Ranking: Songs from Billy Joel - The Stranger

  It took Billy Joel 3 albums on Columbia before number four broke him in a big way.  Today The Stranger is a diamond selling album.  Its fate when first released in 1977 was far away from those sales projections.  But the lead single, "Just the Way You Are" peaked at #3 and the album had three more top 40 singles.  The momentum carried over in to 1978 when 52nd Street became his first number one album.  Never a critics favorite, Joel's music was often dismissed by critic during his peak as slight.  But listeners, including me, disagreed.  The Stranger remains my favorite Billy Joel album.

1.  Only The Good Die Young

2.  Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

3.  Just The Way You Are

4.  Vienna

5.  Songs From An Italian Restaurant

6.  She's Always A Woman

7.  The Stranger

8.  Get It Right the First Time

9.  Everybody Has A Dream

Best Mother's Day Songs

Updated for 2026

When most people think of Mother's Day songs, sentimentality usually wins out.  I've got a few of those listed below, but also some that avoid the teardrops.
                                                                                                                                             

Anais Mitchell - Little Big Girl

Anthony Hamilton - Mama Knew Love

Beatles - Julia
Bill Anderson - Mama Sang A Song

Boyz II Men - Song For Mama

Brandi Carlile - The Mother

Bruce Springsteen - Wish
Carrie Underwood - Mama's Song
Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colors
Electric Light Orchestra - Mama
Elvis Presley - Mama Liked The Roses
Gerry Rafferty - Mary Skeffington
Gregory Porter - Mother's Song
Intruders - I'll Always Love My Mama
Jamie O'Neal - Somebody's Hero
Judds - Mama He's Crazy

John Lennon - Mother

Joni Mitchell - Little Green

Junior - Mama Used To Say

Kacey Musgraves - Mother

Lefty Frizzell - Mom and Dad's Waltz

Lenny Kravitz - Thinking Of You

Linda Ronstadt - Sweetest Gift
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
Miracles - Shop Around
Miranda Lambert - Mama's Broken Heart
Outkast - She's Alive
Paul Simon - Loves Me Like A Rock
Pink Floyd - Mother

Randy Travis - Angels

Romy - Enjoy Your Life

Ruth Brown - Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean
Shirelles - Mama Said
Sizzla - Thank U Mamma
2Pac - Dear Mama
Spinners - Sadie
Sufjan Stevens - Fourth Of July
Taylor Swift - Best Day

Playlist for 4/30

Black America sings Stevie Wonder - Various

Wednesday Morning 6AM-Radio Hits from the Small Hours 70-83 - Various

Mitski - Nothing's About to Happen to Me

Iron & Wine - Hen's Teeth

Delines - The Set Up

Johnny Blue Skies/Sturgill Simpson - Mutiny After Midnight

Harry Styles - Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally 

Poll: April 1968 Songs

   April 1968.  I'm a month away from turning four years old.  I don't think I remember these songs from that month.  But artists?  The Beatles, Monkees for sure.  

Pop Radio Gold

"(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", Otis Redding : 1
"Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell : 2
"La-La Means I Love You", Delfonics : 3
"Tighten Up", Archie Bell & the Drells : 4
"Mrs. Robinson", Simon & Garfunkel : 5
"Dance To The Music", Sly & the Family Stone : 6
"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly", Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra : 7
"Cry Like A Baby", Box Tops : 8
"Lady Madonna", Beatles : 9
"I Thank You", Sam & Dave : 10
"A Beautiful Morning", Rascals : 11
"Scarborough Fair / (Canticle)", Simon & Garfunkel : 12
"Love Is Blue", Paul Mauriat : 13
"Valleri", Monkees : 14
"Cowboys To Girls", Intruders : 15
"Do You Know The Way To San Jose", Dionne Warwick : 16
"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition...)", First Edition (Kenny Rogers) : 17
"Jennifer Juniper", Donovan : 18
"Love Is All Around", Troggs : 19
"(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone", Aretha Franklin : 20
"Take Time To Know Her", Percy Sledge : 21
"Summertime Blues", Blue Cheer : 22
"MacArthur Park", Richard Harris : 23
"If You Can Want", Smokey Robinson & the Miracles : 24
"Sweet Inspiration", Sweet Inspirations : 25
"The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)", Manfred Mann : 26
"Simon Says", 1910 Fruitgum Co. : 27
"Honey", Bobby Goldsboro : 28
"Forever Came Today", Diana Ross & the Supremes : 29
"Soul Serenade", Willie Mitchell : 30
"I Got The Feelin'", James Brown & the Famous Flames : 31
"The Unicorn", Irish Rovers : 32
"(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls", Dionne Warwick : 33
"Kiss Me Goodbye", Petula Clark : 34
"Playboy", Gene & Debbe : 35
"Young Girl", Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett : 36
"The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde", Georgie Fame : 37

RIP Prince 10th Anniversary

  I wrote this piece two days after Prince died on April 21, 2016. 

 Prince's albums up until the mid-90's are uniformly strong.  As the 2000's were ushered in, Prince's records all had a few good cuts, but were lacking the originality we came to expect from his classic years. 

So, my own list is top heavy with the classic stuff.

Essential
Dirty Mind
1999
Purple Rain
Parade
Sign O' The Times

Every music fan should have the above 5 in their collection.  These are Prince's best albums and show his depth better than anything:  Funk, Rock, Pop, Soul, Gospel and any other genre he was inventing.

Very Good
Controversy
Around The World In A Day
Lovesexy
Diamonds and Pearls
Love Symbol Album
Gold Experience
Emancipation
Black Album

Controversy followed Dirty Mind in 1981 and was seen as being less daring than that album, but still has some great moments.  Same fate for Around The World In A Day which followed Purple Rain. But today it stands as a neat stylistic departure.   Lovesexy from 1988, had a great, overlooked hit "Alphabet Street".  Diamonds and Pearls (1991) was sort of a comeback album chartwise, as it was released after the terrible movie Graffiti Bridge.  It has Prince's last #1 single, "Cream". The Love Symbol Album followed and was one of his funkiest albums. Gold Experience contains Prince's last big Top 40 hit, the #3 "Most Beautiful Girl In The World".   Both it and Emancipation released in the mid-90's and kind of forgotten today. Finally, the Black Album, recorded in 1987 but not released until 1994 was to be the followup to Sign O' The Times but shelved at the last minute.  It became a big bootleg album for years.  It's a good album, not a classic, but full of odd songs.

Good
Batman 
Graffiti Bridge
Prince (1979)
Crystal Ball
Chaos and Disorder
Musicology
3121
Art Official Age

If some of the titles don't seem obscure to you, then you are as much a die-hard as me.  For most, a lot of these were completely forgotten by even curious Prince fans. The latest album on this list is 2014's Art Official Age.  I'm kind of fond of the Batman album.  All have their moments, and again I hope someone compiles a latter day Prince compilation.

Greatest Hits Sets
Hits/B-Sides  (1993)
Very Best Of  (2001)
Ultimate  (2006)
4Ever (2016)

4Ever was released after Prince died and is the best of the bunch, even though it stops at 1993.  None of the others contain anything post-1993.  Very Best Of is a single disc, Hits/B-Sides a triple and Ultimate/4Ever are double discs.  Ultimate has a few 12" mixes for collectors. 

KPIG-FM Memories

  It wasn't until 1990 that I started listening more intently to Americana music.  Most of my listening habits until then were taken up by many other genres.  Country music was one of them, but mainstream Country.  So, when co-workers started listening to KPIG-FM radio out of Freedom, California (near Santa Cruz), in the early 90's, I decided to tag along.  KPIG began in 1987. But its origins date back to 1975 and the birth of Progressive Country pioneer, KFAT, based in Gilroy, California.  For eight year, KFAT played a heady mix of Progressive Country, but also other genres like Blues, Rock, Bluegrass and anything else offbeat. Once KFAT went under, in 1983, it begat KHIP.  But KHIP didn't have the big signal KFAT did.  Finally in 1987, KPIG began.  Like KFAT it plays an eclectic mix.  It specializes in Americana but I hear other genres in their playlist.  You’re likely to hear the Grateful Dead, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Emmylou Harris, and whatever newcomer comes along,  in any given hour. 

  It's not like I didn't know about Americana artists.  I read enough music magazines that I knew what names were getting rave reviews.  John Morthland's essential 1984 book, Country Music, opened my ears to a lot of Country music outside the Country charts.  This is all similar to my experiences with Alt-Rock.  It wasn't until I started reading Spin or Option magazine that I started to explore that genre.  I skipped most of the important bands in the 80's.

  Listening to KPIG in the early 90's, the album that really turned me on to the Americana genre was John Prine's 1991 comeback, The Missing Years. His first studio album in six years.  Once I fell in love with it, and hearing other Prine cuts, I began to explore other names in the genre thanks to KPIG.  

  Some 35 years later the Americana genre is more popular than ever.  I wasn't there at the beginning when it was just a newly named format.  KPIG is still going strong. And I've been along for the ride ever since.  

Here's a Spotify playlist of my early KPIG music memories:

KPIG Memories

My Latest Podcast Appearance (Rock in Retrospect Podcast)

   I joined host Nick Bambach and 3 others to talk about the 2026 Rock Hall inductees.

Rock in Retrospect