LogFAQs > #984537938

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
MaxGalactica (8)
Arti (10)
PunishedJeezy (12)
Bitto (16)
Mega_Mana (16)
Seanchan (16)
MetalmindStats (18)
Fluttershy_Pony (24)
MarkS2222222222 (24)
Bane_Of_Despair (28)
HBJDubs (28)
Johnbobb (30)

General Album Comments

PunishedJeezy: I remember finding Uptown Girl very obnoxious in the past, but when I'm listening through the album, it definitely stands out as a highlight. This is okay, but it kind of grates on me by the end. I'm not Billy Joel-pilled yet.

Sheep007: First listen and probably only listen down. This is no The Stranger. It's fine, where that's a genuinely brilliant album which feels it has a lot of heart in and a wide selection of good songs. I was a little surprised this came after The Stranger, since it feels a lot less mature and complete, and kinda shallower? Most of the album feels like kinda generic and disconnected love songs, and there's not much special to most them. The Stranger might be a bit of an unfair comparison to make, but I went in expecting good things and just ended up a bit disappointed. Even the best songs (Uptown Girl and The Longest Time, pretty obviously) are moreso catchy than actually doing much for me. I don't foresee myself doing a ranking because of that, since it'd basically just be choosing which of those two I prefer (The Longest Time, probably) and then slapping the other eight songs in arbitrarily, and I don't think I feel like another listen.

Underleveled: Actually, the "disconnected" feel is deliberate - each song was done in the style of a different subgenre that influenced Joel.

Seanchan: I agree that this is no The Stranger but...

I think the best comparison for myself is with The Beatles and how Rubber Soul ""is no Abbey Road"". Ain't no shame in not being one of the best albums of all time, yet Rubber Soul is still a very, very good, listenable album. The Stranger is basically a greatest hits collection; An Innocent Man has 3 of Joel's big hits and then 7 more songs that, while not as good, are still very, very listenable.

Bane_Of_Despair: I do think this album is perhaps a bit too indebted to its influences, which is the point he was drawing from I know but I'd much rather listen to the doo-wop songs from where it's taking from. And I wouldn't say doo-wop is my favorite genre, but when it's done well and from the classics it's nice. I don't think we really needed Billy Joel's version. He does clearly have a great voice regardless though.

Bitto: Joel has such a pleasant voice and can work well for both faster songs and slower songs. Really enjoyable listen.

Seanchan: Not quite The Stranger but still pretty damn good. One of those ""something has to be last"" albums, where even the worst ranked song is still pretty great. I was going to say this is an easy front runner for my favorite album for Rank the Albums 9 but then I remembered Discovery...so...great chance for second position.

Joel's 2 CD Greatest Hits collection would easily rank among my top 5 albums of all time. Despite that, I'd never listened to a full album of his until we covered The Stranger. Now with An Innocent Man under my belt, I feel like I really just need to dive in and start listening to more of his discography.

Arti: I'm not the biggest fan of this Billy Joel album and I vastly prefer his early works a lot more than this, but it's not a bad listen overall. However, it doesn't have any really standout tracks to me, but I still like listening to the album as a whole, so ranking the tracks here is actually quite difficult. Going with this ranking but I could easily swap some songs around if I listened to this on a different day.

HBJDubs: I have reasons for strongly disliking The Longest Time. Otherwise, I'm not really into this at all outside of Uptown Girl and This Night.

MaxGalactica: Great album. The run from An Innocent Man to Uptown Girl is just banger after banger. It's not as good as The Stranger, but this one's not too far behind it. Joel was so consistently good throughout his career that you can pick pretty much any of his albums and find at least some hits on there. Definitely recommend a deep dive into his discography if you enjoyed this one and The Stranger. Turnstiles, 52nd Street, and River of Dreams are especially good if you don't have time to go through all of it.

MetalmindStats: My expectations for this album weren't high at all going in, but it's been handily exceeding them. So far, it seems about on par with The Stranger for me - similarly an easy listen that goes by pleasantly enough, if not as polished and refined, but then I'm not such a fan of that album anyways.

FoolFantastic: I listened to the album last night but I think I'm allergic to Billy Joel so didn't bother to rank the tracks