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Joel, Billy - Stranger CD Cover Art
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Billy Joel Stranger CD

 Billy Joel Discography of CDs
4.6 stars (5 Customer Reviews)

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 Our Price: $7.29  CD
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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.

Recorded at A&R Recording, New York, New York.

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).

Re-Issue



This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.Rolling Stone (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's impressive variety here: contemplative ballads...and impressionistic epics....Joel's melodic genius invites comparisons to Paul McCartney..."
Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.113) - Ranked #67 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...The real pleasure here is the specificity of the lyrics in the rock songs located in New York..."
Q (Magazine) (p.118) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "After four albums yielded only minor-league status, Billy JOel penned the most durable songs of his career....He was at the top of his game here."
Blender (Magazine) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "A record where saxophones trump guitars and the piano is nearly the cradle of civilization, THE STRANGER cut against any number of grains in the era just after disco and punk had broken out..."
Stranger Music


Detailed Stranger Music Information



List Price $7.99 (You save $0.70)
Category Rock Albums, Pop CDs, Rock/Pop, Live Performances, Enhanced CD, Singer/Songwriter
Label Columbia
Orig Year 1977
All Time Sales Rank   2328  
CD Universe Part number 1090303
Catalog number 69384
Discs 1
Release Date Oct 20, 1998
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Producer Phil Ramone
Engineer Jim Boyer
Recording Time 40 minutes
Personnel Ralph MacDonald - percussion
Patti Austin - background vocals
Richard Tee - organ
Hugh McCracken
Lani Groves
David Brown - guitar
Billy Joel - vocals, harmonica, piano, organ, keyboards
Phil Woods - alto saxophone
Hiram Bullock
Steve Khan

List all 15 contributors
Additional Info Remastered; Enhanced CD
Billy Joel Stranger Songs


Billy Joel Stranger Album Track Listing



Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample1.Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)  $1.29
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample2.Stranger, The$0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample3.Just the Way You Are  $0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample4.Scenes From an Italian Restaurant$0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample5.Vienna$1.29
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample6.Only the Good Die Young  $0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample7.She's Always a Woman  $0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample8.Get It Right the First Time  $0.99
Windows MediaWindows MediaRealAudio MediaRealAudio MediaMP3 Track Sample9.Everybody Has a Dream  $0.99

Stranger Music


Stranger Other Versions



Billy Joel
Stranger  (1977) With DVD; Remastered; Deluxe Edition5 stars Audio Samples
CD$38.29
Billy Joel
Stranger  (1977) Remastered; Legacy EditionAudio Samples
CD$15.89
Billy Joel
Stranger  (1977) Super Audio CD3.4 stars Audio Samples
Super Audio CD (Playable only on SACD-capable players)$18.55
Billy Joel
Stranger  (1977) Japan; Remastered; Mini LP Sleeve
CD$29.79
Billy Joel
Stranger  
CD$27.59
Billy Joel
Stranger  30th Anniversary Edition; Japan
CD$85.45
Billy Joel
Stranger  (1977) 
Vinyl Record$16.65
Stranger Music Review


Customer Stranger Reviews 




Average Rating: (4.6 out of 5 stars) 4.5 stars

4 stars Great Album
Not a bad song on the disc Absolutely fabulous Listen to this album on your drive to work and you will be in a good mood all day.
Submitted by a reviewer (Ontario,Canada) Verified Buyer
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No

5 stars The Stranger
Absolutely essential music! Beautiful lyrics recorded supurbly. Dim the lights, pure a glass of wine, put on the disc, and sit back in your love seat with your wife!
Submitted by Jalgood310 (Royal Palm Beach, FL) Verified Buyer
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No

4 stars Billy Joel Doing What He Does Best!
This was an excellent album from Billy Joel, at least on an artistic front. However, production values are lacking, and even when I owned the half-speed master (audiophile record, for those who don't know), I played it the one time and I returned it, as I was that dissatisfied with the sound quality. The CD isn't much better either-you can repackage it all you want, but if the original master sounds like junk, there is nothing that you can do about it. If you aren't into the high fidelity scene like I am, then this is an excellent place to start your Billy Joel collection....however, if you are a hi-fi nut, I would start with an album like 52nd Street, or Glass Houses, and then work up the stomach to listen to The Stranger, but in all fairness, Billy Joel's outstanding songwriting quality is completely there, and so are the musical arrangements that he is known for!
Submitted by J.R. (Minnesota, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No

5 stars ''Only The Good Die Young''
Billy Joel Is A Great singer I Love His Best Work.
Submitted by Lawrence_Simmons (Wallingford CT USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No

5 stars A must for ALL Joel fans!
I bought this album back in the late 70's on vinyl and recently purchased the CD. This is one of my all time favorite albums. The clarity of the prose, the beauty in the composition, Joel is a gifted songwriter/composer and if you were never a fan before you will be after listening to this one. Even though recorded in the 70's the music still sounds as fresh today as it did then. A classic!
Submitted by Tracy (Jacksonville, Florida)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No

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Billy Joel, Rolling Stone no. 486, November 1986

10 x 12 inch
Photographic Print

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Billy Joel, Rolling Stone no. 325, September 1980

10 x 12 inch
Photographic Print

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14.5 x 20.5 inch
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Billy Joel

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This edition of PIANO MAN is an Enhanced CD containing both a full audio program as well as a video clip for the song "Piano Man." The title track from Billy Joel's major label debut, 1973's PIANO MAN, became a smash hit, and put the singer-songwriter/piano player on the musical map for good. A story-song, the verses consist of character sketches given by the resident musician at a bar-lounge, and these build toward a sweeping, melodically infectious chorus, and a melancholic, carnivalesque refrain. The tune demonstrates Joel's flair for narrative and lyrical detail, as well as his unmistakable knack for a catchy hook--qualities that would be the bedrock of his success through the 1970s and '80s. Joel was still developing his trademark style here, and while the rest of the album doesn't quite measure up to the strength of "Piano Man," it fits quite neatly into the rubric of the one-man folk-rock artists of the era (namely Elton John, but also acoustic guitar-wielding troubadours like Harry Chapin). Still, there is evidence of Joel's signature tendencies throughout, like the tender love ballad "You're My Home" and the closer, "Captain Jack," a character-heavy story-song on the order of the title song. On the whole, PIANO MAN is an important step in Joel's development, and contains the musical and lyrical seeds that would sprout to full flower on albums like THE STRANGER, and subsequently catapult the artist to singer-songwriter stardom. Personnel: ...
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