BILLY JOEL: THE STRANGER (1977)
1) Movin' Out (Anthony's
Song); 2) The Stranger; 3) Just The Way You Are; 4) Scenes From An Italian
Restaurant; 5) Vienna; 6) Only The Good Die Young; 7) She's Always A Woman; 8)
Get It Right The First Time; 9) Everybody Has A Dream.
Add a good producer to Turnstiles, and you get The
Stranger — Billy's critical and commercial zenith; indeed, a good candidate
for «Billy Joel at his ultimately possible best». Phil Ramone had only just
produced Paul Simon's Still Crazy After
All These Years, a bright example of singer-songwriterish soft-rock
elevated to high artistry level, so Billy's interest in the man was natural,
and laudable, seeing as how the poor production quality of Turnstiles was among that album's weightiest flaws. And when I say
«poor production quality», I do not merely mean engineering and mixing — I mean
choice of arrangements, lyrics-to-melody matching, excessive reliance on
imitations and clichés, and other such things for which Joel could have used a
good mentor by his side. The Stranger
corrects that mistake.
But first, about Billy's own «progress». From
my general point of view, the value of the average Billy Joel album can be
aptly described with the formula «catchiness divided by self-importance» — in
other words, the heavier the message, the cringier the impression. In that
respect, The Stranger is a major
improvement over Turnstiles: there
is no big overriding concept here, such as «Los Angeles, the Whore of Babylon,
vs. New York, the Thinking Man's City», or «The Artist and His Management». The
lyrical and emotional content of the album still strive for seriousness, but
they are scattered all over the map and rarely impose on the listener in a
brutal manner — even such a magnum opus
as ʽScenes From An Italian Restaurantʼ is merely an understated narrative; and
in most cases, words and music combine with each other quite sensibly.
Speaking of the music, the album's loudest
tracks now consistently resemble Supertramp — the same kind of glossy
vaudeville combined with elements of «progressive» complexity and delivered in
an atmosphere of bitter irony. And insanely catchy — ʽMovin' Outʼ is one of the
liveliest tunes about the trials and tribulations of hard-working immigrants
ever written. You listen, you have a good time, you tap your feet, you play air
guitar, and you sympathize for poor Anthony working in the grocery store. (Of
course, soon enough he might be hitting it off with Karen Lynn Gorney, but
Billy's vision is not always that
far-reaching). The main melody, especially when played on solo piano, stands
way too close to the instrumental coda of Clapton's ʽLaylaʼ for comfort, but this
is just an impressionistic observation, not really a criticism.
In fact, by this point in time criticizing
Billy for lack of «originality» becomes a moot point — the man has made a
living out of thriving on other people's ideas, clinging on to their catchiest
bits, re-piecing them together «billy-lite» and introducing as much minor
variation as possible so as to avoid technical (or legal) complications. Listen
intensely enough to these songs and chances are you will come up with a
suitable prototype, either melodic or stylistic, for each one, distilled and
diluted for easier consumption, but always with that little «pretense to
emotional depth» — just the kind of thing that drives professional Joel-haters
so crazy. On the other hand, you'd have to be really stuck up to generate hatred vibes for these songs: as
transparent as their structure and emotional content is, they always value «craft»
over «bloat».
Thus, the ballad ʽJust The Way You Areʼ clearly
takes its cues from 10cc's ʽI'm Not In Loveʼ, from the proto-New Age keyboard
sound right down to the psychedelic vocal harmonies. The tempos are a bit
faster, the sax solos bring the whole thing closer to lounge jazz, and the
lyrics completely dispense with 10cc's irony. This helped it win the Grammy for
both «Record of the Year» and «Song of the Year» and eventually turn into a
modern vocal jazz classic (the presence of Phil Woods certainly had something
to do with it as well), even though in terms of composing it is one of the
simplest and laziest pieces on the entire album — the whole song rides on one
generic groove from beginning to end, and its ability to charm the listener
depends mostly on the listener's vulnerability to Joel's charisma.
Perfectly crafted ballads also include ʽViennaʼ
and ʽShe's Always A Womanʼ, both of these rounded up and smoothed out so much
better than, for instance, ʽShe's Got A Wayʼ, that it is impossible to deny
how far Billy has progressed in half a decade. ʽViennaʼ is really good — a much
more sensible candidate for «Song of the Year» if you really had to choose from a Billy Joel album: the lyrics are seriously
above average for the man, with «Vienna» unexpectedly used as a metaphor for taking
it easy and settling down (like Billy's own father did), and the music would be
good enough for Neil Young on a lazy day. It is not entirely clear what that
decidedly Parisian accordeon break is doing on a track named ʽViennaʼ, but then
again, Austria is known as the
homeland of the instrument, so maybe Billy is simply clearing up our
stereotypes here.
The title track and ʽScenes From An Italian Restaurantʼ
are arguably the two songs here written in an attempt to appease the «demanding»
segment of the public — longer, more complex (multi-part), and more ideologically
ambitious than the rest. For the main theme of ʽThe Strangerʼ, Billy came up
with a somber Morricone-style melody that Phil had him whistle rather than
dress up in a complex arrangement; not my cup of tea outside a good Western,
but reasonably atmospheric as an intro to the main part of the song, which
sounds kinda like Leo Sayer in a bad mood. (This is not really an accusation,
since, come to think of it, Leo Sayer is never in a bad mood). As far as catchy
funk-pop goes, ʽThe Strangerʼ qualifies, but its quasi-Freudian lyrical message,
urging you to "let your lover see the stranger in yourself", is not
exactly mindblowing, as is the music.
ʽScenesʼ are much better, probably the best
track on the album: seven and a half minutes of more than decent music-hall piano
pop, telling a simple, unadorned nostalgic story of two lovers that hardly
offers any serious insights into the subject (not since Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage it doesn't), but you
are not forced to dig deep into it — just enjoy, if you can, the piano riffs of
the slow part and the catchy boppiness of the fast part, including the
"whoa-whoa"s, which are cute, funny, and make much more sense than
choosing an abstract "Italian Restaurant" as the backdrop for
everything that is happening when the music itself has nothing specifically
Italian about it. Watch out for the clarinet breaks — lite-jazz fans will
appreciate Richie Cannata's work, I think.
All in all, speaking about massively commercial
pop albums of the time, The Stranger
is certainly no Rumours when it
comes to sharpness, intensity, and pure compositional talent — rather, it is
in the same league with Hotel California,
as a finely designed and produced, relatively adequate and memorable
collection of pop songs which (and this is one of its major advantages) still sounds fresh and enjoyable. Come to think
of it, Joel has to be commended for
not sticking exclusively to the trendy styles of the times — with his talents
and instincts, he could have easily turned half of the record into stuffy disco
grooves and the other half into Barry Manilow and still win in the short run.
As it is, he won in the long run: The
Stranger is still capable of garnering new fans in the 21st century, with
its clever mix of then-contemporary and retro ideas. And even the album sleeve
remains weirdly attractive with its «masked mystery» pantomime, rather than
just another expressionless photo of The Piano Man. With all the usual
reservations, I give the album a thumbs up — I could perhaps even find a slot for
it on a later schedule, if I am in a specific mood for «lite-art-cabaret
entertainment with a rock production angle» or something.
(Except I would probably have to cut off the
last track: Billy as a gather-round-the-Christmas-tree gospel preacher of
future happiness on ʽEverybody Has A Dreamʼ is an inevitable evil if we agree
that the album requires a Grand Finale / Happy Ending, but I'd rather have it
end with ʽViennaʼ, on a humbler note. Taste, you're a bitch.)
Check "The Stranger" (CD) on Amazon
Check "The Stranger" (MP3) on Amazon
Apparently at the time, there was a denouncing of the album by the catholic church relating to the lyrics of only the good die young. Which of course helped sales no end!
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed, in particular, 'Scenes..' and 'Movin out' from the album.
"The Stranger" isn't an album of striking originality, as George noted. I find the McCartney influence very clear here. I think this delivers fantastic melodies that pull the listener in and an arresting array of aural textures that keep you there. It's a great production above all else.
ReplyDelete"...and a couple of paintings from Sears" from Scenes is such a mean, cynical line that I have to admire it- Springsteen would never have delivered a low blow like that one.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic, since Billy Joel is probably the ultimate Sears musician.
DeleteLoved most of his previous three albums, gradually improving each time around. Here the piano man kicks ass: first of a fantastic trio until he began sucking in 1982 or so. Best numbers here are on side one plus first half of the second; big fan of the two ballads.
ReplyDelete