An Innocent Man

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An Innocent Man
BillyJoel AnInnocentMan.jpg
Studio album by
Billy Joel
ReleasedAugust 8, 1983 (1983-08-08) [1]
RecordedSpring, 1983
Studio
Genre
Length40:25
Label Family Productions/Columbia
Producer Phil Ramone
Billy Joel chronology
The Nylon Curtain
(1982)		An Innocent Man
(1983)		 Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II
(1985)
Singles from An Innocent Man
  1. "Tell Her About It"
    Released: July 1983
  2. "Uptown Girl"
    Released: September 1983
  3. "This Night"
    Released: October 1983
  4. "An Innocent Man"
    Released: December 1983
  5. "The Longest Time"
    Released: March 1984
  6. "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"
    Released: June 1984
  7. "Keeping the Faith"
    Released: January 1985 [6]

An Innocent Man is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on August 8, 1983. The concept album is a tribute to the American popular music of Joel's adolescent years with Joel paying homage to a number of different and popular American musical styles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, most notably doo-wop and soul music. [2] The album cover artwork was taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street, [7] just north of the intersection of Mercer and Prince Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. [8]

Contents

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. He had the opportunity to date supermodels such as Elle Macpherson and Christie Brinkley, and because of these experiences, he said, "I kind of felt like a teenager all over again." [2] Joel started writing songs in the same styles as pop songs that he remembered from his teenage years, citing pop music from the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "early R&B songs and The Four Seasons, and the Motown music, soul music." According to Joel, the various songs were not meant to be autobiographical, and instead center around various made-up characters. [9]

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." [2] The song "Easy Money", which was made as a tribute to early R&B, was initially written for the 1983 film of the same name starring Rodney Dangerfield and was the song that "kicked off" the creation of An Innocent Man, according to Joel. [9] Dangerfield later made a cameo appearance at the end of the music video for the song "Tell Her About It", as an exchange for Joel's song in support of Dangerfield's movie. The song "Christie Lee" describes a narrative about a saxophone player who has his heart broken by a woman he falls in love with, whom he later realizes is only interested in him for his saxophone skills. [9]

Chart performance

The album featured three Billboard Top 10 hit singles: "Tell Her About It" (No. 1), "Uptown Girl" (No. 3) and "An Innocent Man" (No. 10). Four other singles were released from the album: "The Longest Time" (No. 1), "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (No. 27), "Keeping the Faith" (No. 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 No. 1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. An Innocent Man remained on the US Pop album 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Christgau's Record Guide B+ [10]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [11]

Like his three previous efforts, Joel's An Innocent Man received a nomination for the 26th Grammy Award for Album of the Year, although the award went to Michael Jackson's Thriller . The album was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Uptown Girl," but again was beaten by Thriller.

Track listing

All songs by Billy Joel, except for the chorus for "This Night," which is credited on the sleeve to Joel and 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 places of "The Longest Time" and "Uptown Girl." However, on the actual cassette shell and disc label, the songs are listed (and play) in the correct order as printed on the LP.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Easy Money" (Homage to James Brown and Wilson Pickett [2] )4:04
2."An Innocent Man" (Homage to Ben E. King and The Drifters)5:17
3."The Longest Time" (Homage to doo-wop groups like Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and in particular "So Much In Love" by The Tymes)3:42
4."This Night" (Homage to Little Anthony and the Imperials; chorus tune is Ludwig van Beethoven's Pathetique sonata)4:17
5."Tell Her About It" (Homage to Motown groups like The Supremes and The Temptations)3:52
Total length:21:12
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Uptown Girl" (Homage to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons [12] )3:17
7."Careless Talk" (Homage to Sam Cooke)3:48
8."Christie Lee" (Homage to Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis)3:31
9."Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (Homage to Smokey Robinson)3:56
10."Keeping the Faith" (Homage to Betty Wright's "Clean Up Woman". Lyrical homage to Pre-British Invasion Rock n Roll)4:41
Total length:19:13

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Studios

Accolades

Grammy Awards

YearNominee / workAwardResult
1984 An Innocent Man Album of the Year [13] Nominated
"Uptown Girl" Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male [13] Nominated

American Music Awards

YearNominee / workAwardResult
1983 Billy Joel (performer)Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist [14] Nominated
"Tell Her About It"Favorite Pop/Rock Video [14] Nominated

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for An Innocent Man
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [41] Gold20,000^
Canada (Music Canada) [42] 3× Platinum300,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong) [43] Gold10,000*
Japan—510,000 [20] [44]
New Zealand (RMNZ) [45] Platinum15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [46] 3× Platinum900,000^
United States (RIAA) [47] 7× Platinum7,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. ↑ "An Innocent Man". Billy Joel Official Site. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Billy Joel Website Interview". Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "An Innocent Man – Billy Joel". AllMusic . Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Puterbaugh, Parke (August 18, 1983). "An Innocent Man". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on June 15, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  5. ↑ Matos, Michaelangelo (December 8, 2020). "Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles: February 28, 1984". Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year. Hachette Books. p. 72. ISBN   978-0-306-90337-3.
  6. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 436. ISBN   978-0-86241-541-9.
  7. ↑ "Billy Joel – "An Innocent Man" Album Cover Location". ROCK AND ROLL GPS. September 3, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Billy Joel – An Innocent Man – Album Cover Location", PopSpots
  9. 1 2 3 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Billy Joel MTV On the Road Liner Notes interview 1984". YouTube . May 20, 2016.
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  11. ↑ Evans, Paul (2004). "Billy Joel". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  434–435. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  12. ↑ "Billy Joel website interview". Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Rock On The Net: 26th Annual Grammy Awards – 1984". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  14. 1 2 "11th American Music Awards" . Retrieved November 1, 2011.
  15. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 156.
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  19. ↑ "Ísland (LP-plötur)". DV (in Icelandic). September 9, 1983. p. 37. ISSN   1021-8254 – via Timarit.is.
  20. 1 2 "Yamachan Land (Japanese Chart Archives) – Albums Chart Daijiten – Billy Joel" (in Japanese). Original Confidence. December 30, 2007. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
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  22. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Billy Joel Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  26. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 435.
  27. ↑ "The Top Albums of 1983". RPM. Vol. 39, no. 17. December 24, 1983. p. 15. ISSN   0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  28. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1983" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts . Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  29. ↑ 年間アルバムヒットチャート 1983年（昭和58年） [1983 Japanese Year-End Albums Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1983". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  31. ↑ Scaping, Peter, ed. (1984). "Top 100 LPs: 1983". BPI Year Book 1984. British Phonographic Industry. pp. 44–45. ISBN   0-906154-04-9.
  32. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 436.
  33. ↑ "Top 100 Albums of 1984". RPM. Vol. 41, no. 17. January 5, 1985. p. 8. ISSN   0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  34. ↑ 日本で売れた洋楽アルバムTOP30(84年) [Top 30 best-selling international albums in Japan (1984)]. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  35. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1984". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Top 100 Albums (January 3–December 29, 1984)" (PDF). Music Week . January 26, 1985. p. 42. ISSN   0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
  37. ↑ "Top Pop Albums of 1984". Billboard. December 31, 1984. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  38. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 437.
  39. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1985". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  40. ↑ Kent 1993.
  41. ↑ "CBS International Reaps Metal" (PDF). Cash Box . December 10, 1983. p. 18. Retrieved December 7, 2021– via World Radio History.
  42. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Music Canada.
  43. ↑ "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1985". IFPI Hong Kong.
  44. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  45. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Recorded Music NZ.
  46. ↑ "British album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". British Phonographic Industry.
  47. ↑ "American album certifications – Billy Joel – An Innocent Man". Recording Industry Association of America.

Bibliography

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