Billy Joel -- Still going to extremes at 57

Billy Joel -- Still going to extremes at 57

Billy Joel is 57 today. (Meanwhile, the dreaded song Piano Man feels like it's 73.) No word on how Billy will celebrate the day. (As long as it doesn't combine alcohol and motorcycles, he's free to do whatever he likes.) Maybe he could shave that beard so he looks a little less like Garth Brooks or Peter Gabriel.


Though he seems finished with his rock/pop recording career to date, Joel hasn't stopped producing greatest hits and live-concert collections. His latest effort -- 12 Gardens Live -- is a double-disc live collection from his recent 12-night stint at New York's Madison Square Garden. It's set for release in June, when Joel resumes his tour in Vienna.


Speaking of discs .... Did you know Joel had more albums in the 80s than any other decade? True enough. Seven in the 80s alone. Some of his best (Glass Houses, Nylon Curtain, Storm Front) and two of his worst (Innocent Man, Bridge).


We dare not leave without a list in honor of The Man. So here...


Top 5 Billy Joel albums:

5. Storm Front (1989): I Go To Extremes, And So It Goes
4. 52nd Street (1978): Big Shot, My Life, Zanzibar
3. Glass Houses (1980): You May Be Right, Don't Ask Me Why
2. Nylon Curtain (1982): Allentown, Pressure, Goodnight Saigon
1. The Stranger (1977): Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Only the Good Die Young, Movin' Out. (There's a reason it's the only album Judd Nelson wanted back in St. Elmo's Fire).