Billy Joel - The Stranger: 30th Anniversary Edition

Extras-packed celebration of the Piano Man’s finest hour

Though rarely given the credit, Joel is a songwriter whose examinations of everyday American life are as insightful and as filmic as those of either Bruce Springsteen or Paul Simon. The Stranger was the big breakthrough, becoming his label’s all-time biggest seller until that pesky Thriller album came along.

His dissections of the blue collar East Coast state of mind spoke directly to millions who saw themselves in the song’s characters; the grocery store clerk yearning for escape in Movin’ Out, the reunited middle-aged lovers who never managed to get away in Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, the neighbourhood rebel trying to seduce the strait-laced religious girl in Only The Good Die Young.

As a balladeer on Just The Way You Are or Vienna, Joel recalls the early records of Elton John (with whom he would later tour) but it’s the sheer scope of ideas, both musical and lyrical, on the album’s more ambitious numbers that really impresses.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

SonyBMG | tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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