Five decades ago, an aspiring singer/songwriter named Reginald Dwight, frontman for a band named Bluesology, answered an ad in the New Musical Express placed by an A&R man for Liberty Records. At the ensuing meeting, Dwight was given a stack of lyrics written by someone who'd answered the same ad: an up and coming lyricist named Bernie Taupin. Dwight wrote a melody to Taupin's lyrics, placed the ensuing song in the post--and thus started a partnership that continues to this day, with scores of chart-topping albums and beloved singles coming from Dwight--who, it turns out, changed his name to Elton John.

To celebrate their partnership, John and UMe are issuing a new compilation of the British pop legend's work. Diamonds, the first Elton collection since Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits a decade ago, will be offered as a 2CD set, 2LP offering, or 3CD deluxe box.

As with many of Elton's career overviews, Diamonds begins in 1970 with the breakthrough ballad "Your Song," continuing through the '70s on the first disc as John became a world conquering piano popsmith--releasing albums at an unthinkably fast clip and becoming the first artist in Billboard history to have an album debut atop the magazine's main LP chart. (In point of fact, Elton did it twice in 1975, when Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies reached the summit.) Favorites from "Rocket Man" to "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," "Philadelphia Freedom" to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," are all here--a capsule of a career's worth of success in less than a decade.

On Disc 2, Elton weathers changing styles in the 1980s, triumphing with hits like "I'm Still Standing," "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" and "Sacrifice," before reclaiming his crown in the 1990s thanks to a brace of songs written with Tim Rice for the animated Disney classic The Lion King in 1994 and favorites like "Something About The Way You Look Tonight" and "I Want Love." The disc closes with some of Elton's latter-day songs off critically acclaimed albums like The Diving Board (2013) and Wonderful Crazy Night (2016) before summing up beautifully with The Lion King's "Circle Of Life."

The deluxe box set adds another 17 tracks on disc, curated by Elton himself and filling in the gaps of his incredible career. There's "Skyline Pigeon," a beautiful early John-Taupin track; hit covers of The Beatles ("Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds") and The Who ("Pinball Wizard"); favorites like "Mama Can't Buy You Love," "Kiss The Bride," "The One" and "Believe"; and collaborations with Dionne Warwick ("That's What Friends Are For"), Luciano Pavarotti ("Live Like Horses") and even dance group PNAU (who assembled a cool electronic album, 2012's Good Morning To The Night, from snippets and samples of his early catalogue).

Both the box set and the vinyl include exclusive annotations and 7" single sleeve artwork from around the world; the box set offers the notes in a 72-page hardback book and also includes five illustrations of John from across his career. All products are available November 10; track lists and pre-order links can be seen below!

Diamonds (UMe, 2017)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
2LP (tracks noted with *): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)

Disc 1

1. Your Song *
2. Tiny Dancer *
3. Rocket Man (I Think It's Gonna Be A Long Long Time) *
4. Honky Cat
5. Crocodile Rock *
6. Daniel *
7. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) *
8. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road *
9. Candle In The Wind *
10. Bennie And The Jets *
11. The Bitch Is Back
12. Philadelphia Freedom
13. Island Girl
14. Someone Saved My Life Tonight *
15. Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Duet with Kiki Dee) *
16. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word *
17. Little Jeannie

Disc 2

1. Song For Guy *
2. Blue Eyes *
3. I'm Still Standing *
4. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues *
5. Sad Songs (Say So Much)
6. Nikita *
7. I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
8. Sacrifice *
9. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Duet with George Michael) *
10. Something About The Way You Look Tonight
11. I Want Love
12. Can You Feel The Love Tonight? *
13. Are You Ready For Love? (2003 Remix) *
14. Electricity
15. Home Again
16. Looking Up
17. Circle Of Life

Disc 3

1. Skyline Pigeon (Piano Version)
2. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
3. Pinball Wizard
4. Mama Can't Buy You Love
5. Part-Time Love
6. Victim Of Love
7. Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
8. Kiss The Bride
9. That's What Friends Are For - Dionne Warwick & Friends feat. Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder
10. The One
11. True Love (Duet with Kiki Dee)
12. Believe
13. Live Like Horses (Duet with Luciano Pavarotti)
14. Written In The Stars (Duet with LeAnn Rimes)
15. This Train Don't Stop There Anymore
16. Good Morning To The Night - Elton John vs. PNAU
17. Step Into Christmas

Disc 1, Track 1 from Elton John (DJM, 1970)
Disc 1, Track 2 from Madman Across The Water (DJM, 1971)
Disc 1, Tracks 3-4 from Honky Château (DJM, 1972)
Disc 1, Tracks 5-6 from Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player (DJM, 1973)
Disc 1, Tracks 7-10 from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (DJM, 1973)
Disc 1, Track 11 from Caribou (DJM, 1974)
Disc 1, Track 12 from DJM single, 1975
Disc 1, Track 13 from Rock Of The Westies (DJM, 1975)
Disc 1, Track 14 from Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (DJM, 1975)
Disc 1, Track 15 from Rocket single, 1976
Disc 1, Track 16 from Blue Moves (Rocket, 1978)
Disc 1, Track 17 from 21 At 33 (Rocket, 1980)
Disc 2, Track 1 and Disc 3, Track 5 from A Single Man (Rocket, 1978)
Disc 2, Track 2 and Disc 3, Track 7 from Jump Up! (Rocket, 1982)
Disc 2, Tracks 3-4 and Disc 3, Track 8 from Too Low For Zero (Rocket, 1983)
Disc 2, Track 5 from Breaking Hearts (Rocket, 1984)
Disc 2, Track 6 from Ice On Fire (Rocket, 1985)
Disc 2, Track 7 from Reg Strikes Back (Rocket, 1987)
Disc 2, Track 8 from Sleeping WIth The Past (Rocket, 1989)
Disc 2, Track 9 from Columbia single, 1991
Disc 2, Track 10 from The Big Picture (Rocket/Mercury, 1997)
Disc 2, Track 11 and Disc 3, Track 15 from Songs From The West Coast (Rocket/Mercury, 2001)
Disc 2, Tracks 12 and 17 from The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Walt Disney Records, 1994)
Disc 2, Track 13 from Rocket/Universal single, 2003
Disc 2, Track 14 from reissue of Peachtree Road (Rocket/Universal, 2005)
Disc 2, Track 15 from The Diving Board (Mercury, 2013)
Disc 2, Track 16 from Wonderful Crazy Night (Mercury/Virgin EMI, 2016)
Disc 3, Track 1 from "Daniel" single (DJM, 1973)
Disc 3, Track 2 from DJM single, 1974
Disc 3, Track 3 from Tommy: Original Soundtrack Recording (Polydor, 1975)
Disc 3, Track 4 from The Thom Bell Sessions (Rocket, 1979)
Disc 3, Track 6 from Victim Of Love (Rocket, 1979)
Disc 3, Track 9 from Friends (Arista, 1985)
Disc 3, Track 10 from The One (Rocket, 1990)
Disc 3, Track 11 from Duets (Rocket, 1993)
Disc 3, Track 12 from Made In England (Rocket, 1995)
Disc 3, Track 13 from Rocket single, 1996
Disc 3, Track 14 from Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (Rocket, 1999)
Disc 3, Track 16 from Good Morning To The Night (Mercury/Casablanca, 2012)
Disc 3, Track 17 from DJM single, 1973