#112 Elton John, 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' (1973)
Previously #91
This album holds the esteemed honour of featuring one of my favourite album openers of all-time, the incredible ‘Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding.’ It’s such a brilliant and unexpected 11-minute build up. Originally the two songs were written as two separate pieces, not intended to be tacked together. The first half of the song is the music that John imagined he’d like to be played at his funeral. The instrumental piece sums up his personality perfectly in music; unpredictable, bombastic, gentle and grandiose. Bernie Taupin reportedly wrote the lyrics for the double album in two and a half weeks with the prolific Elton John composing the music in three days. Two and a half weeks and three days to write songs such as ‘Candle In The Wind,’ ‘Bennie and the Jets,’ ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,’ and ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting).’ Astounding, really.
It took four weeks to reach the top of the charts, where it would stay for 8 consecutive weeks. The album would go on to become Elton John’s best-selling record at 30m+ copies sold worldwide. It’s also one of my favourite records of all time. It’s an almost perfect record. Why almost? I’ve just never enjoyed ‘Jamaica Jerk-Off,’ in my opinion the weak point on an incredibly strong record. Jimmy Cliff’s 'The Harder They Come: Original Soundtrack' (#174) had been released the previous year and Reggae was introduced to the world. John was one of the artists that jumped on board early. Other strong points on a strong record include ‘Sweet Painted Lady’ and ‘The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-1934),’ an utterly brilliant song that deserves more recognition. ‘Candle In The Wind’ would go on to become the second best-selling single of all time, thanks to the 1997 rework in tribute to Princess Diana. The album once again features the trio of Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson on bass, guitar and drums, respectively. As mentioned previously, their backing vocals are a main contributor to Elton John’s sound in the ‘70s. This is a 5-star album for me (yes, I can forgive ‘Jamaica Jerk-Off’ because the rest of the record is just that good).
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