It's time to rank the best of what went around and came around again.
BILLY JOEL
The Stranger
(Columbia/Legacy)
As punk and disco exploded, the Piano Man's deeply unhip 1978 breakthrough proved that top-shelf Broadway/Brill Building songwriting could still sell - and, occasionally, rock. "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" and "Anthony's Song (Movin' Out)" remain priceless snapshots of Annie Hall-era NYC, the title track bares real teeth, and the Kenny Chesney fave "Only the Good Die Young"
Photo: Jennifer SilverbergBranson at night is a scary place. Especially when you're there against your will.Branson, to put it mildly, is an unusual place. As I reported back in 2007, the southwestern Missouri town is something like a '50s fantasy camp. Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff keeps the Cold War alive. Dick Clark is still the ambassador of pop. And hayseeds like the Baldknobbers keep ol' time country music alive and kickin'. And in Branson it's okay to alter history a bit in order to mai
