#112 Elton John, 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' (1973)

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.