For Christmas, I got "The Stranger" by Billy Joel on CD. I originally had this album on cassette and as a consequence of time, it had seen better days. I had forgotten how great this record was. The only other previous effort that had any substance, "Piano Man", was adequate with "Piano Man" and "Captain Jack" included on the record but the rest of the selections were, to my taste, quite pedestrian. With Phil Ramone as the producer and outstanding songwriting, "The Stranger" put Billy Joel on the map. Virtually every track stands on it's own and the album as a whole was as at least as successful as Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" with half as much material.  The first cut, "Moving Out (Anthony's Song)", is the one every one identifies from this record and it still stands the test of time, both from an artistic and production point of view. "Scenes from Italian Restaurant" is without a doubt my most favorite Billy Joel song. It compares favorably and in some ways completes the epic song example set by The Beatles with "Day in the Life" and does a better job of telling a story and musically is much more orchestral than anything until Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". "She's always a Woman to Me" is as a sophisticated and well produced songs as there is and "Just the Way You Are" shows his talent in conveying real feelings. In most every case, an artist has a record that 1) breaks them to the public or 2) shows their artistic abilities to their fullest. Very rarely do they exist in the same product such as the case is with "The Stranger". Joel went on to super-stardom after this record but he never, IMHO, achieved the artistry that he did with this effort

 

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