The Stranger - 30th Anniversary Edition To Be Released As 2 CD Legacy
Edition & Deluxe Limited Edition With 'Old Grey Whistle Test' DVD + 48 Page
Booklet
Both versions arrive in stores and online July 8, 2008, on Columbia/Legacy
NEW YORK, July 7 -- Legacy Recordings proudly celebrates
the 30th Anniversary of Billy Joel's breakout album The Stranger with the
release of two special editions -- a 2 CD Legacy Edition and a Deluxe
Limited Edition including 2 CDs plus a bonus DVD -- of the best-selling
multi-platinum collection which catapulted Joel into the upper ranks of pop
music superstardom. Each of the 30th Anniversary editions of The Stranger
will be available online and in stores on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060130/LEGACYLOGO )
Originally released in September 1977, Billy Joel's fifth studio album,
The Stranger, marked the first of Joel's highly successful collaborations
with producer Phil Ramone, whose mastery of the recording studio provided a
sublime sonic context for Joel's timeless songs and classic performances.
"I was very happy that we chose Phil Ramone," said Billy Joel in a recent
interview for the 30th Anniversary edition of The Stranger. "He got it
right away."
The resulting collection became one of the top-selling albums of the
year (peaking at #2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart); won two Grammys
(Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Just The Way You Are," The
Stranger was nominated for Album of the Year); overtook Simon & Garfunkel's
Bridge Over Troubled Water as Columbia Records Top Selling Album of the
time, and generated four indelible singles -- "Just The Way You Are (#1
Adult Contemporary, #3 Pop Singles); "Only The Good Die Young" (#24 Pop
Singles); "She's Always A Woman" (#2 Adult Contemporary, #17 Pop Singles);
and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" (#17 Pop Singles) -- that remain radio
staples to this day.
"I don't recall particularly feeling 'this is going to be the
breakthrough,'" said Billy Joel in an interview for The Stranger - 30th
Anniversary Edition. "We were just happy with the album we were making at
the time ... But now, in hindsight, I can see it was a real important
album."
Billy Joel's first Top 10 album, The Stranger is still the iconic
performer's best-selling non-compilation album ever. Ranked at #67 on
Rolling Stone's prestigious "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, The
Stranger has earned the coveted RIAA Diamond Album certification (presented
in recognition of US sales of more than 10 million copies).
The Stranger - 30th Anniversary Edition will be available in two
configurations from Legacy Recordings.
The limited deluxe edition of The Stranger includes a CD of the
original album, in its entirety, remastered by producer Phil Ramone; a CD
of a previously unreleased concert featuring Billy and his band, "Live At
Carnegie Hall 1977," recorded at the historic Manhattan venue on June 3,
1977, one month prior to the sessions for The Stranger album and newly
restored for the new editions of The Stranger; and a DVD showcasing two
live promotional videos from The Stranger and the long-awaited release of
Billy's fabled appearance on the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test," a
seldom-seen sixty minute cavalcade from 1978 that has aired only once on
the UK's BBC2.
Rounding out the limited deluxe edition of The Stranger - 30th
Anniversary Edition package is a 48 page booklet with liner notes from
Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke and a multitude of photos,
including never-before-seen images from the original photo shoot for the
album.
Also available is The Stranger - 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition which
includes the CD of the original album, in its entirety, remastered by
producer Phil Ramone; the previously unreleased, newly restored "Live At
Carnegie Hall 1977" CD; and a 24 page booklet with liner notes by David
Fricke and unseen photos from the album's original photo shoot.
* * * * *
The Stranger - 30th Anniversary Edition
Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings
CD 1 - The Original Album
1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
2. The Stranger
3. Just The Way You Are
4. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
5. Vienna
6. Only The Good Die Young
7. She's Always A Woman
8. Get It Right The First Time
9. Everybody Has A Dream
Produced by Phil Ramone in association with Home Run
Music and Lyrics by Billy Joel
CD 2 - Live At Carnegie Hall, June 3, 1977
1. Intro
2. Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
3. Prelude/Angry Young Man
4. New York State Of Mind
5. Just The Way You Are
6. She's Got A Way
7. The Entertainer
8. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
9. Band Intro
10. Captain Jack
11. I've Loved These Days
12. Say Goodbye To Hollywood
13. Souvenir
Produced for release by Phil Ramone and Bruce Dickinson
"The Old Grey Whistle Test" DVD
"Miami 2017"
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"
"New York State Of Mind"
"The Entertainer"
"She's Always A Woman"
"Root Beer Rag"
"Just The Way You Are"
"Souvenir"
"Ain't No Crime"
"Only The Good Die Young"
PLUS Live Promotional videos:
"The Stranger"
"Just The Way You Are"
Having sold more than 100 million records over the course of a career
spanning more than 40 years, Billy Joel ranks as one of most popular
recording artists and respected entertainers in the world.
Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since
signing his first solo recording contract in 1972. He received the
Recording Industry Association of America Diamond Award, presented for
albums that have sold more than 10 million copies, for his "Greatest Hits
Volume I and Volume II."
Taking its name from a key track on The Stranger, "Movin' Out," a
Broadway musical based on Joel's music, choreographed and directed by Twyla
Tharp, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and took home two including Best
Orchestrations -- Billy's first Tony Award win -- and Best Choreography.
Billy Joel received Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of
the Year in 1978 for his song "Just the Way You Are"; Album of the Year in
1979 for 52nd Street; and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1979 for 52nd
Street and in 1980 for Glass Houses In 1990, he was presented with a Grammy
Legend Award. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, he was
also presented with the Johnny Mercer Award in 2001. In 1999 he was
inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in 2004 received a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His other awards include the ASCAP Founders
Award, the BMI Career Achievement Award, the American Music Awards Award of
Merit, and the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal.
Billy Joel has donated his time and resources to a variety of
charitable causes, and he has recently launched an ongoing educational
initiative to provide seed money, musical scholarships, and endowments to a
variety of East Coast colleges, universities, and music schools. For his
accomplishments as a musician and as a humanitarian, he was honored as the
2002 MusiCares Person of the Year by the MusiCares Foundation and the
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences; he has also received a
humanitarian award from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
The net proceeds of Billy Joel's latest composition, "Christmas in
Fallujah," inspired by soldiers' letters from Iraq, are being donated to
Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds specially
adapted homes for disabled service members returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan.
When it was announced earlier this year that Billy Joel -- who holds
the Madison Square Garden record for the longest sequence of sold-out shows
by a single artist (12) -- would perform the last concerts at New York's
fabled Shea Stadium, more than 110,000 tickets were sold out in 45 minutes.
Joel's historic "Last Play At Shea" sold-out concerts are scheduled for
July 16 and 18.
For more information:
http://www.billyjoel.com
http://www.legacyrecordings.com
See Also
