Bon Jovi didn't expect to release The Circle this soon

Bon Jovi's new album, The Circle, comes out next week, but if you ask the guys in the band, it wasn't supposed to happen this soon. There were plans to release a greatest hits album this year, but once Jon Bon Jovi got to writing some new material, he got on a roll and had enough material for an entire studio set -- and then some. He tells us how he went about telling record exec L.A. Reid the album news: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "You start writing more and more and more come January-February I went into L.A.'s office and I played him a half a dozen or more songs, and I said, 'I got good and bad news. I think we got a studio record here, but it's going to get in the way of the documentary. So much for you greatest hits.' And he said, 'My experience is if an artist really has something to say, and you let it pass, then it really wouldn't be as timely.'"

A greatest hits album with three new songs will be released next year.

The Circle features the single, "We Weren't Born To Follow."

The new Bon Jovi documentary, called When We Were Beautiful, recently aired on Showtime. A book of the same name came out this week featuring exclusive photographs, along with stories about the band.

Bon Jovi kicks off a tour in early 2010.

The New Jersey rockers will perform on NBC's Today show on November 11th.

Bon Jovi's most recent set, Lost Highway, came out in 2007.