Premiere: Elton John track 'Ocean's Away'

By Randy Lewis

Sept. 10, 2013 5 AM PT

Pop & Hiss premieres “Oceans Away,” one of the tracks from Elton John’s new album “The Diving Board,” which is scheduled for release on Sept. 24.

In many respects it’s an extension of the career direction he embarked on in 2010 for his duo album with his musical hero Leon Russell, “The Union,” which was produced by T Bone Burnett, who also has overseen production of “The Diving Board.”

At that time, John said his sessions with Russell and Burnett were so rewarding that he wished to focus from that point on on music that truly mattered to him and dispense with anything remotely trivial.

The new songs on “The Diving Board” are being compared to some of what he did in the early stages of his career on the “Elton John” and “Tumbleweed Connection” albums.

“I had to go back and listen to my old stuff to go forward again,” John, 66, says in a promotional trailer for the album that can be viewed here. “It’s a different era now. I know I’m not going to get played on the radio -- what kind of music do I really want to make?”

“Oceans Away” is a piano-driven ballad about seeking out the wisdom of one’s elders. It’s produced sparingly, leaving the focus on John’s voice and his piano accompaniment.

Of Burnett, John said, “He knows everything about the kind of American music I love,” and in turn, Burnett ventured the opinion that “Elton John is an artist at the peak of his powers.”

Here’s “Oceans Away”: