Over the next four weeks I’m going to feature songs from 20 of my very favorite albums. I consider all of these albums essentially perfect — no bad songs, nothing skip-worthy, a consistent excellence from start to finish.
Plenty of my favorite artists have failed to craft an album worthy of this list. You won’t see anything by R.E.M., The Beatles or Belle and Sebastian in this series, for example. It’s not that they haven’t released albums I find meaningful or even transcendent — they absolutely have — but some of those albums feature a song or two that pale in comparison to their surroundings.
To some degree, this list factors out the emotional ties that lift “imperfect” albums into the ranks of my favorites. R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction creates a sort of chemical reaction in me, an aching and a longing and a trip back through time. It’s a landmark album for me, no question. But ‘Auctioneer’ is a truly annoying song and enough to disqualify the album from this very specific list.
That’s not to say that the albums I’ll be featuring haven’t forged emotional bonds of their own. Many of them have, and I would count those among my top albums of all time. But I’ll get to that as I go.
Final disclaimer… these albums aren’t presented in order of preference.
First up is Billy Joel’s The Stranger. This 1977 album, Joel’s fifth, remains his undisputed masterpiece. It features two immortal songs much discussed on this blog, ‘Vienna‘ and ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,’ as well as such classics as ‘Only the Good Die Young,’ ‘Movin’ Out’ and ‘She’s Always a Woman.’
Closing out the album are a pair of lesser-known but no less excellent tracks, the light-hearted ‘Get it Right the First Time’ and the gospel anthem ‘Everybody Has a Dream.’ Some might call ‘Just the Way You Are’ a weak link, and I do think it would be better on traditional piano rather than those processed keyboards, but it’s a landmark love song for a reason.
The title track has always been a favorite of mine, for both the quality of the song proper but especially for the haunting piano/whistling intro. That whistled melody is the sound of a specific part of my childhood, and it’s the sound of The Stranger encapsulated in under a minute.
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They’re the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on
Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?
Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it, why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself
Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes
Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?
Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself
You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn’t always evil
And he is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You’ll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.
Meet Me In Montauk 
The Stranger is, without a doubt, a wonderful album. Under the criteria you have set, though (not a weak link), I’m not sure it would make my list. “Just the Way You Are” might hold it back for me, but that’s a bit unfair because it suffers from overexposure more than for being a lesser song.
In terms of favorite Joel albums, this album has always vied for the top spot with The Nylon Curtain for me. I’m curious what you consider the weak link on that album to be, or will it find a place on your list?
By the way, I’m surprised that you are so bothered by “Auctioneer.” There are certainly REM songs that annoy me, but I don’t really count this as one of them.
Anyway, I look forward to this theme.
I’ll never forget getting this album; we were living in the duplex in Hollywood and I heard Billy Joel on the radio singing “Just the way you are” and we ran out to find the album. And yes that whistled melody is all you need. I love every song and never tire of hearing them.
Nylon Curtain is definitely another of my favorite Joel albums (probably third, with 52nd Street in the second spot), I have a strong aversion to ‘Goodnight Saigon,’ especially the “and we would all go down together” singalong part.
‘Auctioneer’ is one of those songs that, if I’m in the right mood, plays just fine, but if I’m in the wrong mood it annoys the hell out of me.
Just went back and read your entry (and our comments) on Vienna, and I’m feeling quite sentimental. Of course, The Stranger just kicked in, and now the sentiment is fading ever so slightly 😉
I’m fascinated by this theme, though I’m not sure how I would choose my albums to suit your stated criteria. For me, the albums that I bought back in the age of albums have a tremendous advantage of those I’ve owned since. Is that because they are better albums or because it wasn’t nearly as easy to skip a song you didn’t immediately love as much as the others? I’m willing to suspect it’s more a consequence of the latter reason than the former.
So… I can easily rattle off this album by Joel, as well as 52nd Street, Storm Front (adore that Cyndi Lauper duet!), Turnstiles and Songs in the Attic (do live albums count?), but sitting alongside Joel’s great albums will be albums by R.E.M. (three of them!), Paul Simon, Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, Counting Crows, Sting (that’s right, you heard me!), Tom Petty, and, of course, Lyle Lovett.
The large majority of those albums were released when I was in college and graduate school – and buying albums and CD’s that I listened to from “cover to cover” (or first track to last track). Was that because of the format the music came packaged in or the fact that I had more time and inclination to listen to music in that way at that time? I don’t know. Still, there is no doubt that those albums will enjoy a tremendous advantage over those I’ve discovered over the past 15 – 20 years.
I imagine your list will be far more balanced.
Oh, and, yes, I adore The Stranger – especially the whistling 😉
I assume you mean The Bridge and not Storm Front, because The Bridge has the Cyndi Lauper duet and Storm Front kind of sucks. 🙂
I guess live albums count, though I probably wouldn’t feel right picking one. They’re a bit too close to greatest hits. Albums of original material that happen to be recorded live (such as Joe Jackson’s Big World</em) definitely count.
‘Auctioneer’ is one of the songs that helps me understand the connection between REM and Nirvana. REM might’ve wanted to slow it down a tad and add some distortion. And, oh, a little screaming might bring up the energy level.