Tom Jones joins Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show. Watch at 36 minutes 44 seconds to see Tom's performance of 'Strange Things' and his interview with Ryan.
TOM JONES TO PERFORM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ”PRAISE & BLAME” IN EUROPE!!!
After amazing success with performances in Europe and a tremendous response to the new album “Praise & Blame”, Tom Jones now confirms that he will be hitting Sweden, Denmark and Norway this fall. The concerts will be small, intimate and highly exclusive - the tour starts at Tyrol in Stockholm November 21 and continues at Kulturbolaget in Malmo November 23, Vega in Copenhagen on November 24th and finishing at the Sentrum Scene in Oslo on November 25th.
On the highly acclaimed new release “Praise & Blame” Sir Tom Jones performs a fantastic mix of American gospel, blues and country. On top of that, the legend Jones adds on some covers signed by Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver, to mention a few. On paper it sounds like a wide range of songs, but one thing that all the songs have in common is that they are handpicked by Jones himself, together with the star producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paolo Nutini), and executed completely live in the studio from start to finish.
In other words, this is an album full of performances that are in a category of all their own, and that is why Live Nation today is extra proud to confirm that the album will be performed, in total, in Sweden, by Jones and his band this fall. This tour will be the first time ever for Jones to perform the album live, and there is no doubt about that the concerts at Tyrol and Kulturbolaget will be a hot topic for a long time after the shows are finished!
Tickets for Malmo and Oslo are on sale now, tickets for Stockholm and Copenhagen will go on sale on Saturday 30th October!!
TOM JONES TO PERFORM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ‘PRAISE & BLAME’ IN IT’S ENTIRETY EXCLUSIVELY IN HOLLAND AT MELKWEG, AMSTERDAM
After the great success of his performance in Ahoy, Rotterdam, last year and the phenomenal response to his album ‘Praise & Blame’, legendary singer Tom Jones has announced an exclusive show in Holland at Melkweg, Amsterdam on November 5th. Ticket sales start Saturday 23rd October.
On his critically acclaimed new album ‘Praise & Blame’, Sir Tom Jones performs a selection of American gospel, blues, traditional and country songs, including covers of songs by Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver. All songs have been picked personally by Tom Jones and producer Ethan Johns – famous for his work with a.o. Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon and Paolo Nutini. The exclusive show, at the Amsterdam Melkweg, will be the first opportunity to catch Tom Jones perform ‘Praise & Blame’ in its entirety and promises to be a very special show.
The show will be taking place at the Rabozaal and will be seated/standing.
Friday 5th November, Melkweg Amsterdam, Rabozaal
Hall opens: 20:30 hrs / doors: 19:30 hrs
Tickets go on sale at 10.00am on Saturday 23rd October, priced at € 39,00 (excl. membership and booking fee) and are available from www.ticketservice.nl and at the usual outlets.
Tom Jones In Exclusive Session - The Sun Bizarre Sessions
Watch Tom Jones Perform Burning Hell for The Sun Bizarre Session Here I WAS honoured to have Welsh legend TOM JONES grace the Sun studios for a Biz Session.
His career has spanned an incredible 50 years and the basement walls are still shaking from his booming voice.
After performing rousing renditions of Run On and Burning Hell from his recent album Praise & Blame, Tom recalled the time he caught ROBBIE WILLIAMS sneaking up on him at home in LA. In fact, he revealed he was the one who convinced Rob and wife AYDA FIELD to set up home in the swanky Mulholland Estates.
He said: "Living near Robbie is great. I distinctly remember the day he first set foot in the area. It was a great day all round.
"I had been for a health check-up and all was good. I was in my garage drinking beer and I heard this voice coming from over the fence.
"I looked round and it was Robbie. He was checking out the estate and heard I lived there so came to me for advice.
"He came in for a look and loved it. I think he was sold. My wife stayed upstairs because she was too shy to meet him."
He continued: "Ayda is great too. They are good neighbours. They invite me round for coffee.
"Rob also tried to get me to play football with him but I can't be bumped around like that. I am not as fast as I was."
Despite avoiding contact sports, Tom says he's keen to keep in shape and has no time for people who take drugs.
Tom's good friend RICKY HATTON recently landed himself in hot water when he was allegedly filmed snorting cocaine.
Tom was saddened by the news: "I'm a huge boxing fan. He loves to eat and drink. If he's not training he's indulging. He hasn't got the discipline to bring it back.
"I've always liked alcohol but I have never been interested in drugs. Sniffing cocaine is not attractive to me. It looks like Fagin counting his money. It looks evil and I have never ever felt the need for it.
"I know a lot of people that do drugs and they say if you do cocaine you can drink more as it keeps you up. I don't need to drink any more than I do.
"I have never smoked pot. I stopped smoking cigarettes in the 60s. I'll have the occasional cigar but you don't inhale. I don't want to do that."
What a legend.
Praise & Blame is out now.
Tom Jones Looks to the Future: A CBS Special
Tom Jones' latest album is a return to the simple ways and musical values that he grew up with. Mark Phillips profiles the pop superstar who these days is looking both back and forward on his life.
You don't have to spend much time with Tom Jones around the green, green grass of his hometown of Pontypridd, in Wales, before two predictable things happen.
The first is, you ask him the dumb but irresistible question: "Does the old town look the same?"
"It looks the same from up here, I must say," he replied.
The other predictable event is that, before long . . . in this case while reminiscing in the chapel where he went to Sunday school . . . he'll break into song.
"Yea, yea, I wasn't expecting to sing today but ... anyway, 'The Old Rugged Cross':
On a hill, far away, Stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suffering and shame, But I love that old cross, Where the dearest and best Of a world of lost sinners were slain, I will cling to the old rugged cross, Where my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday, for a crown.
Tom Jones - Sir Tom Jones - is now 70, and he's feeling a little nostalgic.
He's come a long way from Pontypridd, the town in the Welsh coal mining valleys where he was born. But in a lot of ways, including musically, he's coming home.
Watch Web Exclusive Interview With Tom Jones
His new album has shocked his fans and surprised the critics.
What good am I if I’m like all the rest, If I just turn away, when I see how you’re dressed, If I shut myself off so I can’t hear you cry, What good am I?
The new Tom Jones CD is almost a repudiation of the glitzy pop career he's enjoyed for five decades. It's a return to the simple ways and musical values that he grew up with.
"My father was a coal miner, and both his brothers were coal miners," Jones said.
And Tom, too, seemed destined for a working life down the mines. It was not only good steady work; it was just about the only work.
Tom visited the house where he was born, in 1940, as Tommy Woodward. And he would have followed the predicted path if not for an accident of health.
"Oh yeah, I would have been a coal miner, I would think, if I hadn't had tuberculosis when I was 12," Jones said. "But my dream was always to be a professional singer. You know, I always had that, since I was a child."
For two years he was confined to a room in a house around the corner, where the family had moved. Recovering from TB turned into the best bad thing that ever happened to him.
The doctors told him, "'Whatever you do, you cannot go down the coal mine,' because of my lungs," Jones said.
Tom's lungs - and what they allowed him to do with a song - became a ticket to a whole other life.
After trying to get a break playing the pubs and working men's clubs of Wales, he cut a demo tape of a song that was supposed to be for another singer. But when the record company executives heard it, they knew it had to be his.
It became an international hit.
Not just a star, but a style was born . . . the Tom Jones style.
Other musical tastes could come and go, but Tom Jones belting it out would always be there.
His TV show - "This is Tom Jones" - was a living room favorite in the late Sixties and early Seventies on both sides of the Atlantic.
He was more than just a singer, of course; he was a sex symbol . . . famously the target on stage of women throwing their underpants at him.
Now, older, and finally greyer, he regrets ... nothing.
"I've always felt myself as being a serious singer," Jones said, "even if . . . "
"You were doing 'Sex Bomb'?" Philips added.
"Well, yeah, or 'What's New Pussycat?' which was a novelty song. But I've always sang it in the best way that i know how. I put myself in to it.
"But then you can be shooting yourself in the foot because then if you get a hit with a song that if you don't want to be known as a 'sex' symbol, then don't record 'Sex Bomb.' So at the time I wasn't really aware of it, but it has had an effect."
"But it's not like you ran away and hid from it," said Phillips.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. I've done what I've done and I've recorded what I've recorded and I have no regrets in that area because I've done It. So I've only myself to blame!"
"Praise and Blame" is the title of his new CD. And when Tom performs numbers from it, his audience - old and new - responds, if not quite in the way they used to.
He's dialed back a bit. But then, he's had to.
"Well I mean, I cannot be at 70 years old - it would be silly to try - and be 35 or 40, maybe even 50. You can't. There is no way and if you do then you're going to look silly. And people are going to take you less seriously than when you're a young person.
"It's to do with age, there's no getting away from it," he said. "Maybe I'm trying to."
"You're not going soft on us?" Phillips asked.
"Ohhh no, no, no, no. It's not soft. There's nothing really soft on this album. You know, it's a solid, it's a strong. These songs are strong songs."
Going up the stairs at the house in Pontypridd, Jones remarked how steep they are. "Good God, these are steep. I can't remember them being like that."
So much has changed for Tom Jones from that front room in that small rented house where he was born. And here's a way to measure it: There was no indoor toilet back then.
"Ahh no, just out there," he pointed.
A lot different from a life of world tours and Las Vegas lounges and a big house in L.A.
"Can I ask you another indelicate question? Do you have any idea how many bathrooms you have in your house now?" Phillips asked.
"Urrr, the house in L.A., has about . . . Hmm, let me see . . . are there . . . 6, 7?"
Well, I guess that's a measure of something. For Tom Jones, it's a way to measure the passage of time.
"Some people say I can't stop. If I stopped working I'd die," Philips said. "Are you afraid to stop?"
"Um, yeah. I mean, I dread the day. Time is my enemy. Time will catch up with me vocally. And I dread that. I dread to think about life without singing.
"It's a wonderful feeling to get on stage and pour all this stuff out and for people to go, 'Yeah!'"
MENCAP’S Little Noise Sessions Celebrate their 5th Birthday with a Series of Divine Performances. Starting with Tom Jones!!!!
TOM JONES & SPECIAL GUESTS, PAOLO NUTINI AND HURTS HEADLINE A WEEK OF EXCLUSIVE GIGS IN AID OF LEARNING DISABILITY CHARITY, MENCAP
15-20th November 2010
Union Chapel, Islington
www.littlenoisesessions.org.uk
To celebrate their 5th birthday, Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions have enlisted superstar Tom Jones, multi-platinum selling Paolo Nutini and band of the moment Hurts to perform at the legendary series of acoustic gigs taking place from 15th – 20th November at Islington’s Union Chapel. From today, subscribe at www.littlenoisesessions.org.uk to get tickets ahead of general release on Friday 15th October, with all proceeds going to learning disability charity, Mencap.
Curated by Mencap Ambassador Jo Whiley, once again Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions will bring some of the hottest names in music, over six very special nights, to perform acoustically in the exquisite surroundings of the Union Chapel. The stripped back music mixed with the intimate venue gives the audience the chance to see something truly unique each night.
Kicking off Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions birthday celebrations in style on Monday 15th November is Welsh legend Tom Jones who will be performing a special set from his latest album Praise & Blame, enlisting support on the night from some special guests!
Next up is the award winning Paolo Nutini who will be donning his New Shoes and headlining on Tuesday 16th November. Known for his velvet smooth vocals and anthemic hits including Last Request and Candy, Paulo will be joined by the sensational new pop-soul singer Rumer and the melodies of South London talent Michael Kiwanuka.
Wednesday 17th November sees the UK’s fastest selling new band of 2010 Hurts who will be reworking their big synthpop sound to stunning effect. Supported by rising star Clare Maguire, who’s all about the voice, Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions is in for a real birthday treat. Rounding off Wednesday’s, line up of fresh new music is the deep, rich and smoky voice of soloist Joe Worricker.
Previous acts that have taken to the Union Chapel stage include Bono and The Edge, Arctic Monkeys, Killers, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Editors, Kasabian, Florence + The Machine, Noel Gallagher, Amy Winehouse, Stereophonics, Katy Perry, Snowpatrol and Lily Allen. Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions are famous for wowing audiences with a bumper line-up and a host of surprise guests and this year will be no exception.
Mencap ambassador Jo Whiley says: “Mencap's Little Noise Sessions are back and it’s a very special year as we celebrate our 5th birthday with another stunning line up. Join us at the Chapel to witness some unbelievable gigs as well as raising money for this worthwhile cause."
Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, commented: “We are thrilled to be celebrating the fifth year of the Little Noise Sessions. These intimate gigs not only raise much-needed funds for Mencap, they also help us to raise awareness of learning disability, which can be a hard disability to understand. The money raised will help Mencap continue to support thousands of people with a learning disability across the UK”.
This year will also see the return of Mencap’s Big Noise Sessions, which makes its London debut in December. Last year’s inaugural event saw bonafide superstars Coldplay perform a one-off homecoming gig in Exeter all in aid of Mencap.
There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK, who are among the most excluded and disadvantaged people in our society. Those with a learning disability find it harder than others to learn, understand and communicate. Mencap fights for the changes that people with a learning disability, their families and supporters want and need so that they can live their lives the way they choose.
Subscribe now, for just £6 for six months to the Little Noise Sessions website www.littlenoisesessions.org.uk and have exclusive access to a host of great content including; priority ticketing, backstage footage, audio, photos and all the latest news from the daily Little Noise backstage blog. Subscribers will also be able to pick the best pew in the Chapel with priority entry to the gigs.
THE LINE UP SO FAR:
Monday 15th November: Tom Jones Presents Praise and Blame with friends
Price: £50.00*
Tuesday 16th November: Paolo Nutini, Rumer and Michael Kiwanuka
Price: £40.00*
Wednesday 17th November: Hurts, Clare Maguire, Joe Worricker
Price: £25.00*
*All ticket prices are subject to an additional booking fee
DISABILITY BOOKING LINE: 020 7696 5547
Tom Jones to Appear on CBS Sunday Morning
Watch Tom Jones on CBS Sunday Morning on October 17th at 9am.
This is a biographical piece with a special performance of songs from Praise & Blame', one not to be missed!
Goldmine Pick: Tom Jones’ ‘Praise & Blame’
Tom JonesPraise & Blame Lost Highway Records Grade: ★★★★
I had a pre-conceived notion when sitting down to review the new Tom Jones album, “Praise & Blame.” After all, this was the panty-thrown singer who thrust his hips in the 1970s to throngs of women. Well, what I found on that first listen was definitely not stripped down women but a much stripped down sound which was actually really good, full of a combination of artistry and spirituality which opened up a whole other side to Jones. Opening with a Bob Dylan tune “What Good Am I,” it came out of the box with a simple low drum pounding which progressed into the song which Jones sang with clarity, showing off his true crisp sounding vocals and pronounced sound. This now 70-year-old crooner then went into the Jesse Mae Hemphill tune “Lord Help,” which further uncovered the true gospel rooted sound he was going for without choosing any obvious gospel classics that would throw this release into a sort of greatest hits collection of Southern Baptist classics. Produced by the well chosen Ethan Johns at Peter Gabriel’s studio in Wilshire, the “Did Trouble Me” cut was a stand alone song that is notably crisp with an almost speaking Jones heading into a soft banjo strumming accompaniment which sounds quintessentially Southern Gospel in its authenticity and tone. The only offering which seemed a bit contrived was his rendition of the John Lee Hooker song “Burning Hell,” of which his vocals sound very contrived as if he’s just trying too hard, and the tune is sort of overtaken by an electric guitar that makes this song feel like an unwanted speed bump on an otherwise well paced CD. Two standout tunes are by far “Strange Things” and “If I Give My Soul” during which I fond myself singing along to and can visualize Jones leading a huge choir of churchgoers in a heartfelt frenzy of seductive worship. “Praise & Blame” is definitely one to put on your must-buy list, whether you remember the 1970s Tom Jones or are a music fan who wasn’t even born in that era but someone who really wants a good listen to hear what a simple, clear, melodic musical revival sounds like.
Praise & Blame
Release Date: 26/07/2010Label: Universal Island Records
Tom Jones teams up with producer Ethan Johns to release a remarkable new album. Entitled ‘Praise and Blame’, the album is an intriguing collection of songs drawn from the American spiritual repertoire.Watch Tom's Performance of Burning Hell on The Late Show with David Letterman
Listen to Tom Jones on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs
Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer Sir Tom Jones. In a career spanning fifty years he's sold 150 million albums and his hits have included It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat? and Delilah. As a child it was assumed he'd follow in his father's footsteps and become a miner. But he developed TB when he was twelve and doctors warned his parents against sending their only son to the pit; they said his lungs were too weak. Now aged seventy, he has no plans to retire. "Singing's like breathing to me", he says, "my voice drives me, it tells me that I have to do it".
Music played
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Jerry Lee Lewis — A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ OnJerry Lee Lewis: the EP Collection, See for Miles -
Vaughn Monroe — Riders in the Sky
The History of Country Music: The Forties: Vol.1, Kenwest -
Mahalia Jackson — The Old Rugged Cross
Mahalia Jackson sings the Best-loved Hymns of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., CBS -
Bill Haley — Rock Around the Clock
24 Jukebox Hits Of The 50s, Black Tulip -
Spike Jones and His City Slickers — Der Fuehrer’s Face
The Best of Spike Jones and his City Slickers., RCA -
Aretha Franklin — I never Loved a ManAretha Franklin: 30 Greatest Hits, Atlantic -
Big Bill Broonzy — Black Brown and WhiteBlack Brown and White, Mercury -
Humphrey Lyttelton — Bad Penny BluesTime to Remember 1956, EMI
Tom Jones on His Love of Gospel Music - CBS The Early Show
Maggie Rodriguez chats with singer Tom Jones about his new album, "Praise and Blame," a collection of gospel and blues songs as well as his relationship with Elvis. CBS The Early Show Friday 24th September
It’s Not Unusual to be Loved by Everyone - Tribune Magazine Review
Tom JonesUnion Chapel, London
by Cary Gee Saturday, September 25th, 2010
When Island Records heard that new signing Tom Jones was going to release an “album of hymns” one record company bean counter described the project as “a cruel joke”. This sorry individual should prepare himself for a mountain of beans. Jones’ first release for Island, Praise & Blame, which the septuagenarian Jones performed in full at the Union Chapel last week, is by far the singer’s finest release in years.
And while the songs, here stripped down to the basics, deal with temptation and ultimately redemption, this is most definitely not hymn singing. If it were, then churches across the land would be packed to the rafters.
Backed by a four-piece blues band, Jones growled and roared his way through a track list that began with Bob Dylan’s meditative “What Good Am I?” and included songs by Sister Rossetta Sharp and gospel queen Mahalia Jackson.
Saint or sinner, up close the power of Jones’ tenor is quite astonishing. There were moments during “Run On” when I half expected the gorgeous stained glass window above Jones’ head to shatter, such was the response from the congregation squeezed into the narrow wooden pews.
As Jones worked his way through the album, it became clear that Praise & Blame has been a lifetime in the making. Like Johnny Cash before him, and even his good pal Elvis Presley, who “loved gospel music over everything else he did”, Jones has finally managed, in the latter stages of his career, to make the album he always wanted to. His love for and appreciation of the songs he sings tonight is tangible – so much so that when one punter heckles: “Play some rock ’n’ roll”, Jones retorts: “What do you think that was?” By this stage, the chapel is certainly rocking.
As if to prove his point, Jones then sings John Lee Hooker’s “Burning Hell”. The lights above the stage turn hellfire red, but the temperature seems to drop by several degrees as Jones silences his critics. This is an elemental, bone-chilling plea for forgiveness and seems momentarily to stun the audience. On “Did Trouble Me”, complete with banjo which sounds like it is being plucked with bleeding fingers, Jones pleads with the Lord to “make me human, make me whole”.
Never one to dwell on things that might have been, Jones gives us a song he used to sing, backstage with Elvis, in Las Vegas. Billy Joe Shavers’ “If I Give My Soul” is a country-coloured reflection on the passing of the years. During those years, Jones has tried his hand at just about everything, reinventing himself in the 1990s after years in the Nevada Desert with his version of Prince’s “Kiss”, before aiming for – and missing badly – the club generation with “Sex Bomb”. Ironically, throughout this time hipper-than-thou singers of a younger generation have lined up to duet with Jones in a symbiotic (and parasitical) grab for credibility. Jones needn’t have bothered.
In the absence of knicker-throwing Delilahs, show-biz flapdoodle and homage-paying “indie” darlings, Jones proves that the devil and Jesus really do conspire to produce the best music. Waiting for the bus outside the chapel, I heard one lad tell his mate: “Seeing Tom was on my list of things to do before I die.” His mate agreed, adding: “I’m glad I waited.” Me too.
Praise & Blame is out now on Island Records
Watch Tom on Good Morning America
Tom Jones Is Back With 'Praise and Blame' - Watch Tom on Good Morning America, Wednesday 22nd September 2010.
Tom Jones on CBS Early Show Friday 24th September!!
See Tom perform a new track from Praise & Blame on the CBS Early Show on Friday Sept 24. Also, a very special biographical piece that includes Praise & Blame performances will feature on CBS Sunday Morning soon -- watch this space, broadcast date TBA soon.
Tom Jones to Appear on 3 US TV Shows this Week!!
Tom Jones will be performing on 3 great US television shows this week. The first being "Good Morning America" on Wednesday 22nd September at 7am. Then later that evening Tom will be a guest on "Late Night with David Letterman" with an interview and performance at 11:35pm (EDT,PDT). If that wasn't enough then you can catch him on The Early Show, CBS on Friday 24th September!!!
(More to be announced)
Watch Tom Jones Perform Run On on The Rob Brydon Show
Watch Tom Jones on The Rob Brydon show on the BBC iplayer. Watch at 10:46 minutes to see the interview and 24:55 minutes to see the performance of Run On.
Wales's satin-shirted satyr drops the hip-grinding and takes up contrition for a full-throated, A to Z rendition, of his latest album - The Independant Review
Reviewed by Simon Price Even more gothic-looking than usual, the octagonal interior of the Union Chapel is tonight choked by a fog of smoke, the arches behind the pulpit lit a sepulchral shade of blue, switching to a demonic red the very moment Tom Jones takes to the stage. "Beautiful venue," he acknowledges after the opening "What Good Am I?", glancing around the packed pews. "Very fitting for the album ..."
A deconsecrated church? Indeed it is. Praise and Blame is the septuagenarian's back-to-roots foray down the now well-trodden Johnny Cash route: his "Welsh Recordings", if you wish. Consisting of aeons-old gospel, folk and blues songs by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan, Billy Joe Shaver and the ever-prolific "Trad", it's predominantly religious, or at least haunted by angels and demons, pride and guilt. "If you take the praise," he says tonight by way of explanation, "you've got to take the blame. People say 'Tom, he's got a lovely voice ... but he's a bit of a naughty boy.' You see?"
We see. Indeed, the well-documented misdemeanours of Tom Jones – satin-shirted satyr, serial shagger – are part of his appeal: charming the panties off the universal female, and giving her one for us. There's none of that hip-grinding sauce tonight, however, as the increasingly King Neptune-like Jones takes us through Praise and Blame, start to finish. He's on fine form vocally, and he's funny with it, contradicting one heckler by clarifying that the Vocalzone lozenge he pops in his mouth is not Viagra, and name-dropping "my good friend" Elvis Presley before a sweaty-browed rendition of "Run On", the song the pair used to sing in the Vegas years of the early Seventies.
It's impressively raw, tough-arsed, hard-knuckled blues-rock fare. "Nobody's Fault But Mine" would work in a particularly gritty Lynch/Tarantino/Coens scene, and the line "Lord, help the motherless children" in Jessie Mae Hemphill's delta blues standard almost works as a hip-hop cuss.
We sit politely, in anticipation of a hits encore. A publicist tells me that the single most frequently asked question she's fielded all day has been "Is he gonna play 'Sex Bomb'?", but I'd have settled for "Green Green Grass of Home" if he doesn't want to disrespect the surroundings with something so sleazily secular. Instead, we get the happy-clappy "Didn't It Rain" for the second time in one night.
There's been plenty to praise, but if anyone shuffles out of the aisles feeling a little let down, there's only one man to blame.
Read the review here
Soulful Side of A Pracher Man - Union Chapel Guardain Review
He has some very big pipes. It is a very small chapel. There are many reasons to be excited about septuagenarian superstar Sir Tom Jones's performance at an intimate north London church, but chief among them is the prospect of the Welsh soul man blowing this semi-sacred space wide open.
It never quite happens. But he comes tantalisingly close a few times, enough to count this one-off gig a success. The first tremors come two songs in. "Lord Help" is a secular hymn taken from Mississippi country blueswoman Jessie Mae Hemphill. As Jones's band set up a swinging blues and the lighting rig dyes the stained glass a sinful red, Jones invokes the Lord's help for "the poor and the needy".
Then comes the key change. Jones throws his head back a little, opens his hands and his throat. "And we all rise together!" he sings, a veteran roué turned preacher man. The cobwebs quiver. Any audience in the American south would have jumped to their feet, but the rather more British Union Chapel crowd remain stuck to their pews until the end.
Jones began this latest UK jaunt by popping into the Pontypridd YMCA the week before last, having played there in his youth. He then performed at the Help For Heroes servicemen's concert last Sunday (with "my mate Robbie Williams"). But he is here tonight to play Praise & Blame, his 38th studio album, in its entirety. We get all 11 tracks, one of them – "Didn't It Rain" – twice. If you squint your ears, "If I Give My Soul" is a story-song like "Green Green Grass Of Home". But otherwise, this is a "Delilah"-free zone, suggesting that Jones sees his new record as standing apart from his more famous body of work.
As its title suggests, Praise & Blame draws heavily on reverential roots music – so much so that the vice-president of Jones's record company, Island, is said to have complained volubly in an internal email, one that was subsequently leaked. "We did not invest a fortune in an established artist for him to deliver 12 tracks from the common book of prayer [sic]," ran part of David Sharpe's broadside.
Jones seemed sincerely incensed at the time. Genuine or not, the fact that Sharpe's email was leaked once the publicity campaign for Praise & Blame was well under way suggests some sharp-shooting in Island's marketing department. Was the row even necessary? The facts are plain: Johnny Cash underwent a career revival when he embarked on a series of covers albums, taking in roots music and more contemporary songs. Robert Plant won five Grammy awards for his album of country duets, Raising Sand; he has followed it up with another in similar vein. With songs drawn from blues and country, Jones is following a tried and tested road into continued relevance. And it's working. His previous live outing at this summer's Latitude festival was heavily oversubscribed; released in July, Praise & Blame has already been certified gold.
For a man so frequently baptised in moist knickers, Jones plays the part of church-raised devotee very well indeed tonight. "Did Trouble Me" begins as gospel tune, eventually settling into gently rollicking country music. Live, the song expands from the album version, with a banjo and female backing vocals floating to the fore.
What really resonates, however, is how contrite Jones – the glitziest of Vegas lounge lizards, the least apologetic of womanisers – appears. "When I raised my voice a little too loud," he croons, "my Lord did trouble me." Throughout his long career, Jones has always been ready with a nudge and a wink (or an unsubtle kick in the shins, like "Sex Bomb"). But this tiny shard of self-knowledge hangs elegantly in the air tonight.
Sin is never very far away. Jones's excellent, bawled version of John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell" ponders the existence of heaven and hell with the aid of guitar and drums, like the White Stripes might have done it. Chatty and at ease, Jones guffaws his way through the set, sounding like he's about to tell a bawdy joke at any moment. "In order to take the praise, we also need to take the blame," he expounds on his album title. "You know: Tommy's got a lovely voice… but he's a bit of a naughty boy!" We learn that the little pill that Robbie Williams pops into his mouth before singing is called a Vocalzone, a lozenge used by opera singers; Jones then necks one gleefully.
It wouldn't be an audience with Tom Jones without an anecdote about Elvis, and so tonight's gig proves. But Jones delivers "Run On" – a tune he used to do with Presley after hours in Vegas – with such gusto that the rafters really seem to rattle. God-fearing might have been a sound business decision for Jones. And yet it's a testament to his prowess as an entertainer that he can pull it off with such aplomb.
Read the review here
The New Tom Jones Album - The Perpetual Post Review
By Dave Tomar and Akie Bermiss AKIE BERMISS: Without a doubt, the very last place I expected to hear good new music was from someone like Tom Jones. When Dave told me it was a record I had to hear I was at first under the impression that he was joking. I mean we’re talking about Tom Jones here. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? The sex-bomb, the not-unusual, the tired cliche of a cliche of a cliche — Tom friggin’ Jones?! First of all, isn’t he like a billion years old? And secondly, what the hell is he doing making a record?
What the hell is that recording doing being so damned awesome?!
Listening to Praise & Blame – Jones’ new record — I’ve been forced to remember a few things. Firstly, though Jones is all kinds of cliche, he can sing a damned song if he wants to. Even at 70, when most singers’ instruments begin to go through the slow, inexorable decline of age, he’s got the same ear-rending voice he was always known for. The same rich baritone. The same semi-wide very masculine vibrato (some where between Dean Martin — on the low end — and Tony Bennet — on the high end). And, most of all, the same precision of pitch and diction. Yes, there is a bit more roughness to the singing (which is usually a sign of age) but you get the sense that the slight rasp is somehow a deliberate affectation. Maybe its something Jones always kept in reserve for the right occasion.
Secondly, I must admit that I’m no expert on the details of Jones’ past. I know him as the Unforgettable guy — that’s about it. I’ve saw a documentary about him a few years back and I’ve heard a good deal of his music (mostly against my wishes or in the kind of poor circumstance where you’re choosing between Tom Jones, Paul Anka, or the Boston Pops Orchestra’s Greatest Hits). And while, in comparison to what I might think of as real, serious artists he’s something a light-weight as far as content is concerned, Jones is no lightweight in the singing department. He can sing his ass off, really. There’s no two ways about it.
Indeed, a lightweight in times gone by and a lightweight today are two very different people. Jones sang pop music. He was Inglebert Humperdink on steroids, as far as I’m concerned. You think of middle-aged women throwing huge panties on stage when you think of Tom Jones.
Then again, if you go back and listen to some “classic” Tom Jones whatever you may feel about the material — he usually sings it well.
And thirdly, there is something to be said for someone who’s been in the business for something like 50+ years making a record like this at a time like this. We all grow up and get older and start to wonder what is going to happen to us when we die. Sometimes, we have to face that when we’re younger (for a variety of reasons). It is the desperate unknowable gulf of human existence… that is where the artist is most effective at his work. Even a mediocre talent, when faced with answering the greater questions or dwelling in the deeper waters of human experience, can rise to the occasion and make fine, fine art. Imagine what can happen when a great talent takes up the cause.
Jones is in an enviable position. He’s already made it. He’s famous. He’s been successful. He doesn’t need to make a name for himself. And so he can sing whatever the hell he wants. And, in Praise & Blame: he does just that. Listen to the terrified conviction of “Burnin’ Hell” or the quiet reflection of “Did Trouble Me.” This isn’t an “experimental” record. This is a reflection of the things within the soul of the artist. I feel ridiculous just saying this sort of thing about Tom Jones, but this is a beautiful record. It is unsettling, touching, and inspiring.
In fact, so well-made is this record it reminds me of the renaissance that Gil Scott-Heron pulled up just last year with I’m New Here. The records are very similar in their directness. The elderly men who are remaking themselves to cut through all the dross and detritus of this electronic age. You take Praise & Blame and you listen to the full 40-minutes straight through — you’ll not be disappointed. In point of fact, it really doesn’t matter who made this record — just that it was made.
Is that not the highest aspiration of the artist? To create a piece of work that, instead of seeming a fabrication of the artist’s conceit, seems like a creation decreed by the universe. On the simple opening cut, “What Good Am I?” Jones seems like a man who has entered a sacred space and begins the motions of prayer. He seems to say, I have been flawed, have I not. Do we not often acknowledge our mortality, first thing, when we approach the creator? (ask Rilke, but I bet I’m right) And by the final awesome tracks, “Ain’t No Grave” and “Run On”, we’re in the full-on ecstatic with Jones. Here he celebrates the uncertainty, the imperfection, the on-coming darkness.
I’d never have guessed it would turn out like this — but who ever knows how it’ll be? But here is Tom Jones… leading us in the great unknown. A sort of musical philosopher and prophet. Consumed in righteousness. The music and the musician are one. And both are transformed.
Praise and blame, indeed, Tom. Praise and Blame, indeed.
DAVE TOMAR: I have always liked Tom Jones. I think most people do. I respect anybody who can perform with such flagrant sexual aplomb while being rained down upon by granny panties. Really, with the unimaginable amount of bacteria in which he has been knee-deep, his longevity is astounding.
Until only recently though, my appreciation for Tom Jones has been strictly ironic. He’s hilarious. The bulge in his leather pants. The silk shirt unbuttoned to his navel. The style of ultra-swank that he seems to have virtually invented. The Welsh choogler is almost a caricature of rock and roll, reveling for decades in its excess and frequently dispensing of its substance in favor of its sexuality. He is all the raunchiness and comedic value of a mid-coital facial expression.
Perhaps, though, not a musical force.
So imagine my surprise when I was overtaken by the compulsion to play his new record a dozen times the first week I heard it. Praise and Blame is an old man’s legacy presented for reconsideration. Released this summer to general acclaim, this album is not ironic, it is not funny and it doesn’t seem very interested in sex. At his age, this would be a grotesque charade.
This record is not a fleeting moment of orgasmic emptiness. It is a terminal stage reflection on the grave.
Hooray for Tom Jones. 70 years old and he decided to make a Johnny Cash-I’m-probably-dying-soon-better-say-something-that-matters record. It won’t change the way most people think of him. He is still the Sex Bomb. Most people won’t hear this record. It doesn’t have the clubland appeal of 1999’s Reload, in which Tom Jones partners with the likes of the Cardigans and dabbles playfully with material like Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life.” This was an awfully good record, if you catch my draft.
But Praise and Blame is a dark, charging record, clearly conceived in the spirit of Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin productions. Producer Ethan Johns has paired Jones with an old-as-dirt songbook and the match is remarkable. The Tom Jones audience has always overlapped with middle-of-the-road figures like Neil Diamond and the Monkees. But there is nothing on this record for these listeners.
On standards like “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Ain’t No Grave,” Jones is a much closer approximation to Son House. On Bob Dylan’s “What Good Am I,” Jones is pensive and filled with remorse. On John Lee Hooker’s “Burning Hell,” he is defiant and menacing. His voice is hoarse, forceful and convicted. The production is spare and respectful to the material.
Simply stated, the record is a tremendous accomplishment, channeling the ravages of aging into an artistic statement. And if in reflection on his career this is hardly representative of who Tom Jones is, it is a statement representative of rock music itself. For all of its bloat and superficiality, it remains a medium capable of producing the rare but devastatingly profound statement.
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