908. Billy Joel / An Innocent Man. 1983. 3.5/5

When this album was first released, I loved it. I loved almost all of the songs on it, and especially those that were released as singles. I enjoyed the fact that it was not the usual new wave pop music that was dominating the radio at the time. The change of pace, the fun side and the soft side, it was all terrific. And that was how I remembered it, until I put it on again recently in anticipation of more such enjoyment.

Now that I am older, not necessarily wiser, but of different and more varied music tastes, the stark fallback in musical genre that this album is generated from is something that is more difficult to face than it was in those early teenage years. It's not that it wasn't obvious all those years ago, but this is in places such a vast divergence from the sound of the albums that went before this that as a package it really has to be dissected with that in mind. So it really is an album that could have come from the 1950's and 1960's, with Billy writing each song as a homage to a different band or genre to the music of his childhood.
What seems to have changed for me from the time of this album's release in 1983 through to today is that while I enjoyed and loved the renditions of the songs back when they were released, at a time I was discovering music in a larger way and enjoying everything that Billy Joel was releasing, now I find them... less interesting, bordering on boring in some cases. And that is nothing more to do than getting older and changing what I listen to I think.
The change in tempo and mood doesn't always make the album cohesive either. "Easy Money" is upbeat and vibrant, sung and played with gusto, before moving straight into the slow moving and moody title track "An Innocent Man" which is a completely different style. Then to complete the triumvirate you have "The Longest Time" which removes most of the instruments and relies mainly on the vices of Billy and his do-wop back up singers. Albums don't have to follow the same course of music style to be accessible, but it helps if there is some sort of progression, and here it feels a bit congested. "This Night" then moves into the bright and breezy "Tell Her About It" which is still a mood lifter whenever it gets played.
"Uptown Girl" is the song that everyone of that generation still knows off by heart and can sing along to whenever it is played. No matter that it is one of a plethora of songs where future second wife Christie Brinkley is the subject matter, it is still one of those songs that brings up memories of that era. "Careless Talk" is harmless, while "Christie Lee" is a little self indulgent and less enjoyable than one would imagine. "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" and "Keeping the Faith" were both released as singles late in the piece, and again their style mixes in within what has come before them.

It's fair to say that I have mixed emotions over this album now. I still recall the love I had for it back in the mid-1980's and trying to come to terms with that in comparison to some of the doubts I harbour for it now makes it a juggling act. There's no doubt that I don't feel as positive about songs such as "Easy Money" and "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" and even "An Innocent Man" and "The Longest Time" as I did thirty years ago. That doesn't deny the fact that despite its change in style from other albums of his, this was still a big part of my early teenage years, and that even now it probably isn't as bad as I am making it out to be. In fact, bad is the incorrect word entirely. I just think I have grown away from the music as it is written. And yet... it is still strong and it is still Billy Joel...

Rating:  "And though you may not have done anything, will that be a consolation when she's gone".   3.5/5