“Don’t take no shit from anybody” announced Billy Joel to a mid-80’s concert audience in Cincinnati that included my now-estranged father. My dad recited the Joel quote to me the day after the show and thought it was just the coolest thing ever spoken; obviously he (and Billy Joel) felt like they were taking too much shit from people. Billy Joel speaks to the blue collar working man in a very musically-sophisticated way, and perhaps Joel’s biggest, most profound statement ever was his 1977 album, The Stranger. Sony Legacy Records has just put together an amazing 30th Anniversary box set edition of The Stranger, and it has me floored. Continue Reading