Billy Joel - The Stranger

The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer songwriter Billy Joel, originally released in September 1977 via Columbia Records.

For The Stranger, Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who was coming off the back of his first production hits (Art Garfunkel's Breakaway and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years).

Billy Joel still favoured big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced Joel to  streamline his arrangements from the big sweeping melodies favoured on earlier albums and clean up the production. The results aren't necessarily revelatory, but the commercialism of The Stranger was a bit of a surprise.

None of his ballads had been as sweet or slick as "Just The Way You Are"; he never had created a rocker as bouncy or infectious as "Only The Good Die Young"; and the glossy production of "She's Always A Woman" disguises its latent misogynist streak.

Joel balanced such radio-ready material with a series of New York vignettes clearly intended to be the artistic centrepieces of the album. They do provide The Stranger with the feel of a concept album, yet there is no true thematic connection between the pieces, and his lyrics are often vague or mean-spirited.

Though not a concept album, The Stranger definitely feels like one. The songs have an incredibly fluent vibe between each other. Each song has its own story to tell, but the themes are consistent, creating a wonderful balance through the moods.

There's good reason that The Stranger has been regarded by many as Billy Joel's magnum opus. The music is simply amazing and shows him at his very best.

The album was a huge success peaking at #2 on the US Billboard 200, #25 on the UK and #2 on both the Australian and New Zealand Albums Charts. It was ranked #70 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all Time.

This LP is a 2019 reissue on 180 gram black vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve with a printed inner sleeve, pressed in the US via Columbia Records.