The Diving Board – Part Two

Posted on February 24, 2013 by adminelton

Has there ever been such uncertainty surrounding a new Elton album?

When Elton finished up a 4-day stint in the studio in January 2012 the plan was for the resulting The Diving Board album to be released in September. However, the release of Pnau’s Good Morning to the Night saw Elton’s effort pushed back to February 2013.

A further delay was announced in November along with a title change to The Voyeur. According to Elton, the additional time

enabled us to go back and put a little sugar on it. Make it a little Eltonized

While the fact that the new Elton album will actually sound like Elton is obviously good news (!), the additional recording time, and Elton’s touring commitments, have pushed the release date back even further to September of this year. The title has reverted back to The Diving Board and there has, inevitably, been a change to the track listing.

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Oh, it’s carnival night And they’re stringing the lights around you

Posted on January 1, 2013 by adminelton

Hello 2013, so very nice to meet you.

Yes, it’s that time again of year when we look back at the last 12 months and then desperately hope for better things to come in the next 12.

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Is that the radio, Yes that’s the radio

Posted on August 21, 2012 by adminelton

Get your tape recorders primed ‘cos tomorrow sees the start of a weekend of the sort usually reserved for blockbuster movies hoping to post record openings. 6 days, yes that’s 6 whole days, packed into one Elton John Weekend on Radio 2.

Elton John Weekend on Radio 2

Trevor Nelson kicks things off on Wednesday with a special version of his Soul Show, promising cover versions of Elton’s classic hits and rare gems. Anyone who watched the BBC’s coverage of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies may well feel like giving this a miss, but Trevor Nelson is rather more erudite on the subject of soul so this should be interesting.

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RIP Bob Birch

Posted on August 15, 2012 by adminelton

Incredibly sad sad news, Bob Birch has died. He was found at his home today (Wednesday) with a gun shot wound in an apparent suicide. All our thoughts are with Bob’s family and friends and Elton and the band.

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You can still say ‘homo’ and everybody laughs

Posted on July 2, 2012 by adminelton

Elton and the band played in Kiev on Saturday on the eve of the Euro 2012 final. During the 2-hour show Elton spoke about about the violence against gay people in Ukraine, a country he called his second home.

As a follow up today’s Guardian newspaper has a comment piece by Elton on gay rights in Ukraine. The piece can be read here: Gay rights are human rights

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The Diving Board

Posted on March 15, 2012 by adminelton

Rolling Stone is reporting Elton’s new album will be called The Diving Board. And, according to one rather biased piano player, the album is the most exciting solo record [he’s] done in a long, long time.

The Diving Board is a return to the piano-bass-drums sound of Elton’s early records, an idea put forward by producer T Bone Burnett.

Bass-duties are taken on by Raphael Saadiq, while Jay Bellerose plays drums. Bellerose also featured on The Union and has worked with Ray LaMontagne, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Guitarist Doyle Bramhall joins the trio for two tracks. The musicians were all hand-picked by Elton.

Elton admits to not being particularly eager to record another album so soon after The Union. Once in the studio in LA, however, he wrote twelve songs in two days then recorded them all in four days.

It just came flooding out. Quickest record I’ve ever made. I’m as psyched about it as I was with The Union.

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Good Morning to the Night

Posted on March 12, 2012 by adminelton

Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong this weekend premiered a track from PNAU’s new album of Elton John remixes. The Australian duo, signed to Rocket, were given carte blanche to play with Elton’s back catalogue for an 8-track album to be released in April.

PNAU

The first track to surface is Good Morning to the Night, a reinterpretation of Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters with a touch of Tonight thrown in for good measure.

Check it out here: http://www.thehouseofcoxhead.com/home/2012/3/10/elton-john-vs-pnau-good-morning-to-the-night.html

This is sure to be playing all the clubs this summer.

There’s no news yet as to which other tracks have been given the PNAU treatment, but hopefully, the record will enjoy the same success Ashley Beedle’s remix of Are You Ready For Love enjoyed in 2003.

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I saw the lights along the pier That made my senses sing

Posted on February 21, 2012 by adminelton

It has just been announced that Elton will play the Official Opening Concert of the Tower Festival Headland, Blackpool.

The open-air venue is situated opposite Blackpool’s famous tower and can hold up to 20,000 people. The concert on Saturday 16th June will be an all-seater affair. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am.

More information can be found at  http://www.visitblackpool.com/events/music/elton-john

Elton in Blackpool

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Where royalty and [Shakers] meet

Posted on February 7, 2012 by adminelton

According to the BBC, Elton will be joining Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Annie Lennox and Tom Jones at The
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert to be held in front of Buckingham Palace in June.

BBC News – Sir Paul McCartney to play Queen Diamond Jubilee gig.

Ed Sheeran, Jools Holland and Jessie J have also been announced as part of the line-up. Tickets will be by public ballot.

McCartney is expected to open and close the concert. I wouldn’t want to be the person in charge of sorting out the rest of the running order!

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Beyond the yellow brick road

Posted on February 6, 2012 by adminelton

Sniffing for tidbits I came across this piece on the Guardian website regarding the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album:

Old music: Elton John – Funeral for a Friend.

It turns out that BBC Radio 2 will be featuring the album on Johnnie Walker’s Long-Players at 11pm on Thursday 9th February. More info here:

Elton John: News: Article.

and here:

Johnnie Walker’s Long-Players

via BBC – BBC Radio 2 Programmes – Johnnie Walker’s Long-Players, Episode 2.

Last week’s show featured the Bowie albums ‘Hunky Dory’ & ‘Aladdin Sane’. Incidentally, both these albums were recorded at Trident Studios in London in the early 70s, a time when Elton was also recording there. You can check out Trident Studios facebook page – currently sporting a small piece about ‘Step into Xmas’ – here:

Trident Studios | Facebook.

The Bowie show is really interesting so I’m looking forward to Thursday’s broadcast.

As it appears to be Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Week, unofficially at least, please share any personal stories or thoughts on this great album.

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