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List Price: $18.97 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 112917
Released: July 31, 2001 |
| Our Price: $80.00 |
| Used Price: $49.95 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Stranger Track Listing:
1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
2. 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
The Stranger Reviews:
One of Joel's Best Releases, But The Fidelity Is Imperfect 
2009-12-10 - Even casual fans of Billy Joel are likely to enjoy The Stranger enough to listen to it from start to finish without reaching for the skip button. No doubt about it, it is a terrific album. I actually defy anyone to find fault with The Stranger, Just The Way You Are, or She Always A Woman. These are among the best songs Joel has ever composed. Unfortunately, the fidelity of this particular sacd is anything but even-handed as it is overly bright throughout.
Now I realize that there may be those who like bright mixes, but this is so bright as to be piercing at times as there is no equally strong representation of the midrange frequencies to counter-balance the treble. Of the various equipment I have, I found this sacd sounded best on my HSU RESEARCH Ventriloquist home theater whose wide-range drivers mitigate the brightness far better than their high-definition horn tweeters.
This is not a bad sacd by any means, but it is not up to the high standards of those released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. If you are truly committed to the medium as I am, then I would whole-heartedly encourage you to looking into the sacds produced by MFSL. Compare this sacd with, say, What's Going On and tell me there isn't a difference in fidelity.
Excellent Release 
2009-11-11 - The 5.1 mix on this SACD is outstanding. A great album is given a great treatment. One thing that's unusual about the 5.1 mix is the LFE channel. One reviewer noted "The LFE is given a lot of data". In fact, the .1 channel on this mix is not purely a Low Frequency Effect channel. It has a Full Frequency Range. If you are able to send the .1 output to a regular speaker, you'll hear the bass guitar, vocals, drums (including cymbals), and the motorcycle at the end of track 1. It's interesting that this channel wasn't filtered to just have frequencies below 200 Hz. I'm not complaining, but I do wonder if my subwoofer enjoys receiving the higher frequencies. Anyway, this is one of my favorite SACDs to play.
SACD Billy Joel
2009-11-08 - The second Billy Joel SACD I have bought and just as good as the first.Ron
The Best Yet...
2009-05-16 - I just got the new Oppo BDP-83 blu-ray player. Wanting to get an SACD player again, this was a great deal for me. When I put in this SACD I was completely blown away. I have a nice collection of SACD & DVD-A music but, thus far, Billy Joel's "The stranger" has beat them all. Incredible seperation and clarity of voice and audible note or flawless! I am so happy with this purchase, you won't be dissapointed!
A masterpiece that has aged like a bottle of red, a bottle of white...
2009-04-21 - Where did all the great songwriters go? It was astonishing, after all these years, to hear one great song after another, with arguably, one filler, instead of the other way around! If you like good old analog sound, you'll love this, especially "Only The Good Die Young". I don't care how many times you've heard "Don't Go Changin'" in your life, it is stunningly beautiful in SACD. A C.D. to die young for. The Piano Man, indeed.
