(Finished March 18th, 2018) Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", Part 1

Hello,

On October 5th, 1973 Elton John released one of his most classic CDS, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Elton John's seventh CD sold over 30 million copies and in 2014 a 40th anniversary edition was released. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is *17 songs, the most well known songs are "Bennie and the Jets", of course "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle In The Wind" and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." The CD went #1 in England, America, Canada and Australia. This CD is #91 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 CDs of all-time. Elton John has 6 of those Top 500 CDs. (*Technically there are 17 songs on the CD, but some consider the opening track "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" as two different tracks.)

This was originally released as a double CD, clocking in at 17 tracks and over 76 minutes of music. As in the above paragraph it contains some of his most classic songs. Jamaica was the place this CD first started being recorded and several songs capture that blissful, island feel. Eventually after difficulties recording in Jamaica, the rest of the recording was moved to France. Finally the overdubs were done at Trident Studios in London.

As always Elton John wrote the songs with his long time song writing partner, Bernie Taupin. They wrote 22 songs for it, using 18 of the songs on the double CD. (Thanks Wikipedia for all biographical details, blamed me for all factual inaccuracies.)

As things were back in the day, there was a lot less time between releases. "Yellow Brick Road" was actually the second CD John released in 1973. It came about 8.5 months after "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player". Then just 7 months later he released "Caribou". Now it's usually takes 7 or 8 years to get 3 CDs from a musician, unless you're Taylor Swift or Rihanna.

The band behind the CD:

Musicians

• Elton John – vocals, piano (1–6, 8–10, 12–17), electric piano (5, 6), organ (3, 7), Farfisa organ (5, 13), mellotron (5, 6, 11), Leslie piano (11), tack piano (uncredited) on "Social Disease"
• Dee Murray – bass
• Davey Johnstone – acoustic, electric, Leslie, slide and steel guitars; banjo
• Nigel Olsson – drums, congas, tambourine

Additional musicians

• Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 10, 13, 17)
• Del Newman – orchestral arrangement (4, 8–10, 15, 17)
• Leroy Gómez – saxophone solo (16)
• David Hentschel – ARP synthesizer (1, 12)
• Kiki Dee – backing vocals on "All the Girls Love Alice"
• Ray Cooper – tambourine on "All the Girls Love Alice"
• Uncredited – drum machine, maracas, timbales and claves on "Jamaica Jerk-Off", castanetson "Funeral for a Friend", shaker on "I've Seen That Movie Too", shaker and tambourine on "Social Disease", accordion and vibraphone on "Sweet Painted Lady"

NB: it is unclear who provided the uncredited percussion on "Jamaica Jerk-Off", "Funeral for a Friend", "Social Disease" and "I've Seen That Movie Too" or the drum machine on "Jamaica Jerk-Off", but these were overdubs either by Nigel Olsson, Ray Cooper or possibly a studio percussionist.

1) "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding":



2) "Candle In The Wind":



3) "Bennie and the Jets":



With special guest Billy Joel 4) "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road":



5) "This Song Has No Title":



6) "Gray Seal":

7) "Jamaica Jerk Off":



8) "I've Seen That Movie Too":

themusicaddict