The Stranger

Some of the tracks are alright, but I just don’t get the Billy Joel hype. Meh.

Can see why people like it, but not for me

Meh.

Billy Joel makes songs that are really easy to listen to. Lots of radio play classics on here like Movin' Out, Just the Way You Are, Only the Good Die Young, Vienna, and She's Always a Woman. 5 songs with staying power on a 9 track album is a good ratio, but not all of them move the needle for me. Then you have songs like Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, which is 7:36 long and I don't ever get that time back. I dunno, I'm never gonna sit and listen to this one but the good songs are good.

This album was a mixed bag of easy listening with a couple of not great tracks. Not usually my thing and not Billy Joel's strongest.

I have a lot of feelings about Billy Joel and I am trying to leave them out of this. He's so aggressively uncool. I can appreciate that there are very catchy songs on this record, and that it is like, important to the history of music and probably did a lot for a lot of people, but it doesn't do a lot for me.

hmm... IDK. not so much

Not fan of Billy Joel - better than remember.

catchy, fine

didn’t know I knew so many songs by him not my favorite but I understand the appeal

The only thing that would boost this rating is if this was the album with Billy Joel's Good Song: "You May Be Right"

Solid basic sound.

I liked two songs. “Thank god it’s over” - me when the last song ended

I was really disappointed to have to listen to this goofball, it didn’t help that it was really boring for a while after the first track, scenes from an Italian restaurant made me cringe, Vienna is a banger of course, only the good die young is great because the lyrics are depressing but the music is like :D, annnnnd she’s always a woman is kinda creepy, over all 2 outta 5 for me lol

While I’ve liked some Billy Joel songs here and there, I now understand why Anthony Bourdain banned Billy from his restaurants. Some of the songs have done catchiness, but I really couldn’t listen to this more than once. It’s like elevator music, but annoying. Honestly, the elevator version of this album is probably better.

Cool.

“Vienna” is fantastic. Everything else? Meh. I like a lot of the melodies and musical ideas, but Billy’s voice and personality just rub me the wrong way. “Just the Way You Are” is one of the most offensively cheesy songs I’ve ever heard. 2.5/5

I’ve heard track 1 enough times to know I’m all set on not listening to this. That track makes me feel like I’ve lived in this one small town in New Jersey in the '70s for much longer than I wanted. Mama, I’m leaving.

This is the most tolerable Billy Joel record. Some good songs, but the bad ones are really bad. Case in point “Get it right the first time” yuck. He didn’t get it right the first time

Didn’t resonate at all with me this. Very MOR pop music. The sort of thing an Aunty or Uncle would stick on on a Sunday afternoon in the 90s (I can attest to that). Quite enjoyed the first track but that was it, the rest reminded me of Elton John. 1.5

I got Billy Joel and Billy Idol mixed up, so I was very disappointed rebel yell wasn't on this. Lots of songs on this I'd put in the 'American Pie' bucket of hugely famous, overplayed songs that are painfully bland and get on my nerves. Otherwise it was very much American 80s standards, bit too much saxophone than is necessary, just not my thing.

These are undeniably super catchy songs, and the album is full of hits, but it's so cheesy. I can't bear it for too long. Going to listen to yesterday's album again to detox.

I have never made it through a Billy Joel album before. Probably won’t again, unless another one comes up on this list. Not terrible, but didn’t do much for me.

Some catchy tracks and instrumentation. This record is also quite diverse. It just didn’t really click with me though.

idk I just got bored these 70s soft rock story songs never do anything for me

I really enjoyed the intro as well as Scenes from an Italian. otherwise, I felt super white and old listening to this. Not really for me

5/10. Not for me but recognize the talent.

Movin' Out: slaps The Stranger: pretty good, the intro and outro are solid, not a massive fan otherwise Just the Way You Are: kinda mid... Scenes from an Italian Restaurant: Very good song, idk if it's liked songs worthy, but definitely really solid Vienna: slaps Only the Good Die Young: Pretty good, I would say just below Scenes She's Always a Woman: idk kinda forgettable Get It Right the First Time: Pretty good, probably third favorite unliked song, meaning 5th overall in the album Everybody Has a Dream: outro slaps again, otherwise decent but not great Overall: maybe I'm not in the right headspace to review this album, it couldn't hurt to go through it again some other time. I'm also doing homework so I'm not really focused on it, and I think that meant I didn't get the overarching story.

Nah

Pretty forgetful! Like the hits

Blimey it's the demo button from the casio keyboard from my 80s youth "Just the way you are", never knew it had lyrics just used to press that magic yellow button and it would play the music, changing sounds every 5 seconds or so just to make it that much more annoying. This was cutting edge stuff and at the time we were able to convince relatives we were playing, (maybe they were being nice). After intial hilarity and the intrigue of trying all the 99 different voices the keyboard was just used to annoy other family members. Never learnt to play much to my regret, still had a laugh.

If Paul McCartney tried to emulate Elton John would it make anything better? No

You can tell from the cover that this album has a lot of psychology. It's a farily diverse album, some tracks have an interesting combination of a broadway pop sensibility with the sounds of 70s arena rock (Movin Out, The Stranger, Get it Right), there's a Long-Island-Stevie-Wonder jazz ballad (Just the Way You Are), some corny crooning (Vienna, Always a Woman), showtune ethnography (Italian Restaurant), barroom (more like golf club bar and grill) singalongs (Only the Good Die Young) and Hey Jude cosplay (Everybody has a Dream). The whole thing is like a Paul Giammatti fronting a Wings coverband. Somehow this is even more boomer than the Woodstock-era stuff.

I’ve always heard this is an “all-time classic” but it didn’t do anything for me

I respect Billy Joel's songwriting chops. These are incredibly successful songs and have been played on radio a bazillion times, and I know most of this album backwards just from the ubiquitous nature of the thing. But it bores me to tears. In Slipped Discs – the Worst Rock ’n’ Roll Records of All Time by Jimmy Guterman & Owen O’Donnell, they list Billy Joel as the Worst Rock and Roller of All Tie, stating "No single performer has done more to encourage musicians without a shred of rock credibility to think that pretending to rock out is the same thing as rocking out than Billy Joel." I strongly agree. Billy Joel is not rock and roll (despite Billy's later protestations); it's much more popular song based in the Broadway tradition. And it is very successful in that mold. But I don't really need it in my life. Sorry.

I obviously know just about every song on the album, and they are almost all great. However, I don’t think I’d ever sit down and decide to listen to the album. Not sure why. I’m giving it a 2 knowing that it really is a secret 3 for me and likely deserves a 4.

Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: Yeah it was decent, not as hard hitting as I was expecting though Favourite song: Track 7 - She’s Always a Woman

Dit album begint aantrekkelijk. Maar wisselt toch de iets leukere nummers af met saaie nummers. Sta gewoon iets te vaak in de wacht...

Huoh ei kyllä Billyn määkinä oikein sytytä. Tai ole koskaan sytyttänyt.

1 good song and pretty lightweight otherwise

I can respect the musical talent, but Billy Joel is not for me.

This is an affable album, but little had me wanting to linger or return.

Aha - several of my friends' dads had this record when I was little (I thought the cover was creepy), but I have never listened to it before as far as I know. Goes off a cliff quite quickly, most of the songs are pretty terrible with lyrics so bad they could be performance art. Sesame Street parodies Paul Simon, perhaps. Movin' Out is great though

Insoportable. Conocía una canción, la inescapable Just the Way You Are, pero el resto no conocía y no veo cómo mi vida es mejor después de haber escuchado este disco. Supongo que puedo entenderlo más como historia de la música gringa, que de la música en general. Siendo así, claro que puede ser percibido como esencial: a los gringos les encantan sus héroes de los 70. Pero seamos serios, la influencia de Billy Joel decae el minuto que su música cruza las fronteras de ese país.

Boring

Beautiful instrumentation but so boring otherwise

Ihan hirvee saksofoni jossain vaiheessa, mutta muuten yllätin itseni tykkäämästä pehmeästä tunnelmasta.

Lite smörigt, lite trist. Helt okej ändå

I didnt enjoy this

It was fine I think. Two stars purely due to recency bias.

didn't sit right with me

I bought this album when it came out, I'm not sure why. I liked the title track but that was about it. The sing-a-long choruses are annoying and the ballads are brutal to listen to. Hopefully, now that I've listened to them again, they won't be buzzing around my head. It's not surprising he picked Paul Simon's producer, because the LP does sound a bit like an amped-up, mid-seventies Paul Simon, replete with lame lyrics.

Blarf

Les paroles me semblent un peu naïves parfois. Je n’ai pas trop accroché, ça me semble un peu générique

Bore.

Not a big fan of Billy Joel. Nothing really sticks out for me, but, Just the way you are and She's always a woman are songs I did enjoy. Others were just OK. I'll give 2.5 out of 5. Probably not an album I would go out of my way to listen again.

2.5 Man, for how famous Billy Joel is I expected more. The hits are classics and I dig those but it’s almost like they belong on a different album by a different artist. It’s more piano filler music to me, but it isn’t cocktail party music so I don’t know where to place it. I felt the same about Piano Man too. It’s just whatever. Favorites: Movin’ Out, Only The Good Die Young, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

2 I'm not much of a Billy Joel fan, though I've never listened to a complete album of his before this. I'm not sure exactly what it is... he sounds fine enough, but none of his songs have ever really grabbed me. This album didn't do much to change things. Just the Way You Are even kinda bored me, though I found myself enjoying Scenes From an Italian Restaurant despite it being the longest song on the album. Other than that, not particularly remarkable. Favorite songs: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, The Stranger

Wasn’t impressed by this. Aside from the hits, a bit dull.

inoffensive.

Always want to like Billy Joel - and he sometimes shines through - but he’s not Stevie Wonder or Elton John or McCartney that he tries to emulate in parts of this album. It’s interesting however when he makes it his own cocktail of piano balladry - like on ‘She’s Always a Woman’. I might stand to be corrected in time but as it stands I felt this album to be rather average.

"ACK, ACK, ACK, ACK, ACK".

It's a good album, but I don't get how it's supposed to be an essential

Elton John's Wish version...

It's alright.

I never warmed to this guy. Just no substance or heart to him at all.

I mean, this is fine for a Doctor's office

The boy’s got hooks! It’s got a weird tone though that I didn’t really enjoy. Seems smug in some way.

Generic.

Vienna Mouais

Na Elton John was dit niet bepaald leuk... ik was al wel een beetje klaar met dit type muziek.

Nee. Dit is gewoon best vervelend eigenlijk.

Ik had hier wel zin in. Ik dacht aan ‘piano man’ en dat Saigon-lied. Helaas bleek het supermarkt-muziek.

Struggling with the passive misogyny of Billy Joel.

2/5 Didn't think I knew this album, but it seems I do Can we talk about how weird the album cover is? Fine... Movin out is a good start. 'The Stranger' more what I expected (i.e. worse) Just the way you are' is what it is, a very lovely, soft-pop classic Scenes, Vienna is meh. Only the good - picks up a bit but lacks intensity She's always a woman - the sexual politics are very dated and immediately blaring - nice, sub-dylan lyric line, tho' Get it right - far superior in my eyes. funky rhythm and lyric. Not horribly sexist. Everybody has a dream - not mine. Mostly forgettable pop shite with 2-3 standout tracks that are deviations from the artist's main work.

I thought it was going to be a banger from "Moving Out" but it turned to sappy 70s bullshit real quick, instant 2. Any album that starts with a bang and cannot keep the energy always loses points in my book. It turns out I like Moving Out due to Neil Cicierega.

This is full of pearls, nice. I like it. Bit mellow for me, but there are some catchy good tunes there. Nice..

Få hyggelige numre. Ellers siger det mig ikke så meget

Slick, but not really my taste

Crazy pianos. I’m too sane for this.

For me, Billy Joel is in that category of musicians for whom I have great respect but rarely listen to. There's nothing wrong with his songs to my ear, and they are well-written, performed nicely, and often memorable. It's really just a matter of personal taste and preference, I suppose. I get why so many people love him.

I am imaging myself being stuck at a wedding where Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is playing and I hear: "I will meet you any time I want, in our Italian restaurant." and I instantly feel nauseous. Billy Joel is a classic, he has a good voice, quite some lyrical talent and creativity, but this record is incredibly overrated. However, I do really enjoy Movin' Out, The Stranger and Get It Right the First Time, as they are not as disgustingly sweet and cheesily written and carry good rhythym and energy. Overall I feel like a 2/5 is a fair score for this overly sentimental heap.

One or 2 tracks I like, I guess you need to be a fan.

This be old bruh

Too mellow

When I think of Billy Joel I think of New York and smoke filled cabaret bars just off Broadway. This album does nothing to spoil that illusion. It’s tracks ooze city life after dark scenarios and they do it in spades. Almost all the songs here are familiar and draw at least a few memories to reflect on. Billy Joel’s voice is also probably at its best. It’s a fun album even if the hits have been done to death over the years. 2 Stars!

Not for me.

3.5

J'aime la première chanson ''Movin' out''. Un classique. Mais après ça, maudit que c'Est vieux. C'est vieuxxxxxx ça sonne vieuxxxx. J'aurais dû en écouter un plus récent.

big white boomer energy here. much more suburban midwest than new york to me.

I was enjoying myself for the first couple tracks, but after that my opinion nosedived back to where I expected it to go. It's a mostly unobjectionable pop album, honestly. But so many of the instrumental sections are beyond cheesy. I was familiar with Only the Good Die Young and still have a positive outlook on the song, but it's not enough to buoy the back half.

I don’t understand how someone can write so many love songs in such a loveless way.

I was going to give this two stars for being, you know, quite okay music, particularly by today's standards but once I got to Only the Good Die Young, my noticing sense started tickling and was convinced this guy HAS to be jewish. And what do you know, after a brief peek at the early life section, I was entirely right. So sadly I have to drop it down to just one star.

This is boring af omg

Why is this in any list?

Nul

No me gusto, nada armonioso No lo volvería a escuchar

After the opening track, the whole thing is just mediocre. none of the bombast of Elton John, none of the technical supremacy of Steely Dan, too much talk for it to be as fun as Disco. Back in the "Records for Old People" pile.

The torturous soundtrack assaulting teenagers working at the mall for fifty years on. 'She's Always A Woman' will forever be burned into my brain in the most horrible way. Anyway a bunch of curiously jaunty tunes about relationships imploding and Billy Joel being weird about women. Mostly hated it start to finish! I didn't realize how much Jake Shears is indebted to him in terms of vocal quirks, that much was interesting I suppose. CORNY/ANNOYING/FADED/GROCERY STORE SOUNDTRACK/OLDIES

This wasn't as bad as I expected, and I actually quite enjoyed the first couple of tracks before the schmaltz took over

Beyond dreadful.

Not my thing

E ok

I do not like Billy Joel.

Every mean thing I could say about Paul McCartney is true about this album. Occasional moments of nice melody, but too often actually annoying imo.

Out of all the albums on this list that I've heard before, this is easily the worst of them. No disrespect to the ack-ack-ack-ack but the rest of it's pretty grating.

Terrible album. Awful piano music for Americans who think they are sophisticated.

I'm not a fan of Billy Joel. I don't believe I've ever listened to this album start-to-finish, but just looking at the song titles, I think I know them all. As a musician, Billy Joel is quite talented, but his songs tend toward schmaltz, and I don't enjoy it. Also, some people really like his voice, but I don't. I feel like there's frequently an undercurrent of anger in his voice, and I don't know where I'm even picking that up. But it also tends to throw the feeling of his songs out of whack. Again, the rest of the band are fine players, but the "schmaltz" factor is a detriment to really enjoying them too.

I couldn’t do it sorry

Listened to it twice in a row but I ain't gonna lie..I was bored after three songs. Not for me.

It's a personal problem, but I’ve always disliked Billy Joel’s music. It’s a visceral reaction that I cannot get around. I know lots of these songs, not by choice, and do not ever want to hear them again. Sometimes they'll get in my head for no reason. I'm not saying this to be cool as I understand it's a thing with some people to dislike Billy Joel, and I'm sure he's a great guy and certainly talented, but I fucking can't stand the music he makes.

Sentient schmaltz

wtf

Stick to the animated films, Billy.

Not for me.

MEh. I never got the Billy Joel hype.

Jedinica iz principa. // Bila bi četvorka jer sam na moje ogromno iznenađenje baš uživala u slušanju.

1/2

I just don’t understand why anyone would listen to this.

he called it the stranger cause listening to it is an existential ordeal

I'm so sorry I just hated this

Sorry but I find this dull

I’m not into anything that sounds like a secondary school musical production. Especially things that aren’t a secondary school musical production.

couldn't listen to the album. It's a music style I don't enjoy.

I just have bad associations with this. Can't really give it a fair listen.

i have heard this so many times against my will. this is what happens, in my opinion, when an annoying theater guy becomes too famous. i just really find his style of music so grating, i don’t care for his voice, i don’t like his storytelling. it is just decisively not for me

Just dull

My god that was terrible.

God damn this is awful! Something about Billy Joel's music makes me want to commit violent crimes.

Billy Joel still annoys the piss outta me

I'm bored out of my mind.

Miserable, trite and why is nothing EVER his fault? Meh, Meh, Meh

Billy Joel you say? Well he’s a pretty big name and I know some of his work so must have some decent songs right? Well if he does then none of them are on this album. Utter dross. So depressed right now I’m considering trying some Pere Ubu to lift my spirits as that can’t be any worse than this surely?

PLAY SOMETHING FROM THE STRANGER! 1980s doo wop Billy Joel sucks! Moving’ Out (Anthony’s Song) is one of the better Billy Joel songs, has an Abbey Road vibe to it. Good lyrics, catchy tune, stupid motorcycle sounds. I have a feeling every song after this is going to pale in comparison to the first one. Whistling very rarely adds anything positive to a song, Patience by Guns N’ Roses, Ennio Morricone scores and that song Darryl Hannah whistles in Kill Bill is pretty much it. Just the Way You Are, another hit. This sounds like the defining song of adult contemporary radio. This is Wonderful Tonight for people that got old in the 70s. Damn, this album has a lot of his hits. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is so corny. What is with the use of all the smooth jazz saxophone? 1977 must have been a truly dismal year for music or Grammy voters must have felt like proving once and for all that they are truly the biggest morons alive. Only the Good Die Young sucks. This song is way overrated. This is one of his biggest hits and it is truly awful. The idea of Billy Joel running with a dangerous crowd is hilarious. Him and Fred Durst are equally fake hardos. She’s Always a Woman to Me is awful too. This album has a lot of his career defining hits and almost all of them are terrible. Everybody Has a Dream is an improvement over most of the rest of the album, good to close on a high note.

So overrated

Oh hell no.

Nope

Just horrible, cheesy and over rated. Better than Elton John, but only just. And a whistling solo is a crime by the way.

During the course of *The Sopranos*, one episode mentions that Tony Soprano and his wife Carmela have booked tickets for a Billy Joel concert. Although we never see them go to the gig (this happens between episodes), I remember telling myself that I should listen to a Billy Joel album one day, just to see if there were hidden references or cultural tidbits there that this favourite TV series of mine could have sprinkled elsewhere. And sure enough, the New Jersey setting of *The Stranger*'s opener "Movin' Out" (a well-put rock track with memorable vocal and instrumental hooks) sounded familiar to me. The mere fact that the secondary title of this cut is called "*Anthony*'s Song" even suggests that David Chase could have found inspiration in that tune to name his lead character. Tony Soprano's tastes for the most commercially viable strands of boomer rock indeed align with Billy Joel's offerings on this record. And I have a sneaking suspicion Chase and his writers were being ironic when they made Tony a fan of Joel. Even though it's sometimes difficult to distinguish irony form earnestness in the show, including for its soundtrack or musical references... That said, the lyrics of second track "The Stranger" seem to suggest a different picture. Here are expressed concerns about the power of the unconscious and subconscious, and also about the hypocrisy of social mores, which are all very present in David Chase's show. This might just be a coincidence. But if that's the case, the latter allowed me to have a personal interest in Joel's music for the duration of a second track, at least. Which is not a given. The whistling part of the intro and outro sections of this song (also played again at the very end of the album bearing its name) is nice enough in its Ennio Morricone undertones. But the dad-rock, somewhat "funky" shenanigans of the song itself are a bit of a letdown compared to the opener, and also to Joel's obvious models Steely Dan, Paul McCartney or Randy Newman. Which says a lot about the amount of cheese used here. Because one thing's for sure, album *The Stranger* is such a downright *cheesy* record that it's hard not to feel ironic about it today. That some reviewers in here point out that Joel only became a purveyor of hackneyed and grating music a few albums after this one is mind-boggling to me. And so is the incredibly *high* global score for this album on this app. How many misguided boomers à la Tony Soprano are roaming in this group? Is it because this record garnered Grammies in 1977? Winning Grammies has never been a sure sign of artistic success. Look at some of the albums garnering Grammy Awards *today* and weep, you old fools. Sure, this record has its share of famous hits, with the slow-paced, sax-enhanced number "Just The Way You Are" leading the aural assault--a cut whose sickening fake sentimentality makes you wish it should never have become a hit in the first place. Never noticed the subtle synth layers in the song's background before, which sound nice enough, but also come off as if they had been directly nicked from 10cc's "I'm Not In Love". The song is a sacharine cheesefest anyway, so loaded with sugar I'm starting to worry about my insulin level. "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" is a little more interesting, maybe. I already knew its introductory section, but I had never realized it was a "2-in-1" song, with a lengthy and livelier middle sequence telling about the marriage and divorce of former teenage friends of the song's protagonist, who is himself hesitating to commit adultery--with a old flame of his that he's meeting after all these years in that titular "Italian restaurant". Sorry for the novel here, but at least, that's what I've gathered from the subtext of this one. The thing is, in the course of his disjointed narrative, it's never clear if Joel is leaving things ambiguous on purpose, or if he's just an awkward storyteller. And fittingly, the musical structure of this one conveys the same sort of ambiguity. After two different lively and driven sections at the center of this 7-minute track, featuring an inspiring vocal performance, said structure syddenly aims for a quick Las Vegas-style build-up, before returning to the "bottle of red, bottle of white" routine of the intro section (iconic lines, I'm gonna give them that). But truth be told, the whole composition neither rhymes nor reasons, and so feels as unconclusive as the lyrics are. Following that partial misfire, "Vienna" is a more "existential" version of the synth-enhanced ballad "Just The Way You Are". Unfortunately, its undeniable truths about the shortness of life are ruined by an accordion player, just like when you're bothered by the latter at a terrace when you just want to have a conversation with your partner. After that, "Only The Good Die Young" is a blue-eyed soul and reggae-inspired cut whose horn section is as on-the-nose as its lyrics about how Joel tries to seduce a "Catholic girl" (and naming her "Virginia" is such a ridiculous and laughable choice that the whole conceit crumbles on itself quick). "Just Like A Woman" is a borderline misogynistic 3/4 piano ballad conveying the some sort of artificial sentimentality used in "Just The Way You Are". "Get It Right The First Time" harnesses Brazilian flavours to hide its mundane nature as a boomer rock cut--rather effectively, I would add in a somewhat benevolent mood. And "Everybody Has A Dream" is a return to the quaint, oversentimental tones explored before, this time supported by a massive background choir that, willingly or not, underlines all too well the delusions of grandeurs dreams are all too often made of. And that's it. This is the "album of the year" according to many pundits and commentators in 1977, the year punk broke out. What a blast. At least, Fleetwood Mac's *Rumours* aged with grace. I could still have given Billy Joel's *The Stranger* two stars. But then, listening to it once again, I've just realized one thing: apart from a couple of songs here and there, a lot of the man's vocal inflexions are actually just annoying as hell, going from "overkill" moments to others betraying a somewhat flimsy control of pitch. Which takes the cake when you're having those sorts of mainstream ambitions. One star then, equalling a 6/10 grade (5+1 for "cultural impact), here following purposes others than the ones used for a list of "essential albums". I always try to be kind to "strangers". But it looks like I've reached my limit here. Please don't send Tony Soprano to my house. I don't think I deserve having my kneecaps destroyed just because I don't like this record. Number of albums left to review: 166 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 361 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 211 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 267 (including this one)

I remember "Just The Way You Are" being played almost constantly on Radio 2 in the UK in the 80s. I was only about five years old, but I hated how boring and bland it was. And I still do!

Mindless background music you'd hear on FM radio while mixing paint. Billy Joel's a bitch, and always has been. I seriously hate him. He make boring showtunes.

the musical equivalent of clapping when a plane lands

Awful awful awful. Some Billy Joel songs are ok, this album is like 90 percent trash. I think if I have to hear Scenes from an Italian Restaurant one more time in my life I won't be able restrain myself, just a terrible song

Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) ✅ Stranger ✅ Just the way you are ❌ Scenes from an Italian ❌ Vienna ✅ Only The Good Die Young ❌ She’s Always A Woman ❌ Get it Right the First time ✅ Everybody has a dream ❌ Top 3: Movin Out Vienna Stranger

Hated this.

Bill Joel has really nailed the piano and songwriter combo here. In a similar way to other singer/ songwriters, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, and of course Elton John. Here's a hint, I despise all of the above. It's pretty dismal listening, like a whole album of songs Elton John rejected for being too generic. I'm not a big fan of Elton John, but I can appreciate he sometimes has a memorable hook or two. There's no such relief here, just nine incredibly cheesy songs that are instantly forgettable. Once I hear Billy singing, "la la la la la la la la la" it's like he's not even trying any more. I can see a lot of people who split Mr Joel's career into "talented" (which this album falls into) and "for the money" (when he was forced to come out of retirement and sing about uptown girls). To me, there's far more continuity and his entire career is based around cheese. This is the sort of safe but dull music that I would expect to hear being performed by cover bands on cruises for the over 60s. This is maybe not quite bad enough for only 1 star, but it's so close I'm going to mark it down, mainly for the awful "la la la la la la" crap and the whistling, got to hate that whistling.

Trent Reznor said that as a kid he belonged to one of those cassette subscription clubs, like BMI or something, where you got what they sent you. And he was so broke and hungry that he listened the shit out of everything, even the Billy Joel albums. “It probably made me a better songwriter,” he said, as begrudgingly as one could say anything. I’m very glad to not be a songwriter and never have to listen to this album again. I skipped Only the Good Die Young and it’s been in my head all fucking day. What fucking producer thought “Italian Restaurant” was a winner? I didn’t know The Stranger and thought the conceit and some of the lines were pretty good but why oh why did Billy have to fuck yo some perfectly good lyrics with his… how do I say, nauseating? wretched? approach to melody making? I want to be mad at the record company but honestly it’s the people that bought and kept buying and STILL BUY the records that I’m most mad at. Disappointed in, really.

Billy Joel sucks and there's likely not a single song of his that you can't say "Oh, it turns out this is just a second-rate version of ____." This album is his bid for respectability - look at that idiot cover, for fuck's sake, wow so deep - but it is also his bid for mainstream success in a commercial landscape where singer-songwriter stuff, like on his previous albums, was slowly metamorphosing into pure cheese which would culminate with yacht rock a couple years from now. So this kinda sums up Billy Joel to me - someone who wants to be deeply respected as a songwriter, but someone who also wants to make a fuck-ton of money. Those are conflicting desires, and they give us a mixed-bag of shit here, like the "working-class anthem" of "Anthony's Song" (ack-ack-ack-ack-ack) which is less entertaining than Springsteen farting into a microphone, or the retro bullshit of "Only the Good Die Young," or the attempt at observational songwriting in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." Stuff like "She's Always a Woman" and "Just the Way You Are" are showing that Joel is plenty good at aping cheese and processing it even further. Terrible stuff. His next two albums are even worse mainstream garbage than this - Huey Lewis both mimicked this stuff and topped it, so that should tell you something - and then Joel remembered he wanted to be a respected songwriter, so he made "The Nylon Curtain," which is one of the most embarrassing albums of all time in its overly-serious shlockiness. Joel's ambition really exceeding his reach there, and then he went right back to aping the style of others with his album of "homages," "An Innocent Man." Good God, that album sucks, but it hit right at a peak boomer midlife crisis moment and kept Joel around. He wanted to say something serious with "The Nylon Curtain" but his idiot boomer audience just wanted their bellies rubbed, so that's what he did with "An Innocent Man," and then he just leaned into midlife-crisis music with his next three albums and retired ("A Matter of Trust," "We Didn't Start the Fire," "River of Dreams" - in these three songs you will find everything you need to know about toxic boomer pathology, but that's an entirely different review!), because he could coast for the rest of his life. He has written TWO songs since 1993, as far as we can tell. He has now been a NON-songwriter for as long as he was a songwriter. He doesn't need to write songs, he can just sell out stadiums playing old crap. So this album is him trying to work out whether or not to sell out. Mostly, he decided to sell out, and frankly, his songwriting chops were only ever good enough to do that. He never would've made it as a serious songwriter with important, interesting things to say. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen he is not. Huey Lewis he is.

Not for me. Was never that keen on the singles when they charted, and those were the highlights of this album.

I’ve never liked Billy Joel much. That hasn’t changed.

On kyllä tylsää. Ei herätä minkäänlaista kiinnostusta. Loppuispa jo...

Listening was painful. Music was okay but the lyrics sucked. She’s a Woman to Me is misogyny covered up by a sweet melody. Yuck

Not for me

Why do I have to listen to this? I've moved on from this schematic, hit, cheap style about 40 years ago.

I think the Blues Brothers dealt with Bill fairly early on. For those of about to drop don't bother listening to this, just watch the scene in BB where Murph (of the Murftones) says "we'll be right back, don't you go changing"...adult oriented rock is a blight on humanity, lest we forget that the man who made the Stranger was building up to It's Still Rock and Roll to Me This something a tad stagey, structured, Off Broadway about Bill's adult oriented pop songs. Take the big smasheroo Piano Man. In a fantastic podcast with Alec Baldwin he explains how the song is a limerick (You ready, just sing it like an 8 year old "John at the bar is a friend of mine/He gets me my drinks for free/He's quick with a joke/And a light up your smoke/But there's some place he'd rather be", now tell me that wasn't fun?) A bottle of red, a bottle of white, you are instantly transported to one of those Stephen Sondheim things, I fucking hate that song. I want you Just the Way You Are...yeah bullshit you do until you catch a glimpse of Christie Brinkley's arse. She's More Than Woman to Me, no she's not, she was good for that first difficult part of your career and then... Now here's the kicker cyberspace death freaks: I saw Billy Joel in 1978 at the Hordern Pavilion. The support act was Jon English, who was absolutely brilliant. And Bill you ask? When he started up Big Shot, Eggy said "good time to have a joint" and we never made it back... For those about to pop off, look this will certainly hasten your demise, but really do you want to go listening to this schlocky schlockmeister.

Just not my thing

Boy I disliked this. Saccharine and unpleasant.

Hajuton ja mauton. Tai on tässä sellainen lievä paskan käry. 1/5

“And it seems such a waste of time Mama, if that’s what it’s all about, Then Billy Joel is whack-ack-ack-ack”

Kielletty hedelmä. Ei edes houkuta.

Some albums surprise you. Some are just the way you expect. The big singles blighted my early years of listening to pop via the endless airplay on wunderful Radio One (UK only here). if Tina Turner's 80s input is music for people who don't like music, Joel is right up there too. The album tracks reveal nothing to change the situation.

Nope, can't do it. I friggen hate Billy Joel, always have, always will. I really tried though!

I might get hate for this but it sounds very generic and uninspiring.

fuck this nonce music. the 70s has a lot to answer for.

Fucking dreadful

Challenging on many levels, and none of them good.

Man hört Billy den Anspruch an, einen großen Wurf à la Elton John hinzulegen, aber das Ergebnis verfängt nicht, langweilt und ein wenig enttäuscht es mich, hätte ich es doch gern besser gemocht. Entfremdete 1.2

Not for me. Didn't enjoy it, was excited for it to end.

NEIN!! Not good, nope, nada, bleck

Not my cup of tea.

Yo qué se ya

I’m homeless

Not bad