Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy appear on later albums as guest musicians, this was the last album with the original lineup of the Elton John Band (guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson). Murray and Olsson, who had formed John's rhythm section since 1970, were sacked prior to the recording of the follow-up album "Rock of the Westies", while Johnstone would leave in 1978. It was certified gold in May 1975, two weeks before it was even released, and was certified platinum and 3x platinum in March 1993 by the RIAA. In Canada, it also debuted at number 1 on the "RPM"
Dee Murray album, but this changed with "Honky Château" in 1972 when John exerted some of his skyrocketing popularity at the time to convince DJM to allow Murray and Olsson to also become full-time recording members of his band, so along with fellow new recruit Davey Johnstone on guitars, banjo, mandolin, sitar, fretted string instruments and backing vocals, Murray and Olsson played on John's hit albums, including the milestone album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", singles, and world tours for several years. In 1975, after recording "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", Murray and Olsson were released from the band because John