Where the dogs of society howl
On October 5, 1973 Elton John released his magnum opus, the double disc'd Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, an album steeped in nostalgia, brimming with quirky ideas about sex... and chock full o' hit singles. After spending several days in January of '73 haplessly trying to record the album at the Byron Lee owned Dynamic Studios in Kingston, Jamaica where the Stones made Goats Head Soup, Elton and the boys moved back to the Chateau d'Herouville in France. A documentary team was there the day the band recorded "The Ballad of Danny Bailey 1909-1934).
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road --the second of seven consecutive US #1 albums, selling 31 million copies-- had four hit singles .The hardest rocking of the songs, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" preceded the album and shot up to #12 in the US. The title track peaked at #2 in the US. Then came "Candle in the Wind", released in the UK. And "Bennie and the Jets" which hit #1 in the US in April of 1974 and scored high on the R and B charts as well. My fave cut, "Grey Seal", would have been the next single but Elton was ready to release a new album ( Caribou) and didn't want it overshadowed.
Not every critic loved the album , which begins with its ominous scene setting overture "Funeral For a Friend". Writing for Rolling Stone Stephen Davis called the epic album opener "an eight-minute instrumental prologue featuring grandiose and tasteless typhoon whooshings, booming ecclesiastic organ, some stinging guitar that would be monumental if properly backlit but seems out of context against a lot of bleating." He also shrugged off the album as "a big fruity pie that simply doesn't bake" .
For Circus, Janis Schacht praised the album closer "Harmony" and called the album a " lush two record set (that) moves from mood to mood with no apparent effort and a great sense of timing, class and style."
There's plenty of nostalgia to be found in the Wizard of Oz imagery of the title cut, the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind" and yet another Bernie Taupin foray into the Wild West with Danny Bailey. There's also a few strange quirky sexual themes to be found in the album. "All the Girls Love Alice" appears to be the story of a teen age lesbian. "Sweet Painted Lady" is about prostitutes (Getting paid for being laid /Guess that's the name of the game) and the regrettable "Jamaica Jerk-Off" is just a sophomoric pun .
This would have made a lovely, if slightly brittle, single LP.
-Stephen Davis, Rolling Stone
OK Stephen. So I've asked The Flying Monkeys ( a Wizard of Oz reference) to help me condense Goodbye Yellow Brick Road into a single 45-minute disc.
SIDE ONE
2. "Candle in the Wind" 3:50
3. "Grey Seal" 4:00
4. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 3:13
SIDE TWO
1. "Bennie and the Jets" 5:23
2. "Sweet Painted Lady" 3:54
3. "All the Girls Love Alice" 5:09
4. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" 4:57
5. "Harmony" 2:46
The only song it really pains me to lose is "I've Seen That Movie Too". What are your thoughts?
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