Love That Album Episode 19 - Billy Joel - The Stranger

I have been heard to say that I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. You like what you like – end of story. As will be obvious from Episode 19 of Love That Album, I love Billy Joel’s album “The Stranger”. Nowadays in some people’s eyes (and for someone from this list you KNOW who you are), that is an admission tantamount to confessing to having an STD. The fact of the matter is that this album is full of well constructed songs – melodically rich, well arranged, mainly (though not completely) clever lyrically – and it should be held in high esteem. Now I’ll admit that beyond a point his albums started getting very dull (everything after The Nylon Curtain) and his fame for dating supermodels rather than as a musician was a put-off. None of that should get in the way of the fact that for a time, he had a real knack with a song and had a fantastic band to support his musical vision (including the great Liberty Devitto on drums). Fellow “Stranger” fan, Michael Pursche (of the Sitting In A Bar in Adelaide podcast) and I discuss the songs sung and stories told on Joel’s breakthrough album. On this episode, we also discuss recent music news including the passing of some of pop music greats. Eric Reanimator returns with his thoughts on Mother Love Bone (and he now has his own intro). Stream or download the episode from http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com or download from iTunes searching for lovethatalbum (must be all one word). Join the Love That Album Facebook page and start a music conversation. Send feedback (letter or mp3) to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices