The Stranger (1977) - Billy Joel

Billy Joel is one of the biggest names in music, one with so many hits to his name, his success spanning decades. He has become ubiquitous, an American musical institution, but back in 1977 when he was recording his masterful fifth album The Stranger (1977), Joel was a one hit wonder. He was four albums deep into his career and he had only netted two top forty hits, “The Entertainer” and “Piano Man”, the latter of which only reached #25 and was far from the sing-along standard it has become today. Joel was between a rock and a hard place. His label had put a lot of support behind him, and the hits just weren’t coming. While his fourth record Turnstiles (1976) was an artistic triumph where Joel finally found his unique songwriting voice, it didn’t pack any big singles. That record was the birth of a sharp, observational lyricist, a stellar rock pianist and one of the genre’s great melodicists but it lacked the big hooks that made his best singles soar. He needed a breakthrough record fast, and with The Stranger (1977) he wrote the LP that would catapult him to stardom.

The cliché of an album track listing that reads like a greatest hits record is well worn, but for this album the old adage stands up, with seven of the nine songs on display here ranking among Joel’s most popular songs and his most beloved deep cuts. He had honed his voice and artistry on his previous record, so this was Joel’s chance to capitalize on it and capitalize he does, writing his sharpest, catchiest melodies yet while also pioneering the unique band sound that would mark much of his best work. This album introduces key players to his band with drummer Liberty DeVitto, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, guitarist Hiram Bullock and best of all saxophone player Richie Cannata to the mix, giving the songs an instrumental heft that his earlier self-produced material lacked. The final puzzle piece to fall into place was the introduction of genius producer Phil Ramone, who gives the album its full, warm, inviting sound and would stay with Joel until 1986, producing all but one of his golden period classics. With his new players backing him up, Joel felt confident as a songwriter and band leader and that confidence bleeds into the performances, with Billy really coming into himself in particular as a vocalist, ditching the higher pitched slightly whiny stylings of his early records and instead embracing the rock and roll bite of his lower register on the driving songs and finding his sweet, warm tenor register on the ballads. Everything fell into place on this record as Joel took the opportunity to show the record buying public everything he had and in nine songs he blows any listener away with his brilliant melodies, joyous performances and hooks that grab ahold of you and never let go.

The album begins with one of its most immediate pop-rock joys, the relentlessly hooky strident rock of “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”. The song brilliantly combines a chugging, spritely guitar riff with some of his most driving, upbeat piano work into a song that’s built for jetting down the open road, packing far more joyous energy than any of his previous attempts at rock and roll. With the full band behind him, the song has the muscle it needs to truly soar, which is certainly does, particularly in its strident rock and roll coda, putting Joel’s piano upfront over the sound of a car engine starting. The song’s narrative of getting fed up with the breakneck pace of city life and how difficult it is to move up from lower class living is fleshed out with some of his sharpest character sketches. Joel’s vocal maturation is evident from the opening notes of the song, truly digging in for those high notes which he shouts with vigor and bite that his early, more cynical work lacked. The song’s guitar work struts along, almost sounding like a car starting up, which gives it such a spry drive. It’s not a fast song, but it has a delightful sense of forward momentum. Joel’s sense of melody is all over this track, delivering countless memorable hooks in every part of the track, from the throbbing rock of the chorus that pauses right as he delivers the title lyric with a casual bite to the iconic “ack-ack-ack”s that end each verse, which would be silly if it was one of the catchiest hooks you’ve ever heard. The song also sports some of Joel’s smartest lyrics, expounding on the idea of upward mobility full of distaste, but instead of taking on his own perspective, he weaves a story song type tapestry of middle class boredom and lower class desires through characters like Anthony and Mr. Cacciatore, who feel well developed over the course of single verses. The subtle hints of saxophone and Beatlesque harmonies throughout the piece are the melodic touches that really make this song such an undeniable gem. The opening song sets the tone for the record masterfully, while being its own unique masterwork when taken on its own. One of Joel’s most well deserved and best ever hits.

The record progresses with one of its more ambitious compositions, the multipart opus “The Stranger”. The song opens with a plush, jazzy instrumental of lightly brushed drums, a slight bass line and some of Joel’s classically tinged piano work before a haunting passage of whistling, whose central riff is a recurring motif throughout the record, tying many compositions together. However, all that is only the introduction to one of the album’s most bracing guitar-centric rockers with a chunky, driving riff with blistering high notes that punch up the instrumental bits between each of Joel’s verses, which he delivers in a cool, almost nonchalant tone. The song is one of Joel’s most insightful and complex lyrics all revolving around the concept that even romantic partners hide central parts of themselves behind masks, that no one ever willingly takes down, and how when these masks come off, you can be unrecognizable even to the people you are closest to. He takes such an abstract concept, and personifies it into the character of “The Stranger”, turning his fable into another thrilling story song. The guitar flourishes and the song’s heavy groove make it as musically enthralling as it is lyrically, with the sweet, harmony drenched bridges providing a devilish contrast from the tense, guitar led verses. The song is one of Joel’s true hidden gems and one of his most exciting tracks period. It shows that while the man typically sticks to softer rock, he can do something truly crunchy and rocking when he wants and knock it out of the park. The song closes with the same haunted whistled outro that it began with, bookending it and making it feel epic in scale even though it is only five minutes long.

The record takes another turn with the album’s first plush, romantic ballad, the sort Joel would become known for penning, with the enduring chestnut “Just the Way You Are”, Joel’s first ever top ten hit. The song sports one of his most warm and memorable melodies stacked on top of one of the record’s best arrangements from Phil Ramone, with the soft, almost pillowy sound of the electric piano greeting you like a warm hug whenever the track comes on. Joel and Ramone layer in swaying acoustic guitar and twinkling, jazzy percussion adding to the mix, before the juicy saxophone takes over the mix with soulful, jazz-tinged fills and a solo to die for. Joel himself shines on the song, delivering one of the album’s best vocal performances, luxuriating in his soft baritone register, never straining to hit notes, having it all feel effortless and charming while turning in some of his sweetest lyrics about not wanting his lover to change for him or anyone else. It is a simple sentiment, but Joel’s warm, inviting delivery and his charmingly sharp lyrics, poking fun at his lover dying her hair and his own conversational laziness (doubly clever because this is one of his best songs from a vocabulary standpoint) make it shine and stand out as the best song of its kind. The cherry on top are the glorious backing vocal harmonies, stacked in an ethereal, dreamy way that reminds one of 10cc’s masterful “I’m Not in Love”, which swath Billy in harmony and warmth. The entire song is one of the most emotionally fulfilling and dare I say life affirming on the album, truly wrapping the listener up like a friend or a lover’s embrace. A classic for good reason.

The record’s unmatched A side closes with the album’s most ambitious moment, the three part suite “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, which feels like Joel’s own McCartney-esque attempt at The Beatles “Abbey Road Medley''. He stitches together an eight plus minute opus out of disparate but similarly themed song fragments, all three of which would make brilliant compositions on their own, but the way he so beautifully weaves them together through lovely instrumental passages make them all shine even more than they would on their own. The song is truly a production triumph from Phil Ramone too, weaving the song’s together and making them all feel individual while also being part of a whole. It is work that puts him in the same league as Beatles production mastermind George Martin. The song opens with a lovely melodic piano passage that paints the picture of a romantic evening even better than the sweet lyrics about two old friends or past flames reuniting in their old favorite restaurant. The song drips with nostalgia, due to Joel’s warm delivery and the crescendo of the arrangement, which keeps on adding elements tastefully as needed, from the lilting accordion to sweeping orchestral strings before the plush, jazzy sax solo sweeps us away to the second portion of the song. The medley then brilliantly transitions into a frenetic rocker dripping in nocturnal atmosphere and with a New Orleans jazz bent, introduced by throbbing drum fills before Joel’s piano crashes in with one of his most percussive riffs, with the bass and drums punctuate the end of all of his lines. The song is another nostalgic piece, but instead of it being purely romantic, Joel’s character is reminiscing about all the fun he had in his teenage years compared to his boring adult day to day struggles, with another deliriously jazzy saxophone solo leading into the meat of the track, “The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie”, which alone would be one of Joel’s storytelling triumphs. The song is the most bare bones of the three, namely featuring one of Joel’s most driving piano riffs, reminiscent of “Prelude” from his Turnstiles album, giving the song a sense of frenetic forward moving energy with the band charging behind him as he weaves the tragically pedestrian story of the titular Brenda and Eddie’s high school romance, with them getting married too young, barely scraping by, falling out of love and ending their marriage in a divorce with both wishing they hadn’t wished away their youth. The song is a three minute painting with all the emotional heft and detail of an indie film about New York kids who want to live too fast all delivered by Joel’s cynical but well meaning narrator. The song is such a lyrical triumph that it’s hard to focus on the music, but Joel packs it full of hooks, from the wordless singalong refrain to the percussive way he uses the piano throughout the segment. The song triumphantly returns to its original melody in the emotionally resonant coda, returning to the fateful Italian restaurant, where may be it was Brenda and Eddie reuniting and reminiscing about their shared youth. The strings sweep you away, but by the end it’s just Billy and his piano again. The song is eight minutes that feels like three, which is a brilliant feat on its own, but compositionally it is by far Joel’s best ever song and it goes to show how this man is a songwriter first and foremost, and this is the best song he’s ever written. Truly a masterpiece.

While almost any other artist would be unable to follow up that titanic A-side, Joel does, starting small in order to contrast the massive pop epic that closed the previous side, with “Vienna”, the most intimate piece here both musically and emotionally. The song’s brilliant lyrics make us feel like we’re eavesdropping on a profoundly moving conversation between father and son, based on a series of talks Joel had with his own estranged father. The song’s music alone is enough to move someone deeply, with the spry piano fills that open the track being packed with such skill and grace before the verses kick in, spotlighting the tight rhythm section and Joel’s gentle piano playing. The spotlight truly shines on Joel’s voice throughout this piece, with his soulful belted register fully on display, feeling like a very different sort of ballad than the sultry romance of “Just the Way You Are”, and perhaps it is better, soaring to multiple emotional climaxes on the ebullient, rawly sad chorus hook. The emotion throughout the track is palpable, but it never feels confessional since Joel coats the raw feelings in sharp lyricism which couches the relationship in fatherly advice with various degrees of philosophical connotations, the song is relentlessly clever, but it never distills the pure heart at the center of the track. Joel even adds a stirring accordion solo halfway through the song which adds to the track’s vaguely European flavor. The final belted chorus is some of Joel’s greatest vocal work on the record, wringing every drop of feeling from the lyrics. It would be difficult to single out the best lyric on the song, truly every one stands out so it wouldn’t be fair to spotlight any individually, particularly because they are so powerful when taken all together. This song is difficult to write about in general, as it is such a palpable emotional experience that it feels wrong to treat such a personal experience this way. Joel taps into something both uniquely singular while also universal which this song, a rare thing indeed. And the second best track here by a mile.

The record delivers its most fun moment next in direct contrast to the heartbreaking “Vienna” with the rock and roll jubilation that is “Only the Good Die Young”, possibly the most joyful and energetic song in Joel’s catalog. The song has him hilariously poking fun at the stoicism of Catholicism with regards to sexuality, a risqué subject for a pop song today let alone in 1977, but Joel’s cheeky sense of humor shine through in every witticism and punchline, some of which wouldn’t feel out of place on an Elvis Costello record. The conclusion of the song is that it’s better to have fun now while you can instead of staying stuffy for your entire life only to finally live it up in heaven once you’re dead (“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints” is a particularly brilliant turn of phrase). The hedonism of the song makes for the basis of a great rock and roll song. It arguably has the sense of humor of a Rolling Stones song, but instead of bluesy rock, Joel turns it into a swinging early rock feeling tribute, with some Little Richard type piano bashing in the outro. It is primarily made up of a very swinging acoustic guitar riff that struts along with Joel’s brassy, bouncy vocal performance, riffing on the song’s utterly captivating vocal melody. The percussion is little more than hand claps and a few drum fills, and Joel’s piano doesn’t appear until the rave up styled outro, with this being Joel’s first real guitar rock song, and the look suits him brilliantly, as it’s a very light guitar rock, but his gritty vocal style fits the song, differentiating it from the rest of the record. By the time the horns punch in after the verse on the joyous, almost gospel feeling chorus hook you are utterly sold on how delightful this song is. The saxophone solo is just a cherry on top, particularly when Joel cuts in with his most forceful delivery on the record after it ends. The song is pure musical endorphins in a way that only pop-rock can do.

The album delivers its third and final stunner of a ballad with the piano-driven singer-songwriter piece “She’s Always a Woman” which weaves gently plucked acoustic guitar with a warm, rolling piano riff over which Joel weaves a lyrical tapestry of a thoroughly modern woman who takes what she wants in a stereotypically un-ladylike manner that he has fallen madly in love with. He paints this woman with devilish accuracy, outlining all the ways she’s callous and cruel and careless in myriad ways with brilliant metaphors and turns of phrase that are almost Dylan-esque in their dry wit, but throughout it is evident that he loves her, so it never comes off meanly. The song is dated in its portrayals of ideal femininity, but this song is progressive in the way it challenged those stereotypes and shows that regardless of this lady’s behavior that Joel still loves and treasures her. It was actually a love song he wrote for his then wife/manager who people criticized for her businesslike manners so Joel’s gorgeous song is a defense of the woman he loved, which makes it all the more resonant. The verses are stunning alone, but the bridge is where it soars with Joel’s lighty, airy vocal delivery over top of the lilting flute making the song almost feel like a Joni Mitchell or James Taylor styled singer-songwriter ballad, but on the piano as opposed to guitar. The song sparkles with romance and is the final absolute stunner on display here.

After such a staggering run of seven all time classic tracks it would be reasonable to assume the final two tracks are disposable, but far from it, they are some of Joel’s most underappreciated deep tracks with the groovy light funk-rock of “Get It Right the First Time” being a delightful change of pace with its tight rhythmic groove from the elliptical bass line and throbbing jazzy drum work, stop start riff and airy use of woodwinds that give the track a unique feel from the other uptempo tracks. The song is all about Joel’s trouble with making a good first impression (obviously not a struggle on this record), but the song’s playful bouncy energy along with Joel’s full throated, self deprecating lyrics and charming vocal performance would make this a highlight as opposed to an also-ran on a lesser album. The tune is a late in the record killer and isn’t far off from the highs of the previous material. The record’s true low light, is the still wonderful gospel-tinged soul ballad “Everybody Has a Dream”. The song sports a chorus that was written to get lighters waving and audiences singing along. Most interestingly, it is very heavily influenced by Joel’s hero, Ray Charles, with Joel putting on a distinct vocal affectation that he would use on his jazzier pieces to sound like Charles, which he does quite well. He even employs a gospel choir to give it that soulful heft. The song is a delight, it’s only issue is that it runs long, with it basically being two short verses and four minutes of chorus, but it gives the record a big anthemic closer that it deserves, before briefly reprising the whistled outro from the title track, giving the album a sense of continuity.

Over the course of nine songs Billy Joel lays out the best argument as to why he is one of the great talents in the world of pop-rock music. He crafts rockers, pop songs and piano ballads all with the same amount of care, grace and sharp songwriting. A better written and performed set of songs can hardly be found. Billy Joel isn’t one of the coolest musicians to profess your love for, but he’s one of the most important artists of all time in terms of influence on the way songs are written. Joel is a master of melody, a sharp lyric writer and a consummate performer, and being all three of those puts him in a very exclusive class of musicians. No other record demonstrates why Joel deserves to be in that upper echelon quite like this one. A veritable greatest hits record, and that is not said lightly. An artist blossoming into a genius, a beautiful thing to behold.