The Stranger [Vinyl LP]

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Billy's voice especially is clear and center and feels like you're listening to him in the booth 5 feet away, not quite in the same room, but it still feels like it's just right there.

The Stranger (album) - Wikipedia The Stranger (album) - Wikipedia

Along with the rest of Joel's catalogue, the album was remastered and re-released in 1998, including a multimedia component that included four live videos. As his breakthrough album, The Stranger kicked off a long string of successful albums for Joel, continuing up through 1993's River of Dreams. Retrospectively, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described The Stranger as "a concept album of sorts, an ode to the singer's native New York underscored by his paranoid obsession (and resistance) to change".have been sourced from the original album masters (analog and digital) and carefully prepared for this release by Ted Jensen with lacquers cut by Joe Nino Hernes at the legendary Sterling Sound in Nashville, Tennessee. Rolling Stone ranked The Stranger at number 67 on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Only the Good Die Young", which is sung from the point-of-view of a boy trying to appeal to an abstinent Catholic woman, was inspired by a girl named Virginia Davis who Joel had a crush on in high school.

Billy Joel ‘The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2’ To Be Released Billy Joel ‘The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2’ To Be Released

The photograph on the back cover of the album, featuring Joel, Ramone (donning a Yankees shirt at the time of the picture) and each of the band members, was taken at the Supreme Macaroni Company, one of several restaurants where the group would go to "have these crazy lunches and dinners". But if you grew up in NYC or the tri-state area during a certain era, you are to varying degrees trapped inside at least 5 of these songs. The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records.Get It Right the First Time" is inspired by the challenge of first meeting and confronting a person, highlighting the importance of not flubbing such an encounter and "gett[ing] it right the first time". Ramone disagreed, and brought Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow into the studio to prove that it was worth including. The Deluxe Limited Edition included a DVD showcasing two live promotional videos from The Stranger; and Joel's performance on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, a seldom-seen 60-minute set from 1978 that has aired only once on the UK's BBC2. Unfortunately, Discogs keeps pointing me to a specific pressing, but I may have one that isn't accounted for yet? Tohoshinki Set the Record For The First Time in 31 Years: Reaching the Top-3 on Both of the Singles and Albums Chart Since Billy Joel] (in Japanese) .

Billy Joel – The Stranger (1978, Vinyl) - Discogs

Four singles were released in the US, all of which became Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts: " Just the Way You Are" (No. is being released near the 50th anniversary of “Piano Man,” Billy Joel’s first signature song, released as a single on November 2, 1973 with the Piano Man album dropping a week later (November 9, 1973). The 7 1⁄ 2minute epic " Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", which follows a pair of young lovers from Long Island named Brenda and Eddie who go through a failed marriage, is three different, shorter songs: "The Italian Restaurant Song", "Things Are OK in Oyster Bay" and "The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie".The Stranger spawned a Top 5 hit (" Just The Way You Are "), two Top 20 hits (" Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", " She's Always A Woman") and a Top 40 hit (" Only The Good Die Young "). Certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (their highest certification), from the time of its release until 1985, The Stranger was Columbia Records’ biggest selling album: the album has also been named one of the 500 greatest albums of all time by influential music publication Rolling Stone. Having written some new material for the record, [4] Joel sought a producer who could cultivate his desired style. A broadcast edit of the legendary show originally aired on HBO in 1983 while a longer version of the show was a massively popular VHS title. In Canada the album spent 72 weeks in the Top 100 Album charts between November 1977 and April 1979.

Billy Joel – The Stranger (Vinyl) - Discogs Billy Joel – The Stranger (Vinyl) - Discogs

The recording sessions for The Stranger, described by Joel as "a blast" to be a part of, [6] took place across the short span of three weeks in between July and August 1977.

The Stranger spent 17 weeks in varying positions within Billboard 200 chart's top 10 albums, first entering the bottom position on January 21, 1978 (around four months after its initial release). The mood of the song was shifted at the insistence of drummer Liberty DeVitto, who reportedly said to Joel "Why are you singing like that? The Stranger remains one of Joel's best-selling original studio albums to date, achieving a "Diamond" certification for surpassing sales of 10 million units. While "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" was the first single released for the album, radio stations put little attention towards it, instead expressing interest in "Just the Way You Are"; thus, the latter song was released just six weeks following the debut of "Movin' Out", after which it achieved far larger success.