Billy Joel, The Stranger - 42m 38s

Tracks & Durations

1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)	3:30
2. The Stranger	5:10
3. Just the Way You Are	4:50
4. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant	7:37
5. Vienna	3:34
6. Only the Good Die Young	3:55
7. She's Always a Woman	3:21
8. Get It Right the First Time	3:57
9. Everybody Has a Dream	6:37

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Review

This, pop superstar Joel's breakout LP, came years after he first hit the charts with the novelty-ish "Piano Man." In the meantime, the New York-based songwriter released two lackluster and stylistically confused platters that blunted interesting songs with a sound that was neither Elton mellow nor Elton attitude. Produced by Phil Ramone, The Stranger took those who had written Joel off as a one-hit wonder by surprise ("Just the Way You Are" was among the biggest hits of 1977) and it remains a solid introduction to Joel's restless muse at a crucial point in his career. It invited a few comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, with its prominent sax breaks, hard-edged rebel-rockers ("Only the Good Die Young"), and slice-of-life dramatics ("Scenes From an Italian Restaurant"), recounting life in a lower middle-class (Eastern Urban) setting; but Joel's chameleonic, formalist approach to pop wasn't to be so easily pigeonholed (Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man...). --Don Harrison

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