The opening medley Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding is awesome. I loved how Elton John was able to build up energy by methodically layering instrumentals, eventually crashing into the half-time portion around the 4' mark. Elton John/Bernie Taupin are a fantastic songwriting duo, and there are plenty of great songs on this album. The world needs great pop hits, and Elton John provides them. Only, I feel that these tracks could be mixed up or replaced with others and there would be no effect on the cohesiveness or flow of the album. There is no need to listen to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as a single entity. There are some truly great performances here, from rock n roll to heartfelt ballad, but I think Goodbye Yellow Brick Road fails as an "album."