The Stranger

Stranger (Remastered, Enhanced) Billy Joel Label: Sony Release Date: 10/20/1998 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 - 9:08

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