This man is a venomous poet….

[With "The Stranger," Billy Joel] is now turning out albums showing an originality, bite, determination and poetic strength rarely matched by his contemporaries….

We have no smiling romantic here, instead a razor-sharp commentator on many aspects of society. In "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," the separation of husband and wife, and the inevitability of divorce, is observed with a fine eye for detail. On "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" Joel tells of the desperation that afflicts every teenager who thinks there's no future in working hard to achieve the suburban material values of his elders.

"Everybody Has A Dream" is a near-perfect fantasy song, as the title implies. It's the attitude, the inquiring mind, of Billy Joel that clinches his strength. There's a touch of arrogance in his lyrics as he assumes his opinions about worldly situations to be beyond reproach, but he's...