Matt Fernicola's guest appearances

Matt Fernicola

The Great Albums

Sheryl Crow

Paul Simon

Nick Drake

Willie Nelson

Alanis Morissette

David Rosen

Ben Folds

Chris Fox

Jenny Lewis

Elvis Costello

Quincy Jones

William Shatner

Ralph Sutton

Rod Stewart

Liz Phair

OwlTail

Massive Albums November rolls (and rocks) on into week 3 as Bill and Brian welcome multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Matt Fernicola (Foes of Fern, Avery Mandeville and the Man Devils, the Burns, and many more) to talk about Billy Joel's the Stranger (1977, Columbia). Listener be warned: much to our delight Fern, a Berklee College of Music alum, really dives deep into music theory when describing how Joel's classical training help define his unique pop sound. Also, we compare and contrast the lyrical styles of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, talk about Brian's priest singing some Billy Joel mid-mass, Liberty Devitto's timely (and possibly apocryphal) stick throwing, Phil Ramone getting the producer nod over George Martin, and much more are we make our way through the album track by track!

Billy Joel - The Stranger (w/ guest Matt Fernicola)