Track Listing

1. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
2. Candle In The Wind
3. Bennie And The Jets
4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
5. This Song Has No Title
6. Grey Seal
7. Jamaica Jerk-Off
8. I've Seen That Movie Too
9. Sweet Painted Lady
10. The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)
11. Dirty Little Girl
12. All The Girls Love Alice
13. Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock'n Roll)
14. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
15. Roy Rogers
16. Social Disease
17. Harmony

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1523 in Music
• Released on: 1995-05-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 76 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even those who customarily dismiss Elton John as a somewhat bland and sentimental balladeer would find much to admire in Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the best album he has ever made. The track listing reads like an early Greatest Hits collection; it contains not only the original version of "Candle In The Wind" but such raucous and gleeful songs as "Bennie And The Jets", "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" and "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n' Roll)". From the impassioned opening medley of "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" to the gentle closer, "Harmony", there are few duff moments among these 17 tracks. "All The Young Girls Love Alice" is a savage but wry tale of lesbian exploitation, and the title song is just short of lovely. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is both a joy for fans and a genuine surprise for the uninitiated. --David Bennun

CD Description
Elton John's 8th album was originally released as a double LP set, but is now available on one CD. Containing 18 new songs at the time of release; 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' acted as a microcosm of John's career up to that point. Mellow ballads are included alongside heavy rockers.

Customer Reviews

His Most Classic Album! The Peak!
Elton John reached his first peak in 1973 with this originally two record recording. Now on one disc, it's a masterpiece. Yielding four major singles and plenty of concert standards, this CD surpasses anything he has ever recorded in originality and versatility. "Funeral For A Friend" is everyone's favorite and "Candle In The Wind" later became a "live" single (although it charted poorly). Who can forget "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" with it's plaintive lyrics and the concert stopping "Bennie And The Jets"? "Grey Seal" was rerecorded from four years prior with a more complex arrangment and "Jamiaca Jerf-Off" is the precursor to "Island Girl" with it's Jamaican lilt. ... attitude comes through with "All The Girls Love Alice", a song he included on his rich Box Set. Every song is a master and it's not surprising that Elton John had way too many great songs at one time. Plenty of ballads, hard rockers, sweet melodies and lyrics that turn your ear, this is one of Elton John's classics! A great leaflet with all the lyrics is included.

One of his best LPs
Released in 1973, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is still seen by many as Elton John's best album and it's not difficult to see why. It's a double LP full of strong songs and melodies...

First the hits for four of the songs featured have become Elton standards. The title track has superb chord changes and has one of Bernie Taupin's most moving lyrics about a small-town mid-west boy returning home after experiencing the all-too-bright lights of the glamorous big city. It was used to brilliant effect in the superb BBC drama series Our Friends In The North in the mid 90s. More typical musically of the early 70s settings of that particular episode would be the glam-rock Benny & The Jets and Who-influenced Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting which are included as well as the now over-familiar but still poignant Marilyn Monroe / Princess Diana tribute Candle In The Wind.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road begins with the instrumental Funeral For A Friend which has something of the rock opera overture to it before segueing into the vocal Love Lies Bleeding. Other melodic highlights include Grey Seal and Sweet Painted Lady though the latter is countered by lyircs about a prostitute. A very 70s lyrical decadence is also present elsewhere on GYBR such as on All The Girls Love Alice and the working class, drinking and fighting mentality of the aforementioned Saturday Night's...

Nevertheless the melodies shine pretty much throughout with some good playing by Elton and his band. Guitarist Davey Johnstone particularly shines with his fast-strumming "acoustic-Townsend-on-an-electric" style. An excellent LP.

Yellowbrick Magic
This is a classic double album of the vinyl age when a double album was a brave thing to do. Before the CD age when albums lasting more than 60 minutes became rather annoyingly frequent. A single album used to last 35 minutes. And double albums in the 1970s often carried a heavy price tag and fans could quite justifiably question why they should pay near double price if the quality over the four sides even remotely smacked of self indulgence or the reckless inclusion of tracks which probably should have been left on the studio floor. Not with this album. Not with this album. For it sustains a quality pretty much throughout which Elton or many others would fail to match in the ensuing years. Elton himself has come close on several occasions since but not once has he surpassed this masterpiece. And now unbelievably you can pick it up for not much than a fiver. A shining example of Value For Money as opposed to Money for Nothing if there ever was one.
The serenity of this album is set by the very first track. Those hypnotic organ chords which launch 'Funeral For A Friend' which then develops into a gorgeous piano-guitar instrumental. For this track alone Elton should be bought a pint a day for the rest of his life. Then the way it then transforms into 'Love Lies Bleeding' which is among Elton's most pulsating rockers with a terrific lyric which leaves one speechless every time. Who ever said Elton was a Singles Man (or Single Man for that matter :-) should listen to this track. Not a single but an sublime album track which most casual fans are probably not even aware of. Then we come to 'Candle In The Wind' which anyone would surely agree is in the Top 10 Ballads written in the last 50 years. Again Bernie Taupin's lyrics are utterly timeless. 'Bennie And The Jets' is admittedly less good and becomes a little irksome on repeated listenings. But at least it is original, nothing much like it has been recorded before it or since. In a generous mood, I would say it is pretty damn good. The title track is such a memorable song that it probably is also nudging into the afore mentioned Top Ten. Not often you can even begin to make that claim about two songs on the same album!
Then we do see a drop off in quality as the rest of Side 2 (vinyl record) fails to inspire, although the reggae track 'Jamaica Jerk Off' is at least highly amusing.
'Sweet Painted Lady' opened Side 3 and again is a breathtaking ballad which would likely have been a monster hit single if it had been released as such. Side 3 has other highlights too, not least the raunchy 'Ballad Of Danny Bailey' and the amusing romp that is 'All The Young Girls Love Alice'. But it is Side 4 which sees a quite staggering return of the quality so consistently displayed on Side 1. Only this time there is no weak link. The opening number 'Your Sister Can't Twist (but she can Rock 'N Roll)' is an infectious dance number with an incredible organ solo in the middle. Then 'Saturday Night' rocks relentlessly to great effect. Play these two back to back at a party and you will see what I mean. 'Roy Rogers' is another (another) great ballad. It would appear that Elton could at this stage toss off a great ballad almost at will! 'Social Disease' is an amusing rocker about Elton's fondness for a drop of liquor, in the same way that Ringo's 'No No Song' was. Before it became a Problem.
Then we come to the closing 'Harmony', which at the risk of repetition is an immensely engaging and beautiful ballad, with another highly moving lyric.
Make no mistake this is Elton's Finest Moment. Buy the Greatest Hits if you have to but I'll venture to suggest that you might find this album a more rewarding experience. For it showcases a double set that sees Elton at his mercurial magical best. The band too (Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums) is also fantastic