The subtleties are, in some places less subtle and the instruments that were originally mixed to be set somewhere in between the foreground and background of the sound canvas, are now in the foreground with everything else. Again, most listeners won’t even notice and some will be happy that the sound is nice and loud like the rest of the CDs they bought this year, but lovers of the old warm vinyl sound should probably hang on to their vinyl copy.
But it’s the extras in this box that make the set a true winner. The bonus disc of Joel’s Carnegie Hall performance in ’77 is top-notch, an amazing, high-energy performance with excellent sound quality. Then watch him play live from the Old Grey Whistle Test BBC performance and learn about the ‘making of’ The Stranger via the included DVD. Both discs serve as a reminder of how fantastic a showman Billy Joel is and how stellar his band was at the time. You really get a perfect up-close account of a true original American artist in his prime (or at least one of his primes) who does things his own way… and who doesn’t “take no shit from anybody.”
Article comments
1 - franklyn
a certain type of music listener likes to hate on billy joel, but the fact is, he is a fantastic song writer. he has written SOOO many hits, and even if his style is not your thing, credit must be paid to his talent as composer, arranger and storyteller.
he's a damn fine storyteller and i've been loving billy since i knew what music was.
2 - dave
Excellent review, Mike.
The other day you were talking about records in your parents record collection and it made me think about how certain records keep a special space in your heart, probably since you've heard them from such a young age. The Stranger is definitely one of those for me. I hadn't listened to it in an age, this reissue is a great reminder.