An Innocent Man

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This article is about the Billy Joel album. For the title track, see An Innocent Man (song). For other uses, see Innocent Man.
An Innocent Man
BillyJoel AnInnocentMan.jpg
Studio album by Billy Joel
Released August 8, 1983 (1983-08-08)
Recorded Chelsea Sound and A&R Recording, Inc., New York, NY Spring, 1983
Genre Rock, rock and roll, pop rock
Length 40:25
Label Family Productions/Columbia
Producer Phil Ramone
Billy Joel chronology
The Nylon Curtain
(1982)The Nylon Curtain1982		 An Innocent Man
(1983)		 Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2
(1985)Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 21985
Singles from An Innocent Man
  1. "Tell Her About It"
    Released: July 1983
  2. "Uptown Girl"
    Released: September 1983
  3. "An Innocent Man"
    Released: December 1983
  4. "The Longest Time"
    Released: March 1984
  5. "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"
    Released: July 1984
  6. "Keeping the Faith"
    Released: September 1984
  7. "This Night"
    Released: November 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[1]
Robert Christgau B+[2]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[3]

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 teenage years with Joel paying 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 listed below for specific homages).[4] The album cover artwork was taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street, just north of the intersection of Mercer and Prince Street in the SoHo neighborhood in New York City.[5]

Chart performance

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 remained on the U.S. 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.

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 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.

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." [4] 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 1950s 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."[4]

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. Title Length
1. "Easy Money" (Homage to James Brown and Wilson Pickett[4]) 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 The Moonglows) 3:42
4. "This Night" (Homage to Little Anthony and the Imperials) 4:17
5. "Tell Her About It" (Homage to Motown groups like The Supremes and The Temptations) 3:52
Side two
No. Title Length
1. "Uptown Girl" (Homage to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons[6]) 3:17
2. "Careless Talk" (Homage to Sam Cooke) 3:48
3. "Christie Lee" (Homage to Little Richard) 3:31
4. "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (Homage to Smokey Robinson) 3:56
5. "Keeping the Faith" (Homage to Pre-British Invasion Rock n Roll) 4:41

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Ralph MacDonald – percussion on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" and "Careless Talk"
  • Leon Pendarvis – Hammond B3 organ on "Easy Money"
  • Richard Tee – acoustic piano on "Tell Her About It"
  • Eric Gale – electric guitar on "Easy Money"
  • "String Fever" - strings
  • Ronnie Cuber – baritone saxophone on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
  • Jon Faddis – trumpet on "Easy Money"
  • David Sanborn – alto saxophone on "Easy Money"
  • Joe Shepley – trumpet on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
  • Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
  • John Gatchell – trumpet on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
  • Tom Bahler – background vocals
  • Rory Dodd – background vocals
  • Frank Floyd – background vocals
  • Lani Groves – background vocals
  • Ullanda McCullough – background vocals
  • Ron Taylor – background vocals
  • Terry Textor – background vocals
  • Eric Troyer – background vocals
  • Mike Alexander – background vocals

Solos

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 Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
1984 An Innocent Man Album of the Year[7] Nominated
"Uptown Girl" Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male[7] Nominated

American Music Awards

Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
1983 Billy Joel (performer) Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist[8] Nominated
"Tell Her About It" Favorite Pop/Rock Video [8] Nominated

Charts

Decade-end charts

Chart (1980–89) Position
Australian Albums Chart[9] 12
UK Albums Chart[31] 33

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[32] 5× Platinum 350,000
Canada (Music Canada)[33] 3× Platinum 300,000
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[34] Gold 10,000
Japan (Oricon Charts) 510,000[13][35]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[36] Platinum 15,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] 3× Platinum 900,000
United States (RIAA)[38] 7× Platinum 7,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

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Preceded by New Zealand Chart number-one album
January 22, 1984
August 5 – 12, 1984		 Succeeded by
Touch by Eurythmics
Legend by Bob Marley & The Wailers
  1. ↑ An Innocent Man at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Billy Joel Website Interview
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Billy Joel website interview
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-11-01
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Allmusic – An Innocent Man > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ THE FIELD id (chart number) MUST BE PROVIDED for NEW ZEALAND CERTIFICATION.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter An Innocent Man in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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