An Innocent Man by Billy Joel
An Innocent Man is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on August 8, 1983. The 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). 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
Having established a burgeoning, Grammy-bedecked career as one of America's most successful singer-songwriters via <i>The Stranger</i> and <i>52nd Street</i>, then taken a darker, formulaic glimpse at the personal traumas that lie behind <i>The Nylon Curtain</i>, Billy Joel retreated to the charms of pre-Beatles' American pop here. Though solid Brill Building and R&B charms had always coursed through his best work, here Joel proudly wears them on his sleeve. Whether evoking the energetic verve of the Four Seasons on "Uptown Girl", channeling some Memphis soul into "Easy Money", or paying loving tribute to the street-corner doo-wop of "The Longest Time", Joel virtually abandons the angry angst that had become one of his songwriting trademarks. In its place is love for musical influences that spans the Beethoven-rooted chorus of "This Night" and effusive, Dion-esque pop of "Tell Her About It".
