The songs were first recorded at Caribou Ranch (near Nederland, Colorado), with members of Elton John's band ( Nigel Olsson on drums and Dee Murray on bass) and produced by Chicago producer James William Guercio. The only time that Phil Woods performed on a Billy Joel recording was the song "Just the Way You Are" in 1977. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote that Joel's craft improves, but "he becomes more obnoxious: the anti-idealism of ' Angry Young Man' isn't any more appealing in tandem with the pseudoironic sybaritism of 'I've Loved These Days. In an interview, Joel stated that the lyrics to the song "James" referred to various different people he knew in real life, with the title character being a "composite" of those people.

Billy Joel: The Stranger Album Review | Pitchfork Billy Joel: The Stranger Album Review | Pitchfork

Barbra Streisand covered " New York State of Mind" on her album Superman, released in the Spring of 1977, opening up Billy Joel's music to a mainstream audience. The album cover photo was shot in the uptown platform of the New York City Subway's Astor Place station. Many tracks have alternate mixes exclusive to the Quadrophonic LP release including "New York State of Mind", "Prelude/Angry Young Man", "I've Loved These Days" and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". g., the girl in headphones for "All You Wanna Do is Dance", the wealthy couple for "I've Loved These Days"). Contrary to some sources, the saxophone solo on "New York State of Mind" was never re-recorded by Phil Woods for the release of Greatest Hits, Vols.

Throughout his career, he has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in history. It begins with " Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (inspired by The Ronettes song " Be My Baby") and also includes "I've Loved These Days", a tongue-in-cheek expression of regret at leaving behind Hollywood decadence. In the song " Prelude/Angry Young Man", Joel opens and closes the song rapidly hammering the piano, which was meant to simulate the drum part in the song " Wipe Out" by The Surfaris. The Stranger remains his best-selling studio album release, achieving 10× Platinum (Diamond status) in the US as well.

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He has released 13 studio albums, seven live albums, 18 compilation albums, 10 video albums, 61 singles, three promotional singles and 45 music videos. He thanked her for the exposure, and also told her his New York relatives were duly impressed to have the Queen of Brooklyn cover one of his songs. Cash Box said that the single "I've Loved These Days" creates "a perfect mood of grand cinema romance" and commented on "its elegant strings and crashing piano. Three of the album's tracks reference New York: "Summer, Highland Falls", " New York State of Mind" and " Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)".

A Record World said that "both melody and lyrics stand out on this powerful ballad, that could put him over the top. According to Joel, each of the characters on the album cover was meant to represent a particular song (e. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Joel has sold 85 million certified albums in the United States, making him the 4th best-selling solo artist of all time (behind Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson).