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From the out and out prog rock of "Funeral For A Friend" to the absolutely beautiful closing ballad "Harmony", you feel as if you are going on a journey with Elton, Bernie and the band. The 17 songs featured on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are arguably the finest of his many collaborations with Bernie Taupin. Basically, there are so many truly classic songs on here, that to single out one or two would be just plain wrong. Definitely one of the best albums that Elton and Bernie have ever done. This was the first really cohesive album, though it covered a fantastic range of styles so well that most other artists couldn't even come close to the breadth of this album. Even though this album is now more than 30 years old, it puts a lot of others made in the meantime to shame - in such ways as lyrics, songwriting craft, and musicianship. To my way of thinking, this album was only bettered by Elton et al once - on the absolutely sublime masterpice that is Captain Fantastic and most recently The Captain and The Kid.
So much quality crammed into such as a small time frame. I could never tire of GYBR.
There is not a dud track and the best songs are the ones you don't hear very often. This album is perfect from the opening synth sweep to the closing ballad and is a truly deserving five-star album.
A personal favourite no doubt, and the DVD-Audio version contains three bonus tracks that are also just magnificent. This album saw the boys at their creative peaks.
To just rip songs like this out with endless confidence must be so rewarding. Thankfully it's a double album.
Love it, love it, love it.
Fast shipping and in excellent shape.Not a scratch-I love it and wish I could buy all my used CD's from the same person.Thanks.
In my opinion this is probably the best era for Elton John as well as many other musicians during that time. Not that I'm casting any doubt on the fine quality of his music in succeeding years, but this style of music with complex melodic arrangements and accompanying guitars to back his piano stylings heralds a time when music was an odyssey into the imagination.
Though I was never a huge fan of "Bennie and the Jets", one can appreciate the diversity it brings to the album as well as its reaching number one on the charts. "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-34)" is a step back in the right direction, though still not as good as a lot of the other tracks, and "Dirty Little Girl" is a bit better, but the quality really goes up again with "All the Girls Love Alice" which closes out side three of the original release. "Candle in the Wind" is a piece which seems to get more and more popular as time goes on, and of course Elton reworked it when Princess Diana passed away in a tribute to her. Even now when looking back at Elton's entire career up to now, this album stands out as one of the high-points, if not the high point of his long and tremendous career.The album has a tremendous start as "Funeral for a Friend" is a great opening for the album, building to a magnificent crescendo and then transforming into "Love Lies Bleeding" which is the other part of the first track. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is, for many people, the best Elton John album ever released. Over 76 minutes of wonderful music and lyrics from one of the great song-writing duos, and performed by a legend at his peak. It is not horrible, but fairly average in my view. "Jamaica Jerk-Off" is an enjoyable light piece leading into the more somber "I've Seen That Movie Too", which is a strong finish to the first half of the double album."Sweet Painted Lady" is a fairly weak start to the second half of the album, as it is one of my least favorite tracks on the album.
"Roy Rogers" and "Social Disease" are both quirky but enjoyable, and then the album closes fairly strong with "Harmony".Elton John plays a variety of keyboards and sings on all the tracks and is joined by his band which consists of: Dee Murray (bass, backing vocals); Davey Johnstone (guitars, backing vocals, banjo); Nigel Olsson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is of course the title track and was the opening track on side two of the double album and is one of Elton John's best songs of all time. A double album gave his fans plenty of tracks to listen to, and he and Bernie Taupin were at the peak of their collaborative efforts. "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock & Roll) is another of the weak tracks, but it is worth sitting through to get to "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting". Oddly enough Elton didn't want it on side one of the album, nor did he want it released as a single. "This Song has No Title" is the next piece, and not surprisingly it is a step down in quality from the first four tracks, though still very pleasant as is "Grey Seal" which follows. There are also some guests on the album including: David Hentschel (synthesizer on "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "All the Girls Love Alice"); Prince Rhino (interjection vocals on "Jamaica Jerk-Off"; Ray Cooper (tambourine on "All the Girls Love Alice"); Kiki Dee (backing vocals on "All the Girls Love Alice"); and Leroy Gomez (saxophone on "Social Disease").A wonderful album which captures Elton John at his best. Definitely worth picking up unless you just don't like Elton John.
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