Joel, Billy - The Stranger

RARE/2HAND VINYL LP ON COLUMBIA 1977

Columbia BL 34987 made in USA with lyrid inner sleeve.

Vinyl VG+. Cover VG+.

Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who had just scored his first producing hits with Art Garfunkel's Breakaway and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years for The Stranger, his follow-up to Turnstiles. Joel still favored big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced him to streamline his arrangements and clean up the production. The results aren't necessarily revelatory, since he covered so much ground on Turnstiles, but the commercialism of The Stranger is a bit of a surprise. None of his ballads have 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.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel

Tracklist

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