THE STRANGER (30th ANNIVERSARY LEGACY EDITION) The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Billy Joel, released on September 29, 1977 by Columbia Records. While his previous four albums had been moderately successful, The Stranger became Joel's true critical and commercial breakthrough, spending six weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard 200. Considered his magnum opus, it remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and was ranked at number 70 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
He's known to many as an inoffensive pop balladeer, but at the arguable peak of his career in the late '70s, Billy Joel released his darkest, most emotionally charged album. THE STRANGER abandons the grandstanding and broad melodic sweep of Joel's earlier records for a more intimate, introspective sound, effectively communicating Joel's ruminations on the perils of life and love. "Movin' Out" is something of an existentialist anthem, chronicling the way people's dreams are often irreparably crushed. The ominous-sounding title tune examines the many guises with which lovers disguise themselves in their attempts to entrap and deceive each other. "Only the Good Die Young" is hedonism at it's most iconoclastic. Even "She's Always a Woman," ostensibly a romantic piano ballad, is full of thorny, less-than-complimentary observations about its subject. Joel's emotional honesty would never be this clear-eyed and unabashed again.
Personnel: Billy Joel (vocals, harmonica, piano, organ, keyboards); Hiram Bullock, Steve Burgh, Steve Khan, Hugh McCracken, David Brown (guitar); Richie Cannatta (fiddle, flute, soprano & tenor saxophones, organ, keyboards); Phil Woods (alto saxophone); Richard Tee (organ); Doug Stegmeyer (bass); Liberty DeVito (drums, percussion); Ralph MacDonald (percussion); Phoebe Snow, Lani Groves, Patti Austin (background vocals).
Recorded at A&R Recording, New York, New York.
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Rock
- Remastered, 180 Gram
- 30th Anniversary Edition
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Tracklist
| A1 | Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) |
| A2 | The Stranger |
| A3 | Just The Way You Are |
| A4 | Scenes From An Italian Restaurant |
| B1 | Vienna |
| B2 | Only The Good Die Young |
| B3 | She's Always A Woman |
| B4 | Get It Right The First Time |
| B5 | Everybody Has A Dream |
