“Give Peace a Chance,” “Bring ‘Em Home,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” and the list goes on and on. None of them brought an end to war or violence, but they did make the artists a pretty penny. What is the point of these records? Do the artists really think they are going to make a difference? Some probably do … just ask Maria Muldaur.
In 1977, Billy Joel’s career was floundering. He had recorded four albums with no hits and Columbia Records was thinking of dropping him. So he decided to meet with the greatest producer of all time, George Martin (The Beatles. Enough said). Martin liked Joel’s material, but wanted to use studio musicians. Joel wanted to use his band, so it didn’t work out.
He then set up a meeting with Phil Ramone, who Joel said, produced a lot of records that he liked. He invited him to his concert at Carnegie Hall in early June, 1977, and as they say, the rest is history.
Joel and his band went into the studio in July and finished The Stranger in late August. Nobody knew it would be his breakthrough album, as Joel puts it, “we just liked what we had done.” The first single off the disc was “Just the Way You Are.”
30 Days Out 