Billy the kid

Rerelease of The Stranger shows Joel’s immaturity | Arsenio Orteza

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Listening to the CDs (one studio, one live), watching the DVD, reading the booklets, and looking at the vintage concert poster contained in Columbia/Legacy's 30th-anniversary edition of Billy Joel's album The Stranger, it's easy to forget that when The Stranger was first released Billy Joel was not a big deal. The attention generated by Piano Man in 1973 had dissipated in the wake of its relatively unsuccessful follow-ups, and, unbeknownst to Joel at the time, Columbia was prepared to drop him.

Then "Just the Way You Are," a love song that Joel might have left off the album if Phoebe Snow and Linda Ronstadt hadn't convinced him of its potential, became a hit. So did "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "Only the Good Die Young," and "She's Always a Woman." The Stranger would eventually sell over 10 million copies, and Billy Joel would go on to several decades of international superstardom.