Track 2: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Revised)

When picking an album for this first review, I didn’t really know where to begin. I called my parents to get their favorite 8-tracks from the early 70s, and started doing some of my own research. When my dad suggested Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I was a little skeptical at first. But I figured such a popular album wouldn’t be so bad to listen to and review. My dad remembers when this album came out, and how much of a big deal it was. He said it played on the radio all the time, and had around seven hits that everyone knew the words to. My dad’s sister was the one that introduced him to Elton John because she drove him to and from school, so they would always listen to the radio together. 

Elton John was one of the United Kingdom’s biggest pop stars of the 1970s. However, one of the reasons that I enjoyed listening to this album was because of the combination of soft rock and pop. This was evident in “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding in my Hand,” which opens with a six minute instrumental featuring an almost techno sound, but also with an electric guitar added in. I noticed that this wasn’t the only song with an instrumental. And not just a thirty second one, but ones that went on for a couple of minutes. Both “The Ballad of Danny Bailey” and “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” end with over a minute of just music. No words, just Elton John playing his piano accompanied by other various instruments. The first time I heard those songs, I was confused about the lack of words and why there was such a large space between the lyrics ending and the end of the song. But the more times I listened to them, I began to appreciate it for what it was: good music. And I wish I could see Elton play these songs live, because I feel like being able to watch him rock out on the piano would add to an even deeper appreciation.

In two of the songs, “Jamaica Jerk-Off,” and “Social Disease,” Elton switched into a different sound. In “Jamaica Jerk-Off,” Elton used a Jamaican sound, complete with a Jamaican accent. Personally, I found it to be weird. Elton John has such great vocals with his piano, and I didn’t think it was necessary to try and bring a new sound on the album. Even though he had the resources to switch his sound, it doesn’t mean he should have. The same thing applies to “Social Disease.” The song had a country, almost red-neck feel to it, and I didn’t think that it was fitting at all. At the end of the song, some bird and ocean sounds were added, which were not my favorite either. Granted, the song does have a beachy feel, but I could have imagined myself at the beach without hearing seagulls in the song.

My two favorite tracks on the album are “Bennie and the Jets,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” I partially think I love “Bennie and the Jets,” so much because of the scene in 27 Dresses where the two love interests drunkenly sing this song at a bar. However, I would have to say Elton John's voice sounds much better than their drunken yells. Elton hits some high notes in this song that show off his large vocal range. They're even high enough that I have trouble hitting them with my alto voice. My other favorite was “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” because I felt it had the best combination of lyrics, vocals, and music. It’s one of those songs that I would belt out to in my car with my friends and would never get tired of listening to. It starts off quiet but continues to build and then releases with the line "beyond the yellow brick road." It's infectious melody with the "oohhs" and "aahhs just makes me think of happy memories and puts me in a good mood.

Goodbye Yellow Brick road is an album filled with nostalgia. In "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Elton John yearns for the less chaotic time before becoming famous. In "Love Lies Bleeding," it's for a lover that has left. And in "Candles in the Wind," it's for Marilyn Monroe. This makes Elton John sound like he's living in the past. This is a common theme in music though, lots of artists write about things that have happened to them.

            Overall, in terms of enjoyability, I would give Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 4 out of 5 stars, and 4.5 out of 5 stars in terms of appropriatness. With minimal mentions of drug, sex, and alcohol, I think this album does have the potential to turn minutes into hours on a long car ride. I would actually enjoy listening to this with my parents, and think we would both be happy with this selection. I normally listen to pop music anyway, but now my parents and I can listen to pop that we both know. With its consistent upbeat feel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a great album for any occasion.