The word you need to understand here is “magnum opus.” It refers to an artist’s masterpiece, the work that becomes synonymous with the artist themselves, like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Beethoven’s 9th Sympthony, or Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. For Sir Elton John, this work is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Its opening side is a tour de force of his best and most memorable songs: the eleven minute prog-pop Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, the heartbreaking Candle in the Wind, and the glam rock anthem Bennie and the Jets. And when you flip the record over, it’s only so the epic title track can bowl you over with its giant-sized vocal climb that closes out the chorus.

Even after the song titles stop being familiar, the album continues to provide some of the best pop music ever put to wax. The fact that the rest of the album doesn’t taper off into mediocrity after its killer opening movement (see: U2’s Joshua Tree) is impressive and welcomed. After all, who doesn’t want more really good Elton John songs?