One of Billy Joel’s most popular albums, An Innocent Man, was released 41 years ago today. But here at my website, I play judge and jury as I assess whether the album’s 10 tracks are innocent or guilty as charged. Silence in court!
Easy Money
This gets the album off to a cracking start. It was also the track that kicked An Innocent Man into gear. Joel had agreed to contribute a soundtrack for the 1983 Rodney Dangerfield movie of the same name. Wanting to revisit the music he grew up with, Joel came up with the idea of making an album comprising 10 homages to classic soul, rock ‘n’ roll and doo wop. It’s been called a concept album of sorts, but for those expecting beardy weirdy 25 minute magnum opuses about mystical goblins called Valli, relax: it’s accessible to all.
Easy Money is a brassy bit of blue-eyed soul, expertly structured and performed. It’s a wonder this wasn’t chosen as one of the seven (!) singles to be released. It’s streets ahead of one or two others which did make the cut, and is one of the high spots of the album.
An Innocent Man
Hmmm. This has similarities to Until The Night from 52nd Street, which I’ve never cared for much. While it’s said to have been inspired by the likes of Ben E King and The Drifters, I’m getting Righteous Brothers vibes again. With that in mind, it’s one of the lesser cuts on the album.
In its favour, Joel is a little less earnest here than Until The Night. He puts a bit more passion and soul into his vocals, culminating in some great high note hitting. As he was getting older (yeah, 34 is really pipe and slippers time), Joel claimed that this was one of his last chances to let rip vocally – hence the repeated screams of “HIIIIII AAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!” Hopefully, a session musician didn’t whack his extremities with a mallet on cue.
The Longest Time
Quite a brave choice for a single – especially hot on the heels of two successful ones. Mind you, don’t forget in 1983 that a cappella was making a mini revival of sorts. The Flying Pickets claimed the Christmas Number One that year with a cover of Yazoo’s Only You.
I dimly recall the video on Top Of The Pops which has Joel scatting with his band members in a high school gym. In fact, this is all Billy himself. As well as lead vocals, he performs the backing vocals, finger clicks and claps. It’s a nice little interlude, and a good example of the more light-hearted approach taken after the more heavy-going Nylon Curtain.
This Night
When I was younger, I’d constantly fret about my height. These days, 5’9” is regarded as Ronnie Corbett territory. But you know what? I couldn’t give a toss. If we’re wading into shallow waters, my wife is three inches taller than me – which seems to be a common thing for vertically challenged rock stars like 5’5” Billy.
Before he met Christie Brinkley, he dated Elle MacPherson for a spell – another six footer. This Night is about that short (ha not ha) romance, and for some reason takes inspiration from Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata – to the point where the composer himself gets a credit.
It’s OK. Like some of Joel’s other lesser efforts, it’s a bit too overwrought for my tastes. I say my tastes, but then when this track was released as a single, it couldn’t even make the Top 75. Maybe the record playing public at large agreed.
Tell Her About It
Decent follow-up to the big Number One (up next), this time recalling soul groups like The Temptations and The Supremes. It’s got that same kind of rhythmic feel to it as You Can’t Hurry Love, which had been resurrected the year before by Phil Collins.
The lyrics are a bit like the Fonz giving Chiachi dating tips, but there’s a nicely innocent charm to the thing. It’s infernally catchy, but strangely, Joel no longer plays it at his shows.
Uptown Girl
There should be some sort of ban on crap cover versions of good pop choons. Or at the very least, some kind of quality test machine which rejects duff interpretations and hurls them into a pit of rabbit poo.
Uptown Girl is a case in point as it was covered by those evil robot vampires Pondlife, who simultaneously sucked every last bit of joy from the original, leaving it as a withered husk bereft of energy.
The original remains a finely crafted pop pastiche, thinking back to the days of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons – right down to the fi-yi-yine mimicking. The Nylon Curtain hadn’t been as big a hit as earlier stuff, so Uptown Girl’s number one status redressed the balance.
Careless Talk
As with yesterday’s chat about Pretenders II, a couple of the lesser-known tracks on An Innocent Man end up being some of my favourites.
Careless Talk is a case in point – it has a bit of a Calypso vibe working for it, and it’s another comparatively breezy effort that helps make the album a pleasure rather than a chore to listen to.
Christie Lee
Joel has insisted that An Innocent Man was, for the most part, not autobiographical, instead telling the tales of various fictional characters. Hindsight is a bit ironic though, given that Christie Lee (Brinkley’s middle name happens to be Lee – coincidence, non?) tells the story of a saxophonist who has his heart broken by the eponymous lady. While Joel and Brinkley tied the knot in 1985, the marriage only lasted until 1994.
On its own terms, Christie Lee is one of my personal favourites on the album, a fast-paced, piano-driven rock ‘n’ roller that boasts a killer saxophone turn from Mark Rivera. Joel gives one of his best vocal performances on a track that would have made for a much better candidate for single release than some of the others like…
Leave A Tender Moment Alone
In the days when I listened to the radio, I tutted and rolled my eyes wearily whenever Leave A Tender Moment Alone played. These days, I’m wondering why.
It’s not a terrible track by any means, just a wee bit dull. I also think it’s maybe because of some of the odd choices made. Joel’s vocals, for instance. It’s a woozy, end-of-the-night last dance kind of number, and yet Joel furiously hollers his way through proceedings as if someone’s just taken an axe to his piano. It’s a weird clash that doesn’t quite land.
Nice harmonica solo from Toots Thielemans, though!
Keeping The Faith
The only baldly autobiographical track recounts Joel’s teenage days growing up. He remembers the days when he used to hang out with his wild buddies, wore matador boots and combed his hair in a pompadour. But rather than moping about how he’s not that young teenager, instead Joel celebrates the small pleasures in life such as supping on an ice cold beer and listening to his 45s.
It’s a nicely understated conclusion with its perky shuffle ending the album on a positive note. I like it a lot – much like the album, which has the positives outweighing the negative. Amazingly, I didn’t even switch off Leave A Tender Moment Alone. Yay, yay, yay, yay, I’m Keeping The Faith!
(Cover design credited to Christopher Austopchuk and Mark Larson)
