Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [Remaster] - John, Elton (CD 1996)

This monumental work symbolizes Elton John's dominance in the industry at a revolutionary time in cultural history. Progressive rock was both attracting a new audience of classical listeners while repelling teens who wanted to be able to dance and party with their soon-to-be-obsolete EP's. Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Lou Reed were astounding the world with radical stage presentations that would have been censored years before. The dawn of the Punk Revolution and Disco Fever just ahead, Elton John slammed down a double EP that found its place among the greatest rock albums of all time.
It goes without saying that Bernie Taupin was a key ingredient to Elton's success. The lyricist is among the all-time greats, ranking alongside Simon and Garfunkel for sheer genius in creating immortal songs suitable for audiences of all ages. "Yellow Brick Road" is their piece de resistance, featuring two whole albums of excellent songs. It is rare that we come across a single album which we can truthfully say is of track-to-track quality. Elton and Bernie not only accomplished such a feat, but left us with songs that will live forever in the annals of American pop.
The title track not only made the hit singles list, but so did "Bennie and the Jets" and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting". Even more stunning was the little twerp rededicating "Candle In The Wind" to the late Princess Diana and scoring a few million more sales and megabucks in the process. It probably scathed legions of Marilyn Monroe fans who had adopted the original as their anthem, but Elton was never about loyalty. That's why he and Bernie are history and his career well in its decline.
The tandem's success story is a plain and simple one. At a time when bands were hawking transvestism, biting heads off bats, or hauling orchestras and computer labs onstage to wow audiences, Elton and Bernie just sat down and put together some funtime, sing-along piano music that everyone could listen to. Though it would not affect the course of cultural history, it was a refreshing return to happier days, back to when concepts, messages and shock appeal were as foreign to R&R as synthesizers and onstage overdubbing. The fans loved it and gave the guys their due.
This piece is an excellent addition to any collection of mainstream R&R or modern pop. It stood alone in an era of whirlwind change, and decades later you check it out and find that it's still platinum.