Elton John Finishes New Album 'The Diving Board,' Hosts Listening Party: Will Make a Debut Splash in September

With already 59 Top Forty hits in the United States, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, Sir Elton John has announced that he has finished recording his most recent album "The Diving Board," which will make its debut in September.

"I'm not the sort of artist who'll get played on the radio," Elton John said yesterday in a studio on the west side of Los Angeles, explaining why he was hosting a small listening party to preview his next album. "The Diving Board" may not get as much airplay as day Rihanna or Adele, but Elton still considers it his "best work in years."

As cited in a recent Billboard article, John, who has sold more than 250 million records in his four-decade career, returned to the piano/bass/drums arrangements of his earliest albums, making a stripped-down record that feels like a "CinemaScope western. "It's got everything I love about American music: gospel, soul, country," a beaming Elton John confessed.

Elton John has finished what he calls "the most piano-oriented album of my career" and is looking to release it to his fans in September. The 13-track album contains songs written in two sessions with lyricist Bernie Taupin. The English rock singer-songwriter recorded most of the album back in early 2012, notes Rolling Stone, and then "put it aside" for a while, which is one of the best decisions Elton John thinks he could have made for "The Diving Board." Freed of the obligation to make a deadline, he was delighted to revisit the album with "fresh ears" after nine months and completed the newest songs for the album in January.

Stepping away from it meant "being able to put a little sugar on it," John said, "making it Eltonized."

"The Diving Board" will be his first album released since "The Union" in 2012, according to Billboard. "This is the album I should be making after 'The Union.' It's my most adult album."

His newest masterpiece will contain the following tracks:

"Oceans Away"
"Oscar Wilde Gets Out"
"A Town Called Jubilee"
"The Ballad of Blind Tom"
"My Quicksand"
"Can't Stay Alone Tonight"
"Voyeur"
"Home Again"
"Take This Dirty Water"
"The New Fever Waltz"
"Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight)"
"Candlelit Bedroom"
"The Diving Board"

For those not privileged enough to receive an invitation to Elton's private listening party, keep an ear open for his latest and greatest album to drop this September.