Back in 2020, I was lucky enough to have a pitch selected for Hanif Abdurraqib’s 68to05 Playlist Project. The pitch was a reflection on Billy Joel’s excellent album The Stranger, which is right up there at the top of my bizarre - but important - top albums of all time by not-favorite artists, a category that includes pivotal and important albums like Pink Floyd’s The Wall and The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Great records, favorite records, but records by bands who I do not love or who do not have any other albums I love.
I wrote this piece, which mostly centers the song “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown protocols, and that largely paints my understanding of the album at that time. Earlier this summer, I found myself turning 35 and, armed with five years more of perspective and a five hour HBO documentary on Bill Joel (the excellent So It Goes, watch all of it) have a new understanding of the album and what it means to me.
I thought it might be fun to revisit this essay on the podcast feed since The Stranger just had its birthday yesterday. Take a look at the essay over on 68to05: https://www.68to05.com/essays/1977-billy-joel-the-stranger
