Billy Joel - The Stranger / 45RPM 2LP Mobile Fidelity

Billy Joel achieved his long-awaited breakthrough in 1977 with “The Stranger.” Phil Ramone, who had worked with Carly Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, among others, produced the American musician's fifth album

and helped him turn his already flawless arrangements and poignant lyrics into real hits. From then on, Joel never strayed from the path to success laid out by Ramone. “The Stranger” immediately landed at number

2 on the album charts and is now considered a milestone in pop rock music. None of Joel's previous ballads struck such a chord as “Just The Way You Are,” for which he won the Grammy for Song of the Year in 1979.

The album itself, ranked 67th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, also received a Grammy. To date, “The Stranger” has sold nearly 12 million copies and has been certified ”Gold” three times,

“Platinum” 13 times and “Diamond” once. The album also surpassed Simon and Garfunkel's “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as the best-selling album on Columbia Records at the time.

Joel's voice is full of bittersweet longing, exuberance and a commitment to the working class that could have come from Bruce Springsteen. With great dynamism, he paints rich details in vivid colors and makes wistful

feelings audible. Less subtle, however, were the lyrics to “Only The Good Die Young,” in which a boy tries to seduce his Catholic girlfriend. Although she ultimately retains her innocence, the song was branded “anti-Catholic”

by many US radio stations and banned from their playlists. However, this ban only served to draw more attention to the song, as Joel reported in 2008: “As soon as the single was banned, the album shot up the charts.”

Lovingly remastered by MoFi in their California studio and pressed on 180-gram vinyl (45 RPM), this strictly numbered double LP presents this classic in stunning audiophile quality and with a sound balance that previous editions lack.

The reissue of “The Stranger” emphasizes the crucial subtleties and innovative production techniques that Ramone brought to bear, resulting in some of the cleverest, most catchy, and most intelligent songs Billy Joel ever wrote!

Title

LP 1

Side A
1.    Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
2.    The Stranger

Side B
3.    Just The Way You Are
4.    Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

LP 2

Side C
5.    Vienna
6.    Only The Good Die Young
7.    She's Always A Woman

Side D
8.    Get It Right The First Time
9.    Everybody Has A Dream