"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" should be considered for a full album reaction. This is a VERY strong album from beginning to finish - no fillers - which is a very tough feat for a double album. Almost half of the album (8 out of 17 tracks) got significant airplay.
it is worth recalling that the world’s worst rock song [per Rolling Stone] ever recorded - Starship’s ‘We Built This City’ had lyrics by award-winning songwriter Bernie Taupin "Marconi plays the mamba"
“ You can’t plant me in your penthouse, I’m going back to my plow”. Key line.This album is considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Love the underrated “Harmony”.
Beyond the Yellow Brick Road to me means going back to the farm in Kansas back to the plow, the horny back toad. Means returning to childhood where everything is new and amazing. In other words before you become a jaded adult.
Yes Andy, this is an all-time classic. For those of us who grew up in the 70s this song, and really Elton's whole catalog, are part of the soundtrack of our lives.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is easily one of the best albums of the 70's and that is saying something. But the huge thing is this. Taupin wrote all the lyrics in two and a half weeks, Elton John composed most of the music in 3 days and the album was recorded in 2 weeks. That's for an 18 track double album. It would take at least 2 years to record and release an album that came close to this today. It is one of the most listenable albums you will ever find.
Blessed to have see Elton live in Dublin on the same date as live 8. He played there first and flew over to do his own concert. It was magical! At one point it started raining and he just tinkled “singing in the rain” on the piano and the crowd just started singing it without him! Truly amazing. Also loved the real mix of people there, was just joy and fun.
I saw Elton a few times, the last time was on his first "farewell tour" in the 80s after his voice changed. He is still great but back in the 70s he was so much better.
@@markmurphy558 i disagree. 70's artists trying to sound 80's are aweful. Artists who came out in the 80's are really good. Different and innovative. There's a difference between the two. IMHO.
EJ said on the BBC about the album: “I would write at breakfast at the table. The band would join in. And by the time breakfast was over, we’d written and rehearsed two songs, and we went in the studio and recorded them. The boys did the backing vocals while I was in bed. It was the height of our powers.” The whole album was done in two weeks. Crazy.
To me an S-tier song consists of two components. One, it’s a song that as soon as it comes on I have to hear it. Every time. It never gets old. And two, the song transports me to a particular place and time, and evokes an emotion that reminds me of when and where I was when I first heard it. Yellow Brick Road hits all of the above for me. A true rock classic. Great reaction and review boys.
@@jimreadey2743 This is what I understand to be s-tier: The S ranking in a tier list is typically regarded as standing for "superb" or "super" and is considered the highest ranking on a tier list template.
Thanks,@@daddyguerrero. I thought I'd googled it before, and found nothing. I guess I hadn't, because it's all out there. Here's a little more: Most frequently you will see the meaning of S in tier lists reffered to as meaning superb, super, superior, or the Japanese word Sugoi or shuu. "The word すごい (Sugoi) can be used for expressing something extraordinary meaning something like "wow" or "amazing" or "incredible" in English. It can be used in many situation." (Sugoi definition source) S stands for "shuu" (秀), which is Japanese for "excellent".
I'd be so there for that. So many classics. Bennie & The Jets, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Grey Seal, Harmony, Sweet Painted Lady, Candle in the Wind, and my favorite, All The Girls Love Alice. And that list leaves off about six or seven other A+ songs that are lesser known, like The Ballad of Danny Bailey and I've Seen That Movie Too. Not a dull song. And if you grew up loving cowboy movies, Roy Rogers is a sniffly love song to the genre, and to Roy and Trigger.
Exactly. The next song, "This Song Has No Title" follows on quickly on the same key. Seems like a continuation.. It's a shame not to hear it in sequence..
I always loved the line "I'm not a present for your friends to open." Bernie had such a gift for packing a lot of meaning in a small amount of words and Elton was so brilliant and expressing those thoughts with his voice and incredible arrangements.
Word, indeed! Or words, rather...How about "Maybe you'll get a replacement; plenty like me to be found. Mongrels who ain't got a penny, sniffin' for tidbits like you on the ground..." Ooooh, burn! Taupin was masterful in his lyrics!
I highly suggesting reacting to "Rocket Man". I've heard this song MANY times and never seem to get tired of it. EJ has many great songs but this one is his "signature song". His movie was even named after it.
And after listening, check out Rick Beato pulling apart the song Rocket Man. Fantastic. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PWp417CF7fY.html
I was visiting family in Venezuela, they only spoke Spanish. Rocket Man was a hit song playing on the radio. It would crack me up to listen to my cousin song this song. She had learned the words, but didn’t know what she was singing.
I can tell I'm getting old when there are folks who haven't heard tunes like this; songs that seem almost elemental. I love these reviews because it's like running into folks who've somehow lived without experiencing gravity or sunlight. Thanks for another great reaction.
I've always seen GYBR as the sequel to "Honky Cat". In that song, when everybody warns him to "get back to the woods", but he is caught up in the city lights. A few years later, the scales fall from his eyes and the result is "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."
Another thread for Andy and Alex would be Long John Baldry, whom Elton John played with before going solo. His best known song was "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll". It isn't Elton playing the piano on this song, but it's a great tune.
Y'know what's funny, hot take here I know, I actually prefer Taron Egerton's performance and the arrangement of the version from Rocket Man. It feels much more realised, the audio quality is obviously better, and somehow they managed to make an Elton song more theatrical than the original which is just brilliant!
I feel Andy on this one. There's something about a great 'S' tier song that when you hear it the first time, even though you don't know exactly where it's going, when it gets there, it feels familiar. As if you've already internalized it having never heard it before. The magic and wonder of great music. Need to check out "Madman Across The Water" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Sir Elton. ✌
What, exactly, does "S" Stan for? Superior, Sonic... Special? Anyway, we all know what it means, in our way. For me, it's a song that you love the first time you hear it. And you have to hear it again immediately. And then you go buy the disc; Or download, as it were. There is an S+ tier, though. That is a song that immediately makes you stop what your doing. In my life there have been 2 S+ songs. In the late 70's I had a newspaper route and a portable radio always set on The Zoo (KZEW Dallas). I stopped my bike after hearing 5 seconds of Spirit of the Radio. It took a little longer for me to pull over the car when I heard Tool's "Sober". No exaggeration when I say I got goosebumps and my jaw dropped hearing these for the first time.
@@tswanstrom2000 kinda like love at first sight, isn't it? It's like you've known the person all your life but you've only just met. Same can be said of the way some music hits us at first listen. Goosebumps. Hold everything. I know that feeling. Magic.
My brother gifted me the album "Elton John's Greatest Hits" (which includes this song) when it was released in 1974 and I was only 10 years old. It was perhaps one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. My favorite out of his vast catalog of music is "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." I can still remember hearing it on the radio for the first time and how fascinated I was by it. I would love to see a reaction to it.
The Yellow Brick Road was a CHOICE given to Dorothy, so he's saying (Bernie) that he's tired of following other people's choices for him. It's basically Bernie's cry for his old country-style life back, Elton was a city boy, Bernie was a country boy. Its a concept album, but "Tumbleweed Connection" is by far his best album, followed closely by "Madman Across the Water".
It amazes me to think that this song was recorded about 35 years after The Wizard of Oz was released and we are now about 46 years from the release of the song.
This song is a metaphor for about having the fame and it doesn't make you happy, the only way to be happy is being back on the farm before the fame. I always look at Rocket Man as the journey of becoming famous and this is the realizing that the stars are overrated. That being said, Rocket Man should be your next one.
@@grantbaechler3529 being that Elton doesn't write the lyrics, this is more about Bernie Taupin being disillusioned with fame. Afterall, Taupin grew up on a farm. He is longing to go back to the farm.
He has so many bangers you haven't done: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, All The Young Girls Love Alice, his version of Pinball Wizard, Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Bitch is Back, Take Me to The Pilot, Madman Across The Water...and on and on.
A friend in high school got a book with all the lyrics to his songs. We were so happy to finally understand, "Burning on a fuse however long". Goodness that frustrated us, moving the needle back to hear it over and over trying to figure out what the heck Elton was singing on "Rocket Man".
A lot of people feel the same way about Rocket Man, too. Lol. I found out what he was saying in each song by recording them on my dad's reel to reel recorder and slowing down the playback where I was unsure.😘👍
It's amazing that Bernie wrote the lyrics, delivered them to Elton and he sat at the piano and wrote the music that best suited the lyrics. So Bernie had no idea how the song would go as he was writing but they remain masterpieces to this day.
Definitely 'S' tier to me. I can remember listening to this on the radio back then, driving a cab in those days, in Hawaii. Brings back fond memories! Aloha.
Agreed. I had to name my top ten albums in a Ten I'd Take To a Desert Island Forever challenge once. Spent three days agonizing (Just TEN? Are you people mad?!) and was not surprised to find Goodbye Yellow Brick Road on my list. It's nearly a perfect album. And I know what you're thinking, but Jamaica Jerkoff is a cool song. So there.
Yes! This is how you start a week!! This song is so soothing to the soul. We all find ourselves, at least once in life, thinking we wanted one thing, but it's not all it's cracked up to be... S Tier song all the way! Can't go wrong with Sir Elton. Love this so much. Make this a great week fellas! 😊🌺✌️
@@tallykev6608 You're sooo right, kev! I could just kick myself for forgetting. Poor Bernie, huh?! I did see he gotta a lot of love throughout comments, so... whew! haha. Have a great night!! 😊👋
"Take Me To The Pilot" or "Bad Side Of The Moon" from the 11-17-70 album. Recorded live in the studio with a small audience. I never thought a piano, bass and drums could rip so hard.
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road “ is probably my favorite ever Elton John song. Definitely, the first song by him I heard where I identified him strongly as a musically gifted person.
This is the proverbial quintessential Elton John early years. Nothing very dynamic about it, except his voice, but it IS an all-time rock anthem that will never grow old.
This is the first song I can remember hearing as a small child. My mom's 18 year old sister lived with us and I was about 3. I was standing at the door to her room and she had this song playing. I was staring at her lava lamp and her blacklight poster of Traffic. I'll never forget that. My aunt loved Elton so much that she named her first born son Elton John.
a tiny little anecdote...i was born in 1962. i was 10 when i bought my first 'serious' music. the first record i bought was elton john 'honky chateau'...elton was the soundtrack of my childhood. people have always tried to hate on him, because of his over the top outfits and the fact that he's always been sort of a bitch to people, openly. he's a diva...but, no one can really hate on him, because we all know how fucking talented he is. he and bernie taupin were the best songwriting team for lush pop music since lennon and mccartney. anything from the early through mid 70's elton is wonderful. rarely a bad or boring cut. dig into elton john, big time, deep cuts and big hits. you'll find a gold mine!
When Elton was smack in the middle of the greatest era of rock. He was a part of it. Put this in the middle of the other great songs of that era, and you’re in musical heaven.
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is another nice, sad ballad. The title track from that album is a bit more pop/rock, and you will also find great arrangements in every song on the album. Probably my favorite song from that one though (and I admit it isn't for everyone, but it's catchy) is "Better Off Dead".
From CF and BDC I like One Day at a Time which was written by John Lennon from a group called The Beatles unless I'm totally wrong. You guys are fantastic cowboys also.
I've been playing piano since I was 7, so Elton John blows me away. I love his earlier songs. After Philidelphia Freedom his musical choices changed. One of my fav songs is Come Down In Time. Where To Now St. Peter, Burn Down The Mission, I Need You To Turn To and Sixty Years On are great as well. I used to play and sing The Greatest Discovery. The lyrics got to me so much after the birth of my second son that I couldn't play/sing it without crying. Elton's musical talent connected to Bernie Taupin's lyrics is magical. They met by chance and the stars aligned. I feel the same with The Beatles.
On the mark, Andy. Elton and Bernie Taupin were the masters of writing S-tier songs. So many of their works have gone down in time as unforgettable classics.
madman across the water/ mona lisas and mad hatters/ elton -one of the few who deserves serious pianist envy...remember those platforms he would wear with the goldfish and those neon specs spelling out his name--this cat was craaaaazy
This was a message from Bernie to Elton, when Elton was totally out of control with drugs and sleeping around and living VERY large. Bernie - I’m out. “I’m not a package for your friends to open” refers to the rampant sex going on.
Seems like only yesterday I was tearing the plastic off the jacket to get to the vinyl. So awesome to see the looks of joy/amazement on your faces as you consumed this timeless classic. Elton John is for sure an original! This sound didn't exist until he and Bernie created it. Thanks for getting the week off to a wonderful start😊
Brings back the greatest memories. Got this cassette for my 12th birthday and played it for a group of friends on a Panasonic cassette recorder. Thought I was the coolest kid in the world. An epic song that will never get old. As always, keep on rockin.
"Levon," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Philadelphia Freedom" and this song are my personal EJ faves. I was a teeny tiny little kid in the 70s and barely remember any of it (I'm much more of an actual 80's kid), but riding in the car with the radio on and loving how his songs sounded in my ears is some of my first memories.
@@badkitty4922 I was born later in the 70s, but I do remember him on the Muppets! I especially remember what a big deal the grown ups made about him being on there :)
I would say that any of Elton's classic 70's hit songs could be considered S tier, they're all so well done. My favorite Elton John song is Someone Saved My Life Tonight. You should check that one out.
Great album. Every song is magic. I think this tune is one of Eltons finest. Its downright immaculate. I love how Bernie and Elton blended the music and words so perfectly. An ethereal tone, set to the story of a young man's questionable view of one's choices. Nice one, boys!
