Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John

For the best part of a decade Elton John’s creative output was astonishing, not just in terms of the amount of music he was delivering but the quality of it. From June 69 through to October 78 he released 12 albums, including the phenomenal double Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. That effectively equates to 13 albums loaded with some exceptional music in just 9 years. He didn’t misfire until 1979 with the disco stinker Victim of Love. No other contemporary artist comes close to emulating that kind of prolific quality over such a sustained period of time.

In the case of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road the majority of the album’s 17 songs were written in the space of a fortnight. After a false and disastrous start of trying to record the album in Jamaica, Elton and his band relocated to the Chateau d’Herouville in France where they’d previously recorded the albums Honky Chateau and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player.

With a string of successful albums already to their credit and the accolades being heaped upon Elton John and Bernie Taupin as a song writing team it’s been suggested that the nostalgic theme of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was born from a realisation that success wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, but Elton claims he was having a ball at the time – and doesn’t the music sound like it!

Bernie has said that his lyrics from that period had more to do with a country kid dealing with the all encompassing world of fame, as opposed to any hollow feelings about wealth or celebrity. Certainly the title track bears that sentiment out and many of the album’s lyrics dealt with Bernie’s boyhood fascinations of America like gangsters (The Ballad of Danny Bailey) and westerns (Roy Rogers) – themes that had already been established on previous albums.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sets a chilling tone with the epic 11 minute track Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. The song opens on a swirling wind sound effect with foreboding chimes setting the dramatic tone for what is about to unfold. In the era of the rock opera the synthesizer intro conceived and played by album engineer David Hentschel is a stunning reflection on that time, but in reality this first part of the song is an overture with Hentschel using melodic themes from elsewhere in the album (including Candle In The Wind, I’ve Seen That Movie Too and The Ballad Of Danny Bailey) to create the piece. The overall effect sounds like a gothic church service, before Elton’s solemn piano melody takes over. Underneath Davey Johnstone produces some haunting tonal harmonics on his electric guitar that sound like a mournful violin. The synth then kicks back in prog rock style with a rippling effect similar to what Jean Michel Jarre would employ 3 years later with his concept album Oxygene. As the song moves through a number of tempo changes we’re almost 6 minutes in before Davey Johnstone cuts loose with the distinctive riff of Love Lies Bleeding and Elton finally starts to sing – we’re only half way through the first song on the album and there’s 16 more to go!

Candle in The Wind, while specifically addressing Marilyn Monroe’s death “could have been about anyone who dies in the prime of their life” according to Bernie Taupin – “it could have been Montgomery Clift or Jim Morrison”. The song itself is timeless, and given its focus on the nature of the media and the insatiable appetite of the public, perhaps more prescient today than ever. Some songs lose their appeal over the years after repeated listening, but Candle In The Wind never loses its magic because of Bernie’s poignantly tragic lyric combined with Elton’s melancholic melody.

From the opening piano chord of Bennie And The Jets you know that this song is something special, although Elton heavily resisted his record company’s insistence to release it as a single in the U.S. this glam inspired slice of funk in electric boots with a mohair suit topped both the American R & B and pop charts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TnUUqXxaQ

The album’s title track is one of Elton’s strangest and beautifully sounding songs. Its weird vocal led many to ask Gus Dudgeon if he’d sped Elton’s voice up, but according to the producer Elton just sang it that way to fit the melody. It’s also the song that really highlighted Elton’s remarkable falsetto – notes that unfortunately he can no longer reach after his voice developed into a baritone. Elton says that when he listens back to his voice now “I sound like a castrati singer”, but this song wouldn’t never have had the impact it did without that voice. It’s the combination of Elton’s higher register and the harmonies from the band that really highlight just how good they were at this time of their career. Davey Johnstone (guitar), Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsen (drums) brilliantly complimented Elton’s vocal to ensure this became one of his classic songs.

Side two opens with Bernie’s introspective lyric of This Song Has No Title followed by Elton’s revamped version of Grey Seal. The original slower, heavier, string laden version appeared on Elton’s 1970 self titled album, but this re-energised take on the song is carried by a cascading piano riff with the band lifting the tempo accordingly with some fabulous drumming from Nigel Olsen. Elton’s far more spirited vocal and Davey Johnstone’s funky rhythm guitar guaranteed that this would become the definitive version, making the original sound sluggish and plodding by comparison.

Jamaica Jerk Off sees Elton dabbling in a bit of reggae with a lyric that was written prior to their disastrous attempt to record the album in the Caribbean. It may not get the attention of other songs on the album, but its humorous and playfully suggestive lyrics it’s a far better song than a lot of the dross that became hits for Elton later in his career.

The slow burning I’ve Seen That Movie Too closes out side two. Bernie’s bitter, jilted and loveless lyric is perfectly captured by Elton’s moody melody with an understated wailing lead guitar from Davey and a glorious orchestral arrangement from Del Newman. Cinematic in more ways than one.

Side three picks up from where the first record left off. It’s another hollow love story from Bernie, but this time it’s an empathetic look at the oldest profession in the book. Sweet Painted Lady is written from the perspective of a sailor coming into port in search of some professional comfort:

I’m back on dry land once again

Opportunity awaits me like a rat in a drain

We’re all hunting honey with money to burn

Just a short time to show you the tricks we’ve learned 

Bernie Taupin doesn’t always get due credit for his wonderful lyrics, but then he doesn’t see himself as a lyricist at all, he prefers the term storyteller. And while there’s no doubting his descriptive powers as a storyteller, it’s Bernie’s ability as a lyricist to tell those stories so persuasively that separates him from the pack. Sweet Painted Lady and I’ve Seen That Movie Too are both excellent examples of his work and are also two of Elton’s most underrated songs.

The Ballad Of Danny Bailey opens with an ominous piano intro with Nigel Olsen hitting the snare like a gunshot. It’s the tale of a “runnin’ gun youngster in a sad, restless age” as Bernie taps into the era of America’s gangsters from the 1930’s (with John Dillinger referenced in the lyric). Elton captures the mood brilliantly and again it’s the wonderful harmonies from the band combined with a superbly strident string arrangement from Del Newman that really makes this one of the album’s standouts. Danny Bailey then puts in train a succession of rockers that sets the album alight. Check out the footage here of Elton and his band “leading a monastic existence!” at the chateau as they listen to the playback of Danny Bailey from the documentary Goodbye Norma Jean.

Dirty Little Girl is the 1970’s personified with a lyric that would never be written today as Bernie delves into an unsavoury low rent life. Davey Johnstone’s dirty little tone sounds like a buzz saw cutting through a wind bag while Elton tears into a fabulous trashed up, glam vocal that absolutely soars over the Mellotron as he breaks into the “whoah – ohs”.

Then it’s one of my all time Elton faves with All The Girls Love Alice. The band is absolutely rocking with Elton delivering a fantastic vocal that rips through the rocking verses and then stops down to the sweetest harmonic tones through the chorus with a little bit of help from Kiki Dee on backing vocals. Usually with rock or pop songs it’s the verses that are slow with a catchy up tempo chorus that’s the hook, but Elton flips that idea around and it’s the juxtaposition of the extremes between the two that really make this song work. Lyrically it’s about an underage girl who sleeps with married women before her life ends tragically. It’s as outrageous as you could get for a mainstream rock song in 73, but again it’s Bernie’s ability to realistically tell the story and his willingness to tap into the seamier side of life that often gave Elton’s songs so much weight.

Side four opens with Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock n Roll), a song that harks back to the early 60’s with some Twist And Shout Beatlesque “aahs” getting the song underway while Elton furiously pounds out a spiraling riff on the Farfisa organ. The song sets a cracking pace ending on a fast and cold finish with just enough time to catch your breath before the band launches into Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting. Bernie’s lyric recall his youth growing up in Lincolnshire where fights would often break out at his local pub, the Aston Arms Hotel. For any working class lad that can’t wait for the weekend has there ever been a more appropriate line than this one?

“I’m a juvenile product of the working class

Who’s best friend floats in the bottom of a glass”

Davey Johnstone’s killer riff is one of the great guitar licks of all time and with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsen holding it all together in the engine room this track kicks some serious freckle. It still sounds exciting more than 40 years later.

After Elton’s extensive rock n roll workout the album suddenly takes a U turn with a complete change of pace as Roy Rogers rides into town. The song of course is a tribute to the singing cowboy film star and harks back to the songs from Elton’s Americana concept album Tumbleweed Connection (1970). As both Elton and Bernie were big fans of westerns and Roy Rogers in particular it’s a wistful tribute with some wonderful lines and Elton adopting an American drawl as he strings out the “R” on Rrrrrrogers.

From late night westerns on TV with a cheese sandwich in hand to a depiction of trailer trash life before the term was invented. Social Disease manages to be gritty, sad and amusing as Elton sings his heart out like he’s “getting juiced on Mateus”. It’s such a catchy chorus made so much more fun as Elton spits out the lyric:

“I get bombed for breakfast in the morning

I get bombed for dinner time and tea

I dress in rags, smell a lot and have a real good time

I’m a genuine example of a social disease”

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’s epic journey comes to a close with Harmony, a song that’s often listed near the top of fan’s favourite album cuts. It’s been suggested that if one more single had been released off the album it would have been this one. Unsurprisingly harmony was the operative word in the recording of the song with Davey, Dee and Nigel recording multiple backing tracks and their combined vocals filling the final notes at the end of the song. It’s one of those obvious endings that just feels right for such a classic album.

Looking back at this record now it would be far too easy to dismiss Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as an overblown exercise in excess. It was the 70’s after all and this was Elton John at the height of his powers as a musician and flamboyant entertainer. It could be argued that Gus Dudgeon’s production was a tad excessive with everything from a fake live audience on Bennie And The Jets to galloping horses riding off into the sunset on Roy Rogers. But this is a cinematic album (oh, you didn’t notice the title?) conceptually ambitious and grand in its scope. It delivers on every single track and it does so because of the quality of the production, music and musicianship. Take away the accessories and you’re still left with an extraordinary collection of songs.