#169 Billy Joel, 'The Stranger' (1977)

Previously #70

Following a commercial disappointment of previous record, ‘Turnstiles,’ Columbia threatened to drop Billy Joel if his next release didn’t sell well. Joel had built a rapport with his touring band and insisted on having them on the next record. In fact, Beatles producer, George Martin was interested in producing the album if Joel used sessions musicians. Joel, a longtime Beatles fan, turned down the offer because he was so adamant. Joel employed Phil Ramone, a producer that had just come off of working on Paul Simon’s ‘Still Crazy After All These Years,’ to take the reigns on this album. The pair met at Fontana di Trevi, an Intalian restaurant close to Carnegie Hall, which would subsequently inspire the song ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.’

The album spawned 4 Top 40 hits and charted at #2 in the US, Australia and Canada, ultimately saving Billy Joel’s career. The highest charting of those songs (#3) was ‘Just The Way You Are,’ a song written for his first wife, Elizabeth Weber. Joel and his band actually didn’t like the song, but was convinced by Linda Ronstadt to include it on the album. Joel and Weber split 5 years after the release of the song and he would hardly play it live until well into the 2000s. The other hits were ‘Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),’ ‘She Always A Woman,’ and ‘Only The Good Die Young.’ My favourite songs on the album are ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’ and ‘Vienna,’ two staples of his live set. The album won two Grammys (both for ‘Just The Way You Are) and went on to become Joel’s career best-selling album, selling over 10 million in the States alone. That’s one way to stick it to the label that was about to drop him.   

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