Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Remastered) [CD]

First off, I was never actually much into this album. I'm 67 years old now and my first time hearing it was on my brother's 8-track tape back in the day. You know how those sounded along with the low-tech audio systems. At 16 years old, I bought the Lp which sounded better on my so-so stereo system, but that was still what it was. Through the coming years, my audio systems vastly improved but, this isn't one of those albums I cared much for. It had gained several surface imperfections from playing it a lot during those young love days of the past. My Garrard TT repeated play over and over many times as well as needle drops being done without a lot of care. Teenage girlfriends loved certain songs on it, so it did see some songs being played extensively. Oh the days. Hmm. Moving on through the next 50 years of my life, I may have taken the album out every once and a while to take a listen. I still wasn't much impressed. My current GF loves Funeral For a Friend so, I put the album on the TT a few times for her. The surface noise prompted me to, once again, ponder the thought to find a replacement copy. Here I am today. I found this newer release on Amazon. It was priced accordingly and it had great reviews. I ordered it and I received it yesterday. I was happy to see that the entire jacket and construction was identical to my original copy. The actual Lp used to be an MCA product, but now it's a Mercury label. The vinyl and pressing is superb. The mix and mastering, in my opinion, is far above what my original version has. I heard certain details of the content that I don't recall hearing before. Elton's piano comes through with power and dynamics and his voice is clean and clear. Every aspect of the recording sounds great. My speakers have horns and they produced a very nice and even sound quality. There are songs I still may not particularly care for due to my personal taste, but they sound so much better, I can enjoy listening to them just for that reason alone. To sum it up, if you're in need of a new copy of this album and you want it on vinyl, you're sure to be delighted with this purchase just as I was.

This has been bought by me in vinyl, 8 track, cassette and now for the 3rd time in CD form. The first time was in NOLA in 1975 and along with Physical Grafetti they formed my entire musical library ! What a great offering by Elton and the best back musicians ever.

What is in it? One booklet and a code for a download for the HD version, not to be confused with AutoRIP, one Blu-ray disc. What are my choices? 2.0 PCM stereo, 2.0 DTS-Master HD stereo, 2.0 True HD stereo, 5.1 Surround. What should I choose? Stereo-unlike Ex-Buyer I can't recommend PCM. To all there it sounded like Elton was sitting behind the band in a room with eight foot ceilings. DTS Master is the way to go. We did not listen all the way through on each version due to time constraints, but that was a unanimous choice. So, should I listen to the 5.1? YES!!!!!, forget everything else. What kind of system was used? Without getting anal, McIntosh speakers, McIntosh amps, Onkyo Integra surround processor, Oppo Blu-ray player. Definitely not home theater in a box. Caveat-check your disc before you load it. We found several early skips. Examining the disc found several spots. The disc was cleaned, and the box as well and there was some sort of film residue in it. Once cleaned, everything was great. The sound was spacious and clear. Some of the placement in the surround may cause you to adjust your eq at times. Especially on the center channel. The vocals and mellotron were a bit hot. The opening on Funeral for a Friend was broadly spacious, the imaging had depth, perfect for conveying your "walk into a cemetery". The vocal on Candle in the Wind was the closest I've heard as sounding like the performer was in the room. The vocal on Bennie and the Jets was a little odd. Sounded more like he was set on chamber music and everyone else was in concert hall. Beyond that, everything was wonderful. I could drone on, but unless someone has a specific question, I get tired of "talking". Do they play around with surround effects? Sometimes, like This Song has No Title. Some things are moved strictly into the center and rear channels. A little gimmicky, but not unpleasant. Was it worth the price? For me, yes. Of note, our host is not a big Elton fan, but he said he would purchase the disc as it "has the sound I was after in buying McIntosh. I was content until you started bringing over Mobile Fidelity discs, and now after hearing Supertramp, Diana Krall, and Elton on Pure Audio, a curse on you, because I will be adding to my collection."

This cd arrived in excellent condition.

Quickly Shipped & Delivered next day, less than 24hrs after I placed the order! Securely Packaged & Arrived in Perfect Condition, no damage! Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Vinyl LP Album is in Sealed/New Condition! It is as it was Pictured & Described in the listing! This Transaction was Perfect from Start to Finish! If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be more surprised & happy than I am right now! I Highly Recommend this Seller & Product!

By now, anybody checking out this listing will already be familiar with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, so this will be more a review of the overall package than of the album itself—though I will say that it is still Elton John's best album. The remastering of the album proper is better than it ought to be. After pressing 'play', I was surprised that I didn't immediately have to turn the volume down to counter slabs of brickwalled sound (it's still louder than the 1992 remaster, but not as much as the 1996 remaster). A quick rip of 'Bennie and the Jets' showed waveforms with actual contour, and no signs of clipping—a very nice surprise, indeed. That means you should be able to listen to the album at a decent volume without suffering from ear fatigue before you get to side 2 of the original LP. The 'Revisited & Beyond' disc is a bit of a puzzler. To be fair, it has been noted that there was little unreleased material from the sessions left in the vaults, but the covers still seem unnecessary. That most of the covers aren't bad (except for the sloppy hip-hop rendering of 'Bennie and the Jets') doesn't make up for that. As for the actual Elton John material that is included on the disc, most of it appears to have been included on the 30th Anniversary Edition (which I skipped). But what really appears odd is the inclusion of 'Philadelphia Freedom' and 'Pinball Wizard', both of which were released in 1975—well after the Caribou album, and a few weeks ahead of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Discs 3 and 4 contain a concert recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon by the BBC. It's too bad this wasn't released back in the '70s; it's easily superior to the highly polished Here and There live album (one of those 'contractual obligation' releases)—and you still get Ray Cooper's 'duck call' solo in 'Honky Cat'. For most folks, disc 5 will be the reason to opt for this edition. Disc 5, of course, is a DVD of the 1973 documentary Elton John & Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye Norma Jean and Other Things, which has never been available on home video before now. Long-time fans (in the US, anyway) will probably remember the documentary from its screening as a special episode of ABC's In Concert. The video is surprisingly fuzzy; without updated credits, it is unclear how much (if any) work was done to clean it up for video release. It's also surprisingly short (45 minutes)—but then the aforementioned In Concert was a 90-minute program. The documentary itself is still entertaining. There are plenty of concert clips (including the intro from the famous Hollywood Bowl concert) for those who want to hear the music, footage shot during the recording of the album, and interview segments with. In the interviews, Elton John comes off as quite humble and self-deprecating, even as he expresses some lofty ambition ('I'd like to become a legend…'). The 100-page hardcover book that accompanies the package is quite nice. There's a decent essay, lots of photos, and (of course) the song lyrics. It's nicely put together; if sold as a stand-alone item, it could probably sell for half the price of the full box set. The book is also frustrating in spots. (1) The song lyrics are interspersed throughout the book—interrupting the essay—and, though the accompanying illustrations from the LP are kept, the lyrics themselves are printed only in black, and all in Gill Sans (or a similar typeface), instead of the different-color typewriter typeface used on the original LP. (2) The essay does not have a clear ending. After reading what turned out to be the last page, I expected more to follow—only to get 40 pages consisting mostly of photos of Elton John's Bob Mackie-designed stage costumes instead. (3) The credits are woefully inadequate. With this kind of 'super deluxe' treatment, one would expect to see information on original release dates and catalog numbers at least. Plus there's nothing to explain the connection of 'Philadelphia Freedom' or 'Pinball Wizard' to the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road story. Quibbling aside, Universal kept the album proper to a single disc this time, included lots of material for the price, and gave the set nice packaging. It even sounds good. But it's the inclusion of the documentary that made this a must-buy for me.

Classic Elton John album

This review is not about the actual recording of GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. I will go that most people, if not all, have some form of this recording, be it vinyl, cassette, CD or SACD. This is about the blu ray audio. This is my first blu ray audio I have purchased. It looks like I will be converting my SACD and CD collection over yet once again as more titles are released. First and foremost, this format will NOT play on a conventional DVD or CD player, you must own a blu ray. Second, because of the audio formats, it also helps if your blu ray player can play DTS-HD, TrueHD, PCM or DTS 5.1. Luckily my OPPO player plays all that and SACD, so I can decide on the format I wish to hear. The sound. Unparalleled. First the "surround" format is the SACD format, so if you have the SACD (which I do), you can give away the SACD. Not only is it the SACD format, BUT because it is on blu ray, like blu ray picture, the sound is that much crisper...you can hear musicians breathing. Of the three "stereo" formats - DTS, TrueHD and PCM, the weakest of the three is the TrueHD. As with TrueHD blu ray video/and the audio track on those blu rays, it is much quieter and subdued...you have to turn the volume up substantially, and the mix is identical to the DTS mix, just not as dynamic. The DTS and PCM mixes are without a doubt, the two stereo options. Like with all DTS, it is a more dynamic sound range, jumps out of the speakers. It is a full, crystal clear sound and very closely resembles the original vinyl mix (slight, slight changes). The difference between the DTS mix and the "remastered" version Island issued back in the early 2000s is very noticeable. While I thought the remastered was a vast improvement over the original CD, just as SACD was a vast improvement over the remastered, this is light years better. The balance between speakers and the mid section sound is much more pronounced, giving an overall better "stereo" experience. The PCM version is terms of mix is the DTS mix, but with the vocals much more pronounced. The vocals are more out front or "louder" than on the DTS mix, that would be the only difference that I was able to distinguish. Again, I am not speaking about this recording in terms of its musical validity or not...you either like the LP or you do not. I selected this as my first blu ray audio to purchase only because there are only about 20-25 to select from and I thought this was the safest bet. As more titles come available, I will be converting. Another expensive musical transition...but worth it. *****ADDENDUM: It has baffled me for two days why I sense a difference between the SACD and DTS 5.1 version. Tonight I found the answer after listening to my vinyl copy. The blu ray 5.1 DTS is the correct speed. The SACD version is sped up slightly. The blu ray 5.1 DTS is the way the song tempos are to sound, identical to the vinyl if played on a direct drive table (I always found that belt drives speed the LP up slightly). The most noticeable difference and what made me go back to the vinyl is Elton's pronunciation. The SACD on many songs sound "garbled" On the blu ray 5.1 you can understand every single word, especially on YOUR SISTER CAN TWIST and SATURDAY NIGHT. I am still unsure if I like blu ray 5.1 DTS better than SACD, but what a difference hearing it at the correct speed makes.*****

Perfecto, uno más para la colección.

Some albums don't age. It's got nothing to do with any particular aspect of the recording, but everything to do with all of them. In this case, Elton John's 1973 opus is like a perfect alignment of all the factors involved - Elton and Bernie's creativity as songwriters, Gus Dudgeon's as a producer, and the chemistry between Elton and his band (Davey Johnstone, the late Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson). At the time, this was as good as it got. Forty (or forty-one, now) years later, this album sounds as fresh and brilliant and dynamic as the first day I played it. I've bought this album I don't know how many times - several times previously on LP, audio cassette, CD, SACD and now again - brand new - on LP. I'll be honest... I haven't yet had a chance to listen to my copy which arrived from Amazon a few days ago, but it'll be a seminal moment. Records DO sound different. Warmer. More Dynamic. And although I LOVE Greg Penny's multichannel remixes on my SACD, there is nothing like having one of rock musics greatest moments in its original format. If you've never heard the whole album, listen to it on Spotify or by any means necessary. My guess is that if you own a turntable, chances are you'll NEED to own this. The price was right and the delivery fast too :-)

Que dire de plus sur cette album de 1973 ! Elton John au sommet de cette première decennie de sa carrière qui restera comme la plus prolifique. 17 titres, 17 chefs d'oeuvres ! plus ou moins connus du grand public mais 17 chefs d'oeuvre quand même ! Si je devais garder qu'un seul album et l'emmener sur une ile déserte, se serait celui-ci. Quel bohneur pour les oreilles, on passe du progressif à la ballade, de la ballade au rock, du rock à la pop et tout cela avec une fluidité trés maitrisée, sans ennui, sans temps mort, sans repetition, du grand, du trés grand Elton John ! On a beaucoup décrié Elton pour ses extravagances, sa facilité musicale dans les années 80 , son homosexualité, etc.....Une chose est sure c'est qu'il restera l'un des plus grands mélodistes de ces 50 dernières années, sa musique est intemporelle tout comme les textes de Bernie Taupin ! A réécouter d'urgence sans pudeur et sans complexe !

Goodbye yellow brick road, posiblemente el mejor trabajo de Elton John, empezando por el diseño de la caratula de Ian Beck, preciosa portada, John y Taupin es estado de gracia, escribieron más de 20 canciones de las cuales entraron 17 temas, por lo cual acabó siendo doble lp, contiene varias canciones que se han convertido en clasicos de su repertorio (Bennie & the Jets,Cande in the wind, Funeral for a friend/Love is Bleeding, Goodbye yellow brick road, Harmony...). Una lujosa presentación, con 4 discos más un dvd y un libro con tapa dura con 100 pags de fotos, comentarios, imagenes ineditas, etc. Disco 1: el trabajo completo remasterizado con gran calidad. Disco 2: revisited, temas clasicos recreados por diferentes interpretes (Imelda May, Zac Brown, Emili Sandé,The Band Perry...etc), todos ellos hacen suyas canciones , que ya de por si son geniales, un toque distinto por la variedad de musicos que participan. Además este disco 2 incluye 10 temas, demos, versiones distintas y algunas de ellas como Pinball Wizard, Steep into Christmas, Philadelphia Freedom, que en su dia no entraron el el lp y se editaron en singles y album recopilatorio. Discos 3y 4: la bomba del box-set, concierto en directo en el Hammersmith Odeón de 1973, con un total de 17 canciones. El sonido es brutal, tengamos en cuenta que la banda era la clasica: Davey Johnstone,Dee Murray, Nigel Olson y Ray Cooper. Es increible que el concierto es del año 1973, han pasado 47 años y parece que sea totalmente actual, el remaster es del año 2014. Disco 5: dvd dirigido por Bryan Forbes en 1973, es justito de duración (44min), pero no de interés. TOALMENTE RECOMENDABLE!!!

Outstanding songs mixed with average