Tom Jones International

Tonight Tom is in Denmark again. TJI is expecting one review but, the more the merrier. If you go, please let us know how it is. And, if you didn’t have an opportunity to visit TJI over the weekend, please check out the wonderful websites linked to in the post just below (you don’t have to read the rant) that are also linked to the page TJI Likes These Links.. And scroll down a bit further for the link to the ficker set from Arthur’s Day. For those of you fasting today, may it be an easy one or, if you are logging on after sundown, may it have been an easy one.

The date: April 10, 1987. The show: The Last Resort with presenter Jonathan Ross. Tom is there — smartly dressed in leather — to promote Kiss and it is a lovely 11+ minutes.

And, as MHarding points out in his correct comment (so I changed the headline on this post) this is where The Art of Noise first heard Tom sing Kiss and subsequently asked him to record the song with them. (You see, I don’t mind being corrected at all; I do mind being incorrect when it comes to facts. So, thanks, MHarding.)

Whenever you see TJ and Ross together you just know they like each other and are having a great time. It’s true today and it was true over 20 years ago.

One of the things I’ve said (and written in that terrific JTV tribute book) is that I believe that Tom Jones is so good to his fans because he’s a fan himself. Just listen to him speak of Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis. Just watch him with some of the great guests he had on his show (Sammy Davis, Jr. comes to mind). He enjoys watching his favorites just as you and I do.

That, according to an article in The Independent by Michael Collins on December 12, 1998, the same is true for Jonathan Ross.

It says, in part, “Someone once wrote that Jonathan Ross was the only talk-show host, apart from Parkinson, to have a genuine interest in most of his guests. This still remains the case. …he never uses every moment of an interview as a cue to deliver a punch-line created by a cast of scriptwriters. And the bigger the name before him, often the better the interview. Although he is synonymous with irreverence, you never forget that he was once, and still remains, a fan. In the early days of The Last Resort, it was as though he couldn’t believe his luck as he embarked upon a duet with Tom Jones.”

Although the duet mentioned above isn’t on this episode, Tom sings Great Balls of Fire and Kiss and chats with the host. He even tells the “pump up the tires” story. You can watch the it in the TJI.com Video Library.

I hope you will all join me in thanking Norman and Pat who — unasked; all on their own — have been sending terrific video of Tom from the 80s and 90s. These are transfers to DVD from VHS and i really appreciate the time and thoughtfulness that went into it. I might edit it, but I’d have nothing to edit if it weren’t for them.