Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was where Elton John's personality began to gather more attention than his music, as it topped the American charts for eight straight weeks. In many ways, the double album was a recap of all the styles and sounds that made John a star. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is all over the map, beginning with the prog rock epic "Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)" and immediately careening into the balladry of "Candle in the Wind." For the rest of the album, John leaps between popcraft ("Bennie and the Jets"), ballads ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), hard rock ("Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"), novelties ("Jamaica Jerk-Off"), Bernie Taupin's literary pretensions ("The Ballad of Danny Bailey"), and everything in between. Though its diversity is impressive, the album doesn't hold together very well. Even so, its individual moments are spectacular and the glitzy, crowd-pleasing showmanship that fuels the album pretty much defines what made Elton John a superstar in the early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Track List
(try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)
This reviewer is crazy! This is a totally awesome album - a must have for any rock fan's collection. The gorgeous "This Song Has No Title", the resplendent "Funeral for a Friend", the hilarious "Social Disease", the hummable "Harmony", the groovy "Grey Seal"...and then there's the hits. Go out and get this cd. Your iPod will thank you.
I love this album, but the formulas start to get too similar. The trademark backing harmonies are like a rubber stamp on most of the songs. A double-album's fate often falls victim to this kind of same-ness. It's best to shelve the extra tunes for release a year or more later, giving weaker tunes time to mature. Also, you can incorporate new sounds, or new musicians, and give the charts a breather from your current material. All the Girls Love Alice could have been Top 10...
I disagree with the reviewer's criticism. This album really works so well because of the fact that he covers so much material within it, not in spite of it. The variety of styles, and the fact that there's so much of it on the record, easily makes it one of the best albums ever. Plus the first four tracks were some of the best he's ever done, and made for one hell of an album beginning.
Elton's best.. and also his 'dividing LP' between the early, formative years and the later superstar (but lesser quality) years.
But, how come I remember it as a 'double LP'?? Only 17 songs? Wasn't it originally a double LP with more songs, or is my memory fading faster than Elton's hairline?
I bought this album when I was about 12 years old, and while much of the lyrics were way over my head at the time, I loved the music. Going back into the Elton John catalogue suggests to me that everything he'd done previous to YBR was done in preparation for this record, and he's never done anything close to this good since. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is one of my lifelong essential albums.
What? The album holds together extremely well - it's diversity is what made it a classic. I became a lifetime fan because of this album - always fun, always memorable, one of the best combinations of pop and rock and roll ever (and "Blue Moves" was great, too). Thanks Elton!