When you tune to BlackLight Radio for 80s internet radio, you know you’re going to hear plenty of Elton John (“Little Jeanie,” “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues,” “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That”). Well, Elton has just completed recording a NEW album called “The Diving Board.” The album will be released this Autumn, 2012.

Although initially not excited about going back in to the studio so soon after his last album (“The Union”), he ended up writing six songs a day for two days, laid down the twelve tracks in just four days, & then picked 10 tracks to make the final cut for the album. “It just came flooding out,” Elton told Rolling Stone Magazine. “Quickest record I’ve ever made.”

T Bone Burnett (“Truth Decay,” “”I Wish You Could Have Seen Her Dance”,” “When the Night Falls”) is the producer of Elton John’s new album, and it was T Bone’s suggestion that Elton record the tracks as a three-piece combo consisting of Elton on piano, Raphael Saadiq (who played alongside Prince on his “Parade” tour) on bass, & Jay Bellerose on drums. On two of the songs, the trio is augmented by guitarist Doyle Bramhall (who has toured with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters & was second guitarist in Eric Clapton’s band in the 2000s).

Drummer Bellerose played on Elton’s last album “The Union” & has worked with John Mellencamp, Ray LaMontagne, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

John calls it “the most exciting solo record I’ve done in a long, long time.”

In addition to the new album, John is working on a book of reminiscences from the Aids epidemic. Plans are also advancing for a proposed biopic, which could star Justin Timberlake. “We’re searching for a director,” John’s partner, David Furnish, recently told E! “There’s no race to make this. We’re just going to take the time to make it right.”

When “The Diving Board” is released, BlackLight Radio will plan a special weekend to mix Elton John’s new tracks in with the 80s internet radio you’ve grown to expect from us; keep checking back for details!

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Information for this post was gathered in part from this Rolling Stone article.

Via RTE Ten:

Former Wham! frontman George Michael (“Careless Whisper,” “Faith,” “One More Try”) is back in the recording studio after his life-threatening bout of pneumonia in Vienna.

The singer flew from Australia to the UK last week to present Adele (“Rolling In The Deep,” “Someone Like You,” “Set Fire To The Rain”) with one of her Brit Awards and is said to ‘adore’ the singer.

Both musicians have had spells of bad health recently and have taken time out, but both have apparently made full recoveries.

The British songstress picked up two awards at the recent Brit Awards, following her six awards at the Grammy Awards last month.

Both George Michael & Adele are working on albums at the moment, it is unclear whether a collaboration will appear on both albums.

by Ray Waddell, Billboard.com

There will be those that believe a millionaire rock star singing about poor people & hard work, as Bruce Springsteen so passionately does on his powerful new album “Wrecking Ball,” to be the height of hypocrisy. But to do so would be both shortsighted & uninformed. First, as a pedigreed Jersey shore rat raised in economically depressed Freehold, N.J., Springsteen knows a thing or two about economic frustration. And, secondly, anyone who has seen Springsteen perform at any one of thousands of shows over the past 40 years, with or without his E Street Band, is well aware that he packs his lunch pail every night & welcomes overtime.

“Wrecking Ball,” Springsteen’s 17th studio album, finds the artist exploring familiar working class territory, but with a vigor and fearlessness not seen since 2002′s equally-inspired “The Rising.” Produced by Springsteen with Ron Aniello, the characters that populate most of the album’s 11 tracks are generally having a pretty tough go of it, to say the least. While sometimes not above contemplating crime & murder, as with the anti-heroes in 1980′s thematically similar “Nebraska” would have opted, the protagonists of “Wrecking Ball” more often just want to put in an honest day’s work. With its gritty portrayal of the danger at hand when lives are lived on the edge of collapse, “Wrecking Ball” does indeed recall “Nebraska,” though the newer record is far more complex musically & more pointed in its observations.

There is a pervasive element of desperation in “Wrecking Ball,” but nobody here is giving up. “Hold tight to your anger,” Springsteen snarls on the title cut. The characters here seek self-respect & purpose, & they maintain their pride if not always their identity. “Stand back, son, & let a man work” Springsteen advises in the pounding “Shackled And Drawn,” & the inability to do so provides the backdrop for the album’s primary struggle. Bankers & other vaguely-defined power brokers draw ire, & the tender ballad “Jack Of All Trades” becomes decidedly less tender as the song draws to a close, with the singer expressing an unnerving willingness to “shoot the b_____ds on sight.”

This is Springsteen with his work boots on, & the music on “Wrecking Ball” follows suit, alternating between loud, percussive, Seeger Sessions-on-steroids romps & steely, subdued dirges, with detours in a wide range of directions. The sound blends contemporary production with familiar Springsteen-esque guitars & drums, while varied influences including gospel, blues, country & even rap surface throughout, often in unexpected ways.

More than anything, “Wrecking Ball” is a record with heart. Worth noting in the liners is the artist’s poignant tribute to his longtime band mate Clarence Clemons, the beloved E Street Band sax man who died last year. This should be considered Springsteen’s definitive take on the Big Man’s legacy, proclaimed here as “Too f____n’ big to die.”

Click here for a track-by-track take on “Wrecking Ball”.