Elton John found his most enduring success with the diverse nostalgia of this sprawling musical tapestry. Recording began in Jamaica; but the dangerous political situation and the dismal state of the studio led the band to leave the country. They returned to Château d'Hérouville in France, where 'Honky Château' and 'Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player' had been recorded. Bernie Taupin recalls: "Everybody seemed to be getting on very well again I think-after the whole debacle of Jamaica-I think anything would have worked. We were so relieved; and it just became this very conducive kind of atmosphere to working: We would write in the morning and walk around the grounds and record whenever we felt like it."
'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' features Elton John on vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, Farfisa organ, mellotron, and Leslie piano; Dee Murray on bass guitar; Davey Johnstone on acoustic, electric, Leslie, slide and steel guitars, and banjo; Nigel Olsson on drums; Ray Cooper on tambourine and congas; with Kiki Dee, Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone, and Nigel Olsson on backing vocals; Del Newman on orchestral arrangements; Leroy Gomez on saxophone solo; and David Hentschel on A.R.P. and synthesizer. The creative process was so fruitful that twenty-two songs were composed and eighteen were deemed good enough to go on the album, making it a double album.
John remembers: "It wasn't hard. It wasn't an effort; it was a pleasure. Nowadays sometimes it's an effort...recording can be difficult. but i think in those days because we were a unit because of my relationship with Bernie and the band and the management team and everything that went with it. it was just like a little family and it was great...The great advantage of having that band-and I must stress how important the band were to me-is that we all knew different styles of playing and everything gelled very quickly. As musicians they just knew what to play on the songs...it was a great environment and it was quick. in those days you didn't have the technology to slow you down i always find these days that technology slows you down so much, whereas in those days you just plugged in your amp you did the take and you did your vocals and went to the next song...The way we'd write at the chateau would be, we'd have an area at breakfast with this little electric piano was set up and a little drum kit and the band would learn it, they would learn it as I was writing it and we'd go over and record it."
'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' was a smash hit, going to forty-one in Germany; nine in New Zealand; five in Norway; and number one in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. It spent eight weeks at the top of the US album chart and produced four hit singles. The album has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and has sold over thirty-one million copies worldwide.
John says: "I think I found my own little niche by then. I didn't have to copy anybody. I was finding my feet as a vocalist...by that time I was finding my own style...I think it's a good collection of songs brilliantly recorded by Gus Dudgeon and brilliantly played by me and the band...It was magic. That time in my life-that creative period-will never ever come back again. You search for it and you try and think 'It'd be great to' but it will never happen again. It's a special time."
Taupin considers: "I just guess it hits a note with people; the people who sort of grew up with us. That's maybe the strongest point, it's the sort of the karmic root to everything that we've done since then or before then."
http://www.eltonjohn.com/
'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'
full album:
Side one
1. "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" 11:09
2. "Candle in the Wind" 3:50
3. "Bennie and the Jets" 5:23
Side two
4. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 3:13
5. "This Song Has No Title" 2:23
6. "Grey Seal" 4:00
7. "Jamaica Jerk-Off" 3:39
8. "I've Seen That Movie Too" 5:59
Side three
9. "Sweet Painted Lady" 3:54
10. "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–34)" 4:23
11. "Dirty Little Girl" 5:00
12. "All the Girls Love Alice" 5:09
Side four
13. "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n Roll)" 2:42
14. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" 4:57
15. "Roy Rogers" 4:07
16. "Social Disease" 3:42
17. "Harmony" 2:46
"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" hit number forty-four in Germany, thirty-one in Australia, thirteen in Ireland, twelve in Canada and the US, and number seven in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSA_RLCriHs
"Candle in the Wind" reached eleven in the UK and eight in Ireland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1XlMsTgmM
"Bennie and the Jets" made it to number thirty-seven in the UK, eighteen in Ireland, and number one in Canada and the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vLlpJc9mW0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrI7AAZh4os
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" charted at number forty-nine in Germany, twenty in the Netherlands, nine in Norway, six in the UK, four in Ireland, three in Australia, two in the US, and number one in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8n56tm7B64
classic albums:
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqvomfoYVOo
part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6DBrQbEwNw
part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRhLEbUMQu4
part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIN0r-bA2B4
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