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Podcast: What the Riff Next Gen
Episode: 1977 - August: Billy Joel “The Stranger”
Description: By the time Billy Joel released The Stranger, his fifth studio album, he was at risk of being dropped by Columbia Records. His second album, Piano Man, had been a surprise success, but the follow-up third and fourth studio albums had met with disappointing commercial appeal.
Joel had a solid band that had toured with him for his previous album, Turnstiles, and he wanted to keep that band for the next album. He first considered Beatles producer George Martin to be his producer for this album, but decided against him when Martin wanted to use session players inst...