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An Innocent Man

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This article is about the Billy Joel album. For other uses, see Innocent Man (disambiguation).
Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]

An Innocent Man is the ninth album by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel, released in 1983 (see 1983 in music).

This album is Joel's tribute to the popular music from his teenage years.[3] Throughout the album, he pays homage to a number of different popular American musical styles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, most notably doo-wop and soul music (see each track for specific homage).

Chart Success

The album featured three Billboard Top 10 hit singles: "Tell Her About It", which reached #1, "Uptown Girl", which peaked at #3 and "An Innocent Man", which peaked at #10. Four other singles were released from the album: "The Longest Time" (number 14), "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (number 27), "Keeping the Faith" (number 18) and "This Night" (US B-Side of "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"). "Tell Her About It" and "Uptown Girl" garnered international success — "Uptown Girl" reached #1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. An Innocent Man entered the U.S. Pop chart for 111 weeks, becoming Joel's longest charting studio album behind The Stranger. For over a year, the album remained on the charts in the UK, Japan, and Australia.

Awards

Like his three previous efforts, Joel's An Innocent Man received a nomination for the 26th Grammy Award for Album of the Year although Joel lost the award to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Joel was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Uptown Girl" but Jackson won in that category as well.

Background

In an interview about the making of the album, Joel talks about the fact that at the time that he was recording An Innocent Man, he was newly divorced from his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, and was single for the first time since achieving rock star status. So he had the opportunity to date supermodels like Elle Macpherson and Christie Brinkley, and because of these experiences, he said, "I kind of felt like a teenager all over again." [3] And so he started writing songs in the same style as pop songs that he remembered from his teenage years, citing pop music from the late 1950 and early 1960s, including "early R&B songs and The Four Seasons, and the Motown music, soul music."

Joel explained, "When you're gonna write [songs for a new album], you write what you're feeling. And I didn't fight it. The material was coming so easily and so quickly, and I was having so much fun doing it. I was kind of reliving my youth. . .I think within 6 weeks I had written most of the material on the album." Joel also said that he was pleasantly surprised to have hit records in the 1980s with retro songs like the mostly a cappella doo wop song "The Longest Time."[3]

Track listing

All songs by Billy Joel, except for the chorus for "This Night," which is credited on the sleeve to L. V. Beethoven.

The track listing on the LP is slightly different from that on the cassette and original CD pressings, with the latter swapping "The Longest Time" and "Uptown Girl"'s places respectively. However, on the actual cassette shell and disc label, the songs are listed (and play) in the correct order as printed on the LP.

LP Track Listing

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."Easy Money" (Homage to James Brown and Wilson Pickett;[3] Also theme song of the Rodney Dangerfield 1983 film Easy Money, which played during the opening and closing credits of the film.)4:04
2."An Innocent Man" (Homage to Ben E. King and The Drifters)5:17
3."The Longest Time" (Homage to doo-wop; required 14 background vocal tracks, each of which done by Joel and pieced together in production)3:42
4."This Night" (Homage to Little Anthony and the Imperials, uses Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata as the basis for the chorus.)4:17
5."Tell Her About It" (Homage to Motown girl groups like The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas)3:52
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."Uptown Girl" (Homage to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons[4])3:17
2."Careless Talk" (Homage to Sam Cooke)3:48
3."Christie Lee" (Homage to Little Richard--song named after Christie Brinkley)3:31
4."Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (Homage to Smokey Robinson)3:56
5."Keeping the Faith" (Homage to late 1950s-early 1960s R&B)4:41

Personnel

Solos

  • "Toots" Thielemans - harmonica on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"
  • Mark Rivera - alto saxophone on "Keeping the Faith", "This Night" and "Christie Lee"

Production

  • Producer: Phil Ramone
  • Engineers: Jim Boyer, Bradshaw Leigh
  • Assistant engineers: Mike Allaire, Scott James
  • Production coordinator: Laura Loncteaux
  • Mastering: Ted Jensen
  • Horn and string arrangements: David Matthews
  • Background vocal arrangements: Tom Bahler
  • Musical advisor: Billy Zampino
  • Photography: Gilles Larrain
  • Cover design: Christopher Austopchuk, Mark Larson
  • Recorded at Chelsea Sound and A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY
  • Mixed at A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY
  • Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1984 An Innocent Man Album of the Year[5] Nominated
"Uptown Girl" Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male[5] Nominated

American Music Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1981 Billy Joel (performer) Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist[6] Nominated
"Tell Her About It" Favorite Pop/Rock Video [6] Nominated

Charts

References

  1. ^ An Innocent Man at AllMusic
  2. ^ Parke Puterbaugh (1983-08-18), "Music Reviews : An Innocent Man by Billy Joel", Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 2011-08-29 {{citation}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2008-02-20 suggested (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Billy Joel Website Interview
  4. ^ Billy Joel website interview
  5. ^ a b "Rock On The Net: 26th Annual Grammy Awards - 1984". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b "11th American Music Awards". Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  7. ^ a b c d Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  8. ^ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-11-01
  9. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Billy Joel - An Innocent Man". dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  10. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste : Billy JOEL". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  11. ^ a b a-ビリー・ジョエル "Yamachan Land (Japanese Chart Archives) - Albums Chart Daijiten - Billy Joel" (in Japanese). Original Confidence. 2007-12-30. Retrieved 2011-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "charts.org.nz - Billy Joel - An Innocent Man". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  13. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Billy Joel - An Innocent Man". Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  14. ^ "swedishcharts.com Billy Joel - An Innocent Man". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  15. ^ "Chart Stats - Billy Joel - An Innocent Man". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2011-08-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Allmusic - An Innocent Man > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  17. ^ "Album Search: Billy Joel" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
  18. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Music Canada.
  19. ^ "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1985". IFPI Hong Kong.
  20. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  21. ^ "British album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type An Innocent Man in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  22. ^ "American album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Recording Industry Association of America.
  23. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1983". RPM. Retrieved 2011-10-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ 1983年アルバム年間ヒットチャート "Japanese Year-End Albums Chart 1983" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2011-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  25. ^ "UK best albums 1983". Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  26. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1984". RPM. Retrieved 2011-11-01. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ "日本で売れた洋楽アルバムトップ10". Archived from the original on 2011-08-29. Retrieved 2007-10-21. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2007-10-21 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ 1980s Albums Chart Archive "Top Albums of 1984". everyhit.com. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2011-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  29. ^ "1984 Billboard Year-End". Google Books. Billboard. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
Preceded by New Zealand Chart number-one album
January 22, 1984
August 5 – 12, 1984 		Succeeded by
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