The Stranger＜完全生産限定盤＞

1977年作品「素顔のままで」を収録し大ヒットを記録したビリー・ジョエルの5thアルバム『The Stranger』を2021年最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売

1977年作品。プロデューサーにフィル・ラモーンを迎え、ニューヨーク52番街にあるA&Rスタジオで録音されたポピュラー史上に燦然と輝く名盤です。
大都会で働く若者を主人公にしたロック・ナンバー「ムーヴィン・アウト」(最高17位)、78年度第21回グラミー賞で最優秀レコードと最優秀楽曲賞を獲得した「素顔のままで」(最高2位)、ロックンロールの「若死にするのは善人だけ」(最高24位)、美しいラヴ・バラード「シーズ・オールウェイズ・ア・ウーマン」(最高17位)とヒットを連発し、初のプラチナ・アルバムを獲得します。全曲名曲で埋められた今作の世界的大ヒットにより、ビリーは一躍スーパースターの仲間入りを果たしました。
「ストレンジャー」は米でシングル・カットされず、日本だけのシングル・カットとして大ヒットしました。2021年最新リマスター音源でアナログ盤発売。

Billy Joel teamed with Phil Ramone, a famed engineer who had just scored his first producing hits with Art Garfunkel's Breakaway and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years for The Stranger, his follow-up to Turnstiles. Joel still favored big, sweeping melodies, but Ramone convinced him to streamline his arrangements and clean up the production. The results aren't necessarily revelatory, since he covered so much ground on Turnstiles, but the commercialism of The Stranger is a bit of a surprise. None of his ballads have been as sweet or slick as "Just the Way You Are"; he never had created a rocker as bouncy or infectious as "Only the Good Die Young"; and the glossy production of "She's Always a Woman" disguises its latent misogynist streak. Joel balanced such radio-ready material with a series of New York vignettes, seemingly inspired by Springsteen's working-class fables and clearly intended to be the artistic centerpieces of the album. They do provide The Stranger with the feel of a concept album, yet there is no true thematic connection between the pieces, and his lyrics are often vague or mean-spirited. His lyrical shortcomings are overshadowed by his musical strengths. Even if his melodies sound more Broadway than Beatles -- the epic suite "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" feels like a show-stopping closer -- there's no denying that the melodies of each song on The Stranger are memorable, so much so that they strengthen the weaker portions of the album. Joel rarely wrote a set of songs better than those on The Stranger, nor did he often deliver an album as consistently listenable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine