Elton John became a superstar in the early 1970s. But to my mind, he was more of a singles artist than an album artist. He released a series of irresistible singles, incorporating glam rock and Americana into his piano-based pop. But his albums often suffered from a lack of quality control – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, released in 1973, was John’s sixth album of the 1970s.
It marked a creative peak for Elton John – it featured some of his best-loved tracks and it’s his best-selling album. It was written and recorded extremely quickly – Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in less than three weeks, John wrote most of the tunes in a three-day spurt, and most of the album was recorded in two weeks. Yet it’s frustrating – it could have been an amazing single album, but spread over two discs it’s distinctly uneven.
Songs like ‘Jamaica Jerk-off’ and ‘Dirty Little Girl’ are among my least favourite from John’s 1970s peak, pulling the album down. Here’s my stab at creating John’s classic record that should have been – a single-disc version of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that’s all killer and no filler, a record that would surpass Honky Chateau as my favourite John album.
There are six obvious inclusions for a winnowed-down version of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The record spawned four hit singles: ‘Candle in the Wind’, ‘Bennie and the Jets’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’. The opener ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ was a live favourite, while the closing track ‘Harmony’ has enjoyed radio play and a single release in some territory.
That leaves room for a few more tracks – here are my picks:
This Song Has No Title
‘This Song Has No Title’ is brief, but lovely. It’s built around some baroque piano from John – he’s the only performer on the record, playing four different keyboard instruments. Taupin’s lyrics sometimes veer into ridiculous territory, but they’re thoughtful and evocative here.
Grey Seal
‘Grey Seal’ had previously appeared as a b-side for 1970’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Madonna’ – John hadn’t been able to capture the sound he wanted, so the song was shunted to a b-side. The version here is more densely arranged, and it works better – it probably could have been a single if the album wasn’t jampacked with other hits.
The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–34)
There’s a theme of youthful moviegoing running through Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. ‘Candle in the Wind’ is a Marilyn Monroe tribute, ‘Roy Rogers’ is a tribute to the cowboy here, while I couldn’t fit the worthy ‘I’ve Seen That Movie Too’ on my list. There’s also a cinematic feel to ‘The Ballad of Danny Bailey’, telling the story of a fictional 1930s gangster.
Your Sister Can’t Twist (but She Can Rock ‘n Roll)
Elton John dipped into 1950s nostalgia previously with ‘Crocodile Rock’, on 1973’s Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player. He’s back in the 1950s on ‘Your Sister Can’t Twist’ – it’s perhaps a little slight, but it’s a welcome burst of energy on a ballad-heavy album.
Here’s my reconstructed tracklist – it made sense to keep the album bookends as they were.
Side 1
| 1 | Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding | 11:09 |
| 2 | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | 3:13 |
| 3 | Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting | 4:57 |
| 4 | The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–34) | 4:23 |
Side 2
| 5 | Bennie and the Jets | 5:23 |
| 6 | Candle in the Wind | 3:50 |
| 7 | Grey Seal | 4:00 |
| 8 | Your Sister Can’t Twist (but She Can Rock ‘n Roll) | 2:42 |
| 9 | This Song Has No Title | 2:23 |
| 10 | Harmony | 2:46 |
Do you think Goodbye Yellow Brick Road should be cut down to a single album? What would your single-disc version look like?
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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Overall, most double albums would be better as a single album. Tommy, Quadrofenia, Use Your Illusion 1+2, Sandinista!!, The Wall(?)
I’m torn with Exile, The Wall and London Calling as they are great albums. Could they use editing? Let me know.
Quadrophenia and The Wall are interesting – I think they could do with some trimming musically, but because they’re concept albums it kind of messes with them.
Sandinista definitely needs a big trim, and I’d want to edit London Calling to include my favourite Clash track (Justice Tonight/Kick It Over), although that might be awkward. Exile is pretty much perfect the way it is IMO.
Yeah, I approve. That LP definitely needed pruning esp. with borderline offensive material like Jamaica Jerk-Off. This is what I would do back in my tape-making days, borrow a friend’s album and tape the songs I liked.
Yeah, ‘Jamaica Jerk-Off’ is bottom of the pile for me. There’s often a correlation between Taupin’s most ridiculous lyrics and John’s least interesting music IMO.
While I don’t mind “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was a double-album and it still remains my favorite overall Elton John album in that configuration, you picked my favorite songs. So with these adjustments, it’s even better! 🙂
Your track list is almost perfect except for Candle in the Wind which I always thought was a pile of crapola. Gray Seal and Danny Bailey and Harmony are really good calls cuz I love those. But I would put Roy Rogers or Sweet Painted Lady to replace Candle in the Wind. And I actually like Jamaica Jerkoff now even though I didn’t used to, but I could probably live without it. And all the ones you got rid of are most of my least favorites.
Yeah, quite a few people don’t like Candle. I liked it a lot more until the Princess Di version came out.,
I always find it a bit frustrating – like he finally had enough great songs for a brilliant single album and padded it out into a double…. He was crazy prolific in the 1970s.
I always thought of him as a singles artist also. This is the album that John fans point to as the best but I agree with you…and hey…I love the double White Album…so I don’t mind double albums but yea…this one could have been a better album.
The one Elton John album I had that wasn’t a greatest hits was Madman Across the Water. It was a decent album.
Madman is one of the better records, I think, but Tiny Dancer and Levon kind of outpace the deep cuts.
White Album is a bit inconsistent – I’m not huge on Why Don’t We Do It In The Road for example – but I don’t think cutting it down would really work.
You are right… there is not another song in the same league with those two on the album.
The one on the White Album album that I have trouble with is Wild Honey Pie…which I consider the worse song they ever recorded… But the White Album is an entity…it wouldn’t be the White Album without all of the songs. But…I’m biased.
I’d cut White Album down for sure. Somewhere about half of it. I’d keep Wild Honey Pie too. Seriously!!
Oh not me… really I wouldn’t cut at all… even that one. All of those songs make it what it is… very eclectic
I like most of the first disc except for three or four of them and on the second disc I’d only keep Birthday, Helter skelter, Mother Nature’s, and the other Honey Pie. And probably the single version of Revolution as a bonus track, but not the other Revolutions.
My favorites are Dear Prudence, Cry Baby Cry, Sexy Sadie (one of my all time Beatle songs), Helter Skelter….ah there are too many.
I pretty much like Exile the way it is also…but Sandinista!….yea I would cut it down.
I thought it was their worst album since With the Beatles!!
I never was a fan of The Clash but I could make a good single album out of Sandinista probably. I don’t have too many double albums that are my favorites. My highest ranked ones are Tommy, Yellow Brick Road and Physical Graffiti, and Stereolab. There’s a couple live albums that are favorites and a couple electronic but no other big major rock albums.
I think it’s the best album they had…at least for my tastes lol.
I like Tommy except for one thing. I think Tommy sounds better from The Who live (from that period) than the record. The production was so thin and tinny…love the songs though.