Joel lightly excoriates James for pausing his artistic ambitions to go to college and "living up to expectations." The melody is not particularly gripping and the chiding doesn't feel particularly deserved. Now turn to The Stranger, which opens thrillingly with another mild diatribe against middle class professional ambition, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)." As soon as the needle drops, Joel is smashing on his piano and the bass is kicking up the groove, playing with gusto and rhythm. Also from Turnstiles is "Summer, Highland Falls," my favorite pre-Stranger Joel song. His piano chords are enchanting, and he coins his greatest phrase from a non-hit: "It's either sadness or euphoria." As charming as "Summer, Highland Falls" is, it's also absurdly wordy: "How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies/Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies." Again, fast forward to 1977 and "Only the Good Die Young," Joel's cleverest Stranger song lyrically: "You didn't count on me/When you were counting on your rosary," and, "You say your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation." It's a hoot. Joel made The Stranger with his road band, largely the same group who played on Turnstiles. The big difference was that Joel produced Turnstiles himself but brought in the well-regarded Phil Ramone for The Stranger, with whom he struck a long-term relationship. Joel claims that he chose to work with Ramone—known for work with Paul Simon and Phoebe Snow and co-producing Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson's A Star Is Born—instead of the legendary Beatles producer George Martin because Martin wanted the pianist to record his album with session musicians, which Joel attempted to poor results on Streetlife. Ramone liked Joel's band—most importantly comprised of bassist Doug Stegmeyer, drummer Liberty DeVitto, and multi-instrumentalist Richie Cannata—and wanted to bring their live energy to life in the studio, where things had rarely clicked for Joel. One of the most frequent criticisms in his early career was his inability to translate the magnetic personality of his live performances onto his records. An early 1977 concert preview from the Los Angeles Times read: "A common question about the 27-year-old New Yorker is why such a scintillating performer hasn't become a star." Later, as if to prove the point, Joel gathered his unheralded songs on the 1981 live compilation Songs in the Attic where the early material absolutely soars and the crowds erupt.