80's Music Review: Billy Joel's An Innocent Man (1983)

Brilliant and Joyful, Less Angst and More Optimism

Ever since piano man Billy Joel released his "angry-at-the-world" hits, such as "My Life," "Movin' Out," "The Stranger," "Only the Good Die Young," "Always a Woman," and "Big Shot," I've been spellbound. These songs were intended for me, I was sure.

There was always an unleashed energy and poetic angst in most of his early songs. Filled with relentless, often ugly emotions, in-your-face lyrics, bubbling over with torment and power, the songs ripped right through my soul. His songs mirrored my own personal demons, my own disappointments. His melancholy was MY melancholy.

So, when I first heard Joel's 1983 album An Innocent Man, ebullient retro songs like "For the Longest Time," "Tell Her About It," and "Uptown Girl" were baffling and irritating. I felt betrayed. What happened to the angry young man I had embraced and admired, who worked magic with bad-attitude lyrics like no one else? An Innocent Man album was like stepping into Mr. Peabody's Way-Back Machine from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons: doo-wop, jazz, classic rock from previous American music eras. Nothing at all like what was currently hitting the top of the charts in 1983, and the songs were an about-face from his hard-hitting tunes on "The Stranger," "52^nd Street," "Nylon Curtain," and "Piano Man." It was film noir vs. Disney. I was in agony.

But, once I stopped expecting Joel's trademark tirades and fury, I really listened. And I was unexpectedly bowled over. The diverse selection of tracks he had created for An Innocent Man, were, on the surface, trifling and bubblegum-pop-ish. But they proved to be much deeper, more soulful than I had given them credit to be.

Awash with new-found respect for his artistry, I heard and felt a new Billy Joel. He had evolved as a songwriter, was in love with the girl of his dreams, and decided, for this album, to just have fun while paying tribute to the music genres of his childhood that had influenced his musical path.