★★★★★
An unassailable high watermarkin Elton's lengthy career,Goodbye Yellow Brick Roadis a concept album of sorts.Packed with motifs andallusions to cinema, it's alsoa subtle commentary on thesinger's stratospheric rise tosuperstardom, lyricist BernieTaupin retrospectivelysuggesting disillusionment wasa recurring theme.
- recordcollectormag.com
2014-03-27
★★★★★
By 1973, Elton John's career was exploding. It wasn't as if success had eluded him prior to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ; "Your Song" was a Top 10 hit late in 1970, and each of 1972's releases, Honky Chateau and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player , yielded a pair of Top 10 hits with timeless classics like "Rocket Man," "Honky Cat," "Daniel" and the rollicking "Crocodile Rock." However, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road had a 1-2 punch, literally, with the title track climbing all the way to No...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2014-03-27
★★★★★
Happy birthday Elton! In a nice touch from the record label this excellent celebration of the 40th anniversary of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is being released on March 25, Sir Elton's 67th birthday. And while release day is Elton's special day, it is his fans who with this set get to load up on presents...
- www.antimusic.com
2014-03-25
★★★★★
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 's title track is a gorgeous lament about fame, a celebrity's dream of normalcy. The song addresses Elton John's popularity in lyricist Bernie Taupin's opening words: "When are you gonna come down? When are you going to land?" The rocket man was anxious about his trajectory. Ironically, 1974's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road marks the beginning of Elton John as a sequin-suited showman...
- www.avclub.com
2014-03-25
★★★★★
On his milestone seventh album, Elton John left behind his sepia-toned singer-songwriter reality for a far brighter Hollywood-inspired rock & roll fantasy. At times, the diverse but filler-free 1973 double album's vivid Technicolor tunes - from the mournful prog-rock of opener "Funeral for a Friend" to the sunny, symphonic pop finale "Harmony" - suggest what the Beatles might have created had they stuck together a few more years...
- www.rollingstone.com
2014-03-25
★★★★★
It's only a few minutes into the previously unreleased 1973 documentary that proclaims confidently " ". The, quirky but compelling film tells the tale of John's explosive, unbelievably flamboyant four year rise to international fame that was cemented by '73s then somehow sharpened and preened to greater heights at the end of that same year with the release of this album, . It's his highest selling album, spawned the best-selling single of all-time and is arguably regarded as his best work...
- www.drownedinsound.com
2014-03-19
★★★★★
It's only a few minutes into the previously unreleased 1973 documentary Elton John And Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye To Norma Jean and Other Things that Elton John proclaims confidently "I'd like to become a legend".
The, quirky but compelling film tells the tale of John's explosive, unbelievably flamboyant four year rise to international fame that was cemented by '73s Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player then somehow sharpened and preened to greater heights at the end of that same year with...
- drownedinsound.com
2014-03-25
★★★★★
There's a timelessness to Elton John's 1973 magnum opus that assures its place in pop's pantheon of classic albums. Thoroughly modern upon release, yet traditional in its narratives, 'GYBR' remains a penetrative and gratifying listening experience. This expanded reissue, which celebrates the original's 40th anniversary, upholds that claim with a bonus disc of its songs covered by contemporary artists...
- www.clashmusic.com
2014-03-17
★★★★★
The rocket man returns to his very best on 30th LP... Combining intimacy and extroversion, immediacy and reflection, in a way only accessible to a performer able to tweak one's tearducts whilst wearing a lavishly embroidered, gold-lamé general's costume, The Diving Board may be the best album of Elton John's entire career. Clearly reinvigorated by The Union, his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, Elton hooked up again with producer T-Bone Burnett for a veritable blizzard of work...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2013-10-16