We are pleased to announce the follow up to 2010’s acclaimed collection of songs that was ‘Praise and Blame’ with the release of ‘Spirit In The Room’ on 21st May 2012 through Island Records.
Universally graced with critical and commercial success – reaching No 2 in the UK, ‘Praise and Blame’ saw Tom mark a return to his roots and emerge with a powerful body of work drawn from the American spiritual repertoire. Now moving forward with ‘Spirit In The Room’, Tom draws on an evocative range of compositions executed with an unprocessed passion that make them his own. There is a raging interpretation of Tom Wait’s ‘Bad As Me’, a wonderful rendition of Odetta’s ‘Hit Or Miss’, the front porch blues of Vera Hall Ward’s ‘Travelling Shoes’ and a stunning reading of the other-worldly ‘Charlie Darwin’ by Low Anthem— all revealing Tom as he continues to explore his artistic landscape..
‘Spirit In The Room’ once again brings together producer/guitarist Ethan Johns (Brit Award Producer of the Year 2011) and Tom for intimate performances with a very considered and select group of musicians— multi instrumentalist Johns, Richard Causon on vintage keyboards and piano (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon and Rufus Wainwright), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on drums, and Ian Jennings and Sam Dixon on bass.
Recorded at Bath’s Real World studios, ‘Spirit In The Room’, like it’s predecessor, allows an unvarnished Tom Jones to bring a voice to songs as only he can. Accompanied by Ethan Johns throughout, the album includes gems from a diverse choice of writers - Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney amongst others. Simple, raw and soulful, welcome to ‘Spirit In The Room’.
As we've been reporting, Tom has also graced a recent single on Jack White’s Third Man label . Featuring Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Evil’ in his own inimitable style and produced and played by White and some of his Raconteurs, the single comes backed with a reworked version of Frankie Lane’s classic ‘Jezebel’ and has already picked up widespread praise .
‘Spirit In The Room’ is:
1. Tower Of Song (L. Cohen) 6. Bad As Me (T.Waits) 2. (I Want To) Come Home (P.McCartney) 7. Dimming Of The Day(R.Thompson) 3. Hit Or Miss (Odetta) 8. Travelling Shoes (V. Hall Ward) 4. Love And Blessings (P. Simon) 9. All Blues Hail Mary (J. Henry) 5. Soul Of A Man (Blind Willie Johnson) 10. Charlie Darwin (Low Anthem)
There will be a Deluxe Edition album which will contain the additional recordings ‘Just Dropped in’, ‘Lone Pilgrim’ and ‘When The Deal Goes Down’.
There's just a short 7 week wait until release, but you can pre-order a copy from Amazon here.