The Stranger
| Billy Joel
The Stranger
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Billy Joel, released on September 29, 1977 by Columbia Records. While his previous four albums had been moderately successful, The Stranger became Joel's true critical and commercial breakthrough, spending six weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard 200. Considered his magnum opus, it remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and was ranked at number 70 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. - Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Sputnik Music
Classic rock songwriting and lyricism at its finest.
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Classic Rock Review
Billy Joel also clearly constructed some artistic centerpieces that give The Stranger a feel of flow and depth.
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Slant Magazine
While Joel’s music has always been patently “American,” The Stranger is, in many ways, a rejection of the American Dream.
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BBC Review
The Stranger is the place to acquaint yourself with the true soul of Billy Joel.
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Pop Matters
The album sounds great, and the packaging is quite nice, better than what Columbia did for Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run on its 30th anniversary a few years ago.
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Earn This
Whether it’s his best album or not, The Stranger is an incredible success on virtually every level.
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Backseat Mafia
That’s the strength of The Stranger though, for all it’s reliance on singer-songwriter cliches, you’d be hard pressed to argue that it’s a bad album.
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American songwriter
Joel’s melodic pop positively sparkle-a pop stands at odds with the frequently bittersweet commentary of the lyrics.
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Alternative Addiction
Billy Joel’s “The Stranger” is one of the best albums to come out over the past three decades.
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Puluche
The even mix of upbeat sing-alongs and sensitive ballads create an enticing flow that consistently keeps the album entertaining.
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Classic Album Review
The Stranger is a perfect album with a perfect track list and it perfectly demonstrates Joel’s talent and versatility.
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Keno
The Stranger was Joel's breakout album
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The Young Folks
The Stranger interests me as a tacit admission of the artist’s ultimate unknowability – that eerie, nonchalant whistle of the title track’s motif, which recurs at the end of the album.
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Follow the Sound
This album is full of great hits and classic Billy Joel songwriting.
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Kurrent Musicc
It cemented a perfect mix of blues, jazz, rock and pop music – a mix that works its magic best listening to the album in all it’s entirety.
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Grinning Planet
The Stranger was a worthy fuse for that musical rocket.
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