The Stranger (album)
Occupation
- Vocals / Keyboards / Piano / Synthesizer: Billy Joel
- Bass: Doug Meyer web
- Drums: Liberty DeVitto
- Saxophone / Flute / Clarinet / organ: Richie Cannata
- Guitar: Steve Khan
- Guitar: Hiram Bullock
- Instrumentation: Patrick Williams
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American musician Billy Joel. It was released in September of 1977 and was also the first plate of the artist, which could prove a top -3 position in the U.S. album charts with second place. To date, The Stranger Billy Joel 's best-selling studio album.
- 2.1 The Stranger (1977 )
- 2.2.2 30th Anniversary Edition DVD
- 2.2.4 Target Exclusive Bonus DVD
- 2.2.5 Online Store bonus tracks
History
Songs
On the original record of The Stranger nine songs are included, many of which still belong to the permanent program at Joel concerts. Movin 'Out, She's Always a Woman, Just the Way You Are, Everybody Has A Dream and Only The Good Die Young have all been written by the artist, while Vienna, The Stranger and Get It Right The First Time from fragments that Joel already had received for previous projects emerged. The epic piece Scenes From an Italian Restaurant is made up of different style parts, the third part is formed by the written earlier Ballad of Brenda and Eddie. For "The Stranger" Joel also was inspired by the experiments of his stepson with the Echoplex. The distinctive whistling in the chorus of the song was created by its own account for the response of producer Phil Ramone on Joel's statement that he still need a tool for musical interpretation of the melody. Ramone replied "No, you do not. That's the stranger, the whistling. " ( " No, you do not need. This is the stranger, the whistle ").
Publication
The Stranger was published in September 1977 under the label Columbia Records and made the jump to the second place of the U.S. album charts.
A large part of the success of the album goes according to the producer Phil Ramone Joel, whose innovative methods rounded off the songs perfectly. As singles were Just the Way You Are, which was in 1979 awarded at the Grammy Awards for "Song of the Year", the acoustic ballad She's Always A Woman, Only the Good Die Young, and Movin ' Out ( Anthony 's Song ), later known as Title provided for a Broadway musical with Billy Joel pieces, decoupled. The album also overtook the plate Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel as the best-selling album in Columbia at that time. In the published 2003 list of the 500 best albums of all time of the music magazine Rolling Stone, The Stranger took the 67th place.
30th Anniversary Edition
In July 2008, appeared for the 30th anniversary of the album a " 30th Anniversary Edition ", which was released in three different formats:
- A 2CD edition with the original album and a 1977 recorded in Carnegie Hall Live Concert,
- A 2CD-/DVD-Edition containing the original album, the Carnegie concert and a DVD with promo videos, a performance at the Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC One as well as a 30- minute documentary,
- And a vinyl version of the original album.
Track lists
Both the music and the lyrics of all the tracks were written by Billy Joel.
The Stranger (1977 )
30th Anniversary Edition
30th Anniversary Edition DVD
- Live Promotional Videos
- The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC 1
- Documentary " Making of The Stranger "
(included in the 2CD and in the 2CD/1DVD 30th Anniversary Edition )
Target Exclusive Bonus DVD
(included in the 2CD edition )