I watched this Eagle Rock Entertainment 2001 documentary “Classic Albums: Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on Netflix DVD. It aired on television November, 6, 2001 on season 3 of an ongoing series of these films. The only missing member, of the original album recording, was Dee Murray, background vocals and bass guitar. This is a great album. one of my favorites, and a great documentary. The only negative for me was the omission of speaking about some of the album tracks, like my favorite, Grey Seal.
The film is a series of interviews with the band members Elton John (lead vocals, piano), Davey Johnstone (background vocals, guitars) and Nigel Olsson (background vocals, drums).
A lot of interviews are with the lyricist Bernie Taupin. He adds comments on what he was writing about and what Elton has done with his poems. Taupin has writing the lyrics for most of Elton John’s songs. They talk about how Elton just reads the words and suddenly he forms the tune .
Gus Dudgeon (producer), David Hentschel (engineer) and Del Newman (orchestral arranger) give their opinions on how the album came together. I loved when they would play single tracks in the mix to show how things were put together. Johnstone, Murray and Olsson’s backing vocals are amazing.
Rick Frio (MCA Marketing), Paul Gambaccinni (Broadcaster), Connie Hillman (VP Rocket Records), Pat Pipolo (MCA Promotions), Russ Regan (MCA A&R), Tim Rice (Lyricist), Robert Sandall (Journalist) and Linda Stacey (Elton John Fan) all have comments in the documentary.
I really liked this film, it was very well done. I would not hesitate to watch it again. I will give it 5 out of 5 stars. The extras on the DVD are extended versions of the interviews which I will also give a 5 out of 5 stars. For more info on the movie you can check out IMDB and Filmaffinity USA.
