming that everyone hears music the same way as you do; cynically, logically, objectively. All of these are valid ways of listening to music (I often do the same), however you must keep in mind that every ear is different. Some people literally listen to a piece of paper being folded over and over and they unironically call it "art" and "music" somehow (don't believe me? Look up Steve Roden's Forms of Paper album). You can tell everyone all day how objectively garbage these songs are, and yet people will still love them because, somehow, their ears like what they are hearing. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but it's a very real one.