While recording "The Union," his 2010 album with Leon Russell,
Elton John began to think he might set aside the gloss of his
mid-to-late-career albums and return to the stark presentation
of his earliest work. "I should just let it rip," he told me
back then, as we recalled with glee his early 1970s concerts
with bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson.  Mr. John has
since taken action and, with producer T-Bone Burnett, recorded
"The Diving Board," out this week. It's a deeply satisfying,
age-appropriate update of the moment in 1970 when he became a
superstar, rocketed by a series of shows at the Troubadour, a
Los Angeles rock club.  "At 66, I've made a record by going back
to the basics," Mr. John said late last month by phone. "To say
I'm happy with it would be an understatement."  He's right to be
proud. Here, on what is his best solo album in at least two
decades, Mr. John seems revitalized, as if recalling what made
him the wonder he was for much of the '70s. "These songs
could've been on 'Tumbleweed