"Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," the wide-screen epic that opens Elton John's
magnum opus, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973), would suggest an
elaborate production effort, extensive overdubs and endless tinkering in
the studio. But a live version of the mini-suite from London's
Hammersmith Odeon -- included in the expanded box-set reissue of "Yellow
Brick Road" that was released Tuesday -- suggests a band in which the
sum was equal to the whole, without any doctoring.
That core unit
-- John on vocals and piano, Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on
bass and Nigel Olsson on drums -- had been playing together since
recording John's 1971 LP "Madman Across the Water," but its incredible
musicianship and range, from grand ballads to all-out rockers, would
become evident to concert-goers as John was rolling out material from
his new album, beginning in September at the Hollywood Bowl. Pound for
pound, these guys could play as tight, and with as much depth, as
anybody at a time when pop/rock giants ruled the earth.
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" isn't John's most thematically cohesive
record, that would be "Tumbleweed Connection" (1970), nor his most
elaborately orchestrated, such as the string-intensive works associated
with arranger Paul Buckmaster ("Elton John," 1970; "Madman" 1971). But
it was his most ambitious effort at a time when the double album marked
the peak trajectory of many of the era's superstars, from the Stones to
Zeppelin to Stevie Wonder. John would continue to record admirable
works, including "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" (1975),
but "Yellow Brick Road" might be considered his last masterpiece.
It also marked a turning point in his public image, going from the
studious-looking virtuoso with seemingly classical leanings to the
poster boy for glitter rock, with his outrageous eye wear, platform
boots and ambiguous sexuality.
Miraculously, the album was
completed in only 17 days, including mixing, at Château d'Hérouville, a
studio near Paris that John had dubbed "Honky Château" from his album
of the year before, according to the essay written by Alexis Petridus in
the box-set's hard-cover booklet. This after an ill-fated attempt to
record at Kingston's Dynamic Studio, hence the track "Jamaica Jerk-Off."
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" would mark the eighth album that John would
churn out in under four years, a flowering of creativity unimaginable
today, and yet he was only 23 at the time. His partnership with his
bandmates, lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer Gus Dudgeon
had much to do with the quality of his output, but still, he and Taupin
were much more advanced at this stage in their careers than such
songwriter teams as Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards and even
Bacharach/David were in theirs.
As far as the deluxe box set goes
-- which includes the remastered double album, the aforementioned
100-page illustrated book, a DVD of Bryan Forbes' 1973 film "Elton John
and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye To Norma Jean and Other Things," and a
disc of mostly negligible covers by the likes of Fall Out Boy and The
Band Perry along with more valuable demos, including an early version of
"Grey Seal" that dates back to 1970 -- the two live Hammersmith discs
are worth the purchase price alone.
Those sets include many of
the hits that made "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" such a sensation,
including "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets" and "Saturday
Night's Alright for Fighting."
But there's also evidence of John and
Taupin's ability to craft majestic compositions out of cinematic imagery
("I've Seen That Movie Too") along with rollicking rockers that allowed
the band to stretch out ("Elderberry Wine," "Hercules").
John's
voice never sounded more youthful, elastic or vital, or his piano
playing more propulsive and fleet-fingered. Forty years on, this is one
anniversary package that truly deserves to be celebrated.
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