Billy Joel - The Stranger - SACD

Product no.: UDSACD2089
Billy Joel - The Stranger - SACD
£38.95
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Mobile Fidelity - UDSACD 2089 - SACD Hybrid Stereo 

Numbered Limited  Edition - Plays On All CD Players

Half-Speed  Mastered by Kreig Wunderlich from the Original Master Tape at MFSL

Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR SACD   

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 70/500!

Don’t pass up this seminal pop-rock work in the best fidelity it’s ever enjoyed... The label unlocks more low-level detail on this record, which was horribly compressed for radio airplay... you can immediately hear the increased soundstage width; that on the original sounds like the band is trying to win one of those contests where they see how many people can stuff themselves inside a Volkswagen. This version sounds more like musicians playing in a real space. Joel’s piano, too, sounds revitalized. Throughout, there’s more ambience to his playing. It now comes across as if he’s playing a big-boy piano, and the reverb on the vocal tracks is also evident... Whether The Stranger is a guilty pleasure or a timeworn friend, it sounds better than ever." - Jeff Dorgay, TONEAudio Magazine, 

Billy Joel entered 1977 with a great track record but in need of breakthrough. Pairing with producer Phil Ramone (Carly Simon, Simon & Garfunkel), who developed the requisite ingredients missing from Joel’s formula, the singer-songwriter became a household name and chart-topping success courtesy of The Stranger. Ranked 67 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and certified ten-times platinum, Joel’s artistic and commercial smash remains a pop-rock benchmark.

Better still, it now sounds astonishing. An integral part of Mobile Fidelity’s Billy Joel catalog restoration series, The Stranger is mastered from the original master tapes

 Far superior to the previous Sony and Simply Vinyl analog reissues, this edition emphasizes the crucial touches and insightful techniques Ramone brought to a batch of material that ranks among Joel’s most clever, catchy, and sagacious. Whereas a handful of Joel’s preceding efforts feature a near-flawless mix of melodic arrangements and poignant lyrics, the aspects he sought in order to graduate into a more serious artist arrive here via Ramone’s more muscular, fleshed-out, and rock-enabling production.

The streamlined approach slightly strips back the sweeping developments heard on Piano Man and Turnstiles, and on this edition, lays bare the core of the material, allowing the vocalist’s bittersweet yearning, rollicking 88 notes, and working-class conviction to emanate with full-bodied detail, vivid color, and grand-scale dynamics. A Grammy winner for both Record and Song of the Year, “Just the Way You Are” epitomizes Joel’s balladic reach, his ability to transfer wistful sentiments and lovelorn emotions. He also flashes a mean streak. The animated “Only the Good Die Young” bounces and hops to an updated classic-R&B rhythm and, underneath its beauty, “She’s Always A Woman” hints at trouble underfoot.

And then there’s the New York-centric, character-rich poetry of the vignettes. Akin to many of his influences, Joel nails the grit, personality, specificity, descriptiveness, and behavior of protagonists that populate “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” and “Scenes From an Italian Diner,” each equally at home on The Stranger as well as on a Broadway play or on a golden-era Hollywood film soundtrack. No wonder that, just months after its original release, Joel was no longer a stranger to any of the music-loving public. He would never look back.

Don’t pass up this seminal pop-rock work in the best fidelity it’s ever enjoyed.

• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• Numbered, Limited Edition

• Mastered from the Original Master Tapes

Bass – Doug Stegmeyer
Drums – Liberty Devitto
Electric Guitar – Hiram Bullock
Engineer – Jim Boyer, Phil Ramone
Music By, Lyrics By – Billy Joel
Orchestrated By – Patrick Williams
Producer – Phil Ramone
 

Selections: 
1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song
2. The 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 (reprise)

Billy Joel - The Stranger - 45rpm 180g 2LP

Image result for mofi mobile fidelity sound lab

 

Mobile Fidelity believes that mastering systems should be neutral and transparent. The essential idea is to unveil all the detailed musical information on the original master recording without adding deterioration, coloration or other sonic artifacts. 

It is worth noting that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab stands out as one of few record labels that independently invests in research and development of audio technology. With proprietary innovations such as GAIN 2™, general music enthusiasts and audiophiles alike have reaped the benefit of a higher consumer audio standard without investing in costly new hardware. Mobile Fidelity is pleased to work with a variety of engineering legends and companies including Tim de Paravicini, Ed Meitner, Pass Labs, Theta Digital and Sony Electronics. 

Our joint efforts to seek out the ultimate audio experience, has resulted in significant advances for the technology of music reproduction. 

GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR™ Hybrid SACD and Ultradisc II™ 24kt Gold CDs 

For over twenty years, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has continually searched for the ultimate audio experience. During this search MFSL engineers and associates created The GAIN™ System, a proprietary mastering technology which brought warmth and ambience to the compact disc format. A few years ago - with higher resolution formats on the horizon - the vision of GAIN 2™ began. As it stands today, GAIN 2™ is one of the greatest technical advancements in analogue and digital technology in the last ten years. It consists of a series of critical modifications and new components to Mobile Fidelity's proprietary mastering chain. 

We feel that GAIN 2™ has come extremely close to meeting this goal. The key accomplishments of GAIN 2™ System are 1) the ability to extract all the musical information as possible through the Ultra High bandwidth analogue tape playback system with proprietary custom tape playback heads, reproducer electronics and 2) transparently capturing and storing that information with the Direct Stream Digital recording system. 

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