[Note: This is the first in a series of articles that constitute Village Voice Media's year-end music package. The others - pop, indie-rock, dance mixes, Latin, country, alt-country/Americana, metal, rap/hip-hop and special graphics breaking down the year in charts and 2008's worst lyrics - will be posted on Rocks Off throughout the rest of the holiday season.]
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 e
Neil Diamond's hipster cachet has increased greatly in the past few years: The Rick Rubin albums, Saving Silverman, ultimate Neil tribute band Super Diamond and Will Ferrell's deadly funny SNL impression, in which "America" is presented as an anti-immigration number. But his fans have long been an extremely dedicated lot, even when loving Neil was the height of uncoolness.
Music journalist and confessed fan Jon Bream does a good job here telling the tale of the "Jewish Elvis," from the scrapp
Photos by Jody Perry"This bed is on fire with passionate love..." Aftermath has always loved James' "Laid." It's one of our absolute favorite '90s songs, and there couldn't be a better one to preface Regina Spektor's impending appearance at Verizon. The crowd is young, mixed (but mostly white), well-to-do, filling up the floor of the theater save a few scattered empty seats in the back where we're camped out.
It's obviously date night. We see a few girls' night out parties, but mostly it's co
