The Stones did manage to record there, but in retrospect I think they had a mobile unit with them. We spent a lot of time congregating around the pool area of the hotel, feeling there was safety in numbers. To use the terminology of the time, it was not a вЂgood vibe.вЂ™ I remember a lot of barbed wire around the studio and armed guards. They kept saying theyвЂ™d fix it tomorrow, but in the Caribbean, tomorrow can mean three days.вЂќД«ernie: вЂњThe climate was hospitable, but the natives werenвЂ™t. The studio workers were on strike, so we had to cross a picket line to get into the studio. Both the albums I mentioned are really good. Obviously, we had grand intentions that came crashing to the ground once we got there and saw the studio, which was, to put it bluntly, abysmal.вЂќД®lton: вЂњI donвЂ™t know what happened. And we thought weвЂ™d have a change of climate from the chateau where weвЂ™d done the last couple of albums.вЂќД«ernie: вЂњMy memories of this are slightly fragmented. ThatвЂ™s where the Rolling Stones had done Goats Head SoupВ and Cat Stevens had done Foreigner. It was important to me that they play on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.вЂќД®lton: вЂњWe went to Jamaica to write and record at Dynamic Studios in Kingston. I do think the band was a little wounded since they werenвЂ™t on The Tumbleweed Connection or Madman Across The Water. They werenвЂ™t expecting it, but that was how we were. When I did go to that momentous day at the Troubador in Los Angeles and I got the review from Robert Hilburn, it was a shock to people in the audience. We played the same songs, but we played them in a completely rock nвЂ™ roll style, piano, bass, and drums.

When I came to America in 1970, weвЂ™d been playing live for about a year or so in England and really doing the opposite to what the Elton John album was about. But thatвЂ™s about it.вЂќД®lton: вЂњOn my first few albums, I didnвЂ™t get to use my touring band. The only thing I ever remember him doing was smoking a little dope back in the late 1960s in the studio with Dick James. Drugs didnвЂ™t really come into play until right afterwards when we made Caribou and Rock of the Westies. And the naivetГ© is the most pleasant thing about this record, probably.вЂќД«ernie Taupin: вЂњThatвЂ™s very true. That all changed when I made the next record, but in 1973 I was very naГЇve. In separate phone conversations, we spoke with Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin about the creation of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.Д®lton John: вЂњI didnвЂ™t even know what a joint was when I made Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. вЂњImelda May made вЂYour Sister CanвЂ™t TwistвЂ™ much more rockabilly than we ever did, and Emeli SandГ© made вЂAll the Girls Love AliceвЂ™ into a slow song,вЂќ says Elton John. вЂњI was apprehensive because itвЂ™s such an important song вЂ“ to fans and to Great Britain after its around Princess DianaвЂ™s death.вЂќ John himself was thrilled with the covers. On March 24th, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road will return to stores in a super deluxe edition featuring unheard demos, a live concert from 1973, and a bonus disc featuring covers of nine of the tracks by Fall Out Boy, Zac Brown Band and Ed Sheeran, who turned in a stripped-down version of вЂњCandle in the Wind.вЂќ вЂњIt was actually Elton who suggested I do it,вЂќ Sheeran says. Elton John has been a superstar for nearly forty-five years, but this was the peak. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road somehow managed to become even bigger than everything that came before, selling more than thirty million records and topping the album charts for an incredible eight weeks. HeвЂ™d scored seven Top 40 singles in the previous two years, and DonвЂ™t Shoot Me IвЂ™m Only the Piano Player had just topped the album charts. Elton John was on a historic roll when he traveled to France in early 1973 to make what would become one of rockвЂ™s great double albums.

Elton john album cover the one