Tom Jones International

As noted in the comment section, Tom’s official site is running a contest. The prize is a meet-and-greet and an autographed Praise and Blame CD. Entrants must answer a question corrctly and th winner’s name will be drawn. Contest closes midnight August 1. to enter, go here. Contest open to UK residents only.(Be nice if one were run also in the USA where the CD is being released Tuesday.)

A US TV note: Set your DVRs. No, it’s not Tom but, tonight, Tuesday, July 20, one of Jay Leno’s guests on The Tonight Show is a guy named Lior Suchard. He is a mentalist whom I met when he was here opening for Joan Rivers. Lior is amazing. I”ve seen him — literally — bend a fork just by looking at it. He bent a quarter I was holding in my closed hand. He guess the name of the person of whom I was thinking. I was in Las Vegas and she in New York, but he guessed it. He is also a very nice guy. At the time I wrote about him. You can check out my article here. And, if you don’t stay awake that late, do record the show. You’ll enjoy it.

An old news story is being revived by NME. They’re saying again that:

Tom Jones: ‘I’m going to record with The Killers’

‘We share a Las Vegas connection’, singer tells NME

Tom Jones and The Killers have been in talks regarding a potential future collaboration, the singer has told NME.

Speaking backstage at the weekend’s (July 16-18) Latitude Festival, Jones said he was a big fan of the Las Vegas band and the feeling is apparently mutual.

“I’ve spoken to Brandon Flowers,” explained Jones, who recently released his more stripped-down ‘Praise And Blame’ album. “He said he admired what I’d done in my career. Theres a connection there because he’s from Las Vegas, and of course I’ve performed there so many times over the years.”

There is no fixed release date for the planned collaboration, but Jones said it would definitely happen as soon as they had found a song they were happy with.

“The material has to be right,” said the singer. “That’s always been my main concern, with whichever people I’ve worked with.”

Jones has a reputation for surprising fans with unexpected collaborations. His career revival in recent years was kickstarted by 1999′s ‘Reload’, an album of cover versions on which he dueted with the likes of The Cardigans’ Nina Persson and Kelly Jones of Stereophonics.

Tom Jones kicked off the 2010 Latitude Festival, playing an intimate set on the eve of the event (July 15), before returning for a bigger slot yesterday (18).

And, there’s video of a news story about the potential teaming. You can watch it here.

Please note that the photo above right, of Bono and the Killers’ Brandon Flowers appeared as part of a feature on Flowers in Rolling Stone. Why is it posted here? Well, I could stretch a point and say that Bono and Tom are friends. But I’ll be honest. The photo was taken by my daughter, Ruth. Just a proud mom.

CD Reviews:

First up is a review from ardent TJ fan Joe Murray.

Tom Jones Hits The Mark With New Gospel/Blues Album

By JOE MURRAY/Monday, July 19, 2010/The Bulletin

At a time when most entertainers of his generation have placed their careers on cruise control and resigned themselves to singing their greatest hits in Vegas-esque lounges, Sir Tom Jones is, once again, proving to audiences why he has remained a show biz legend for close to half a century.

For the rest of this review, the “Back To His Roots” article, another review and video from the Latitude Festival, click here to

Versatile, sharp and possessing an unparalleled ear for music, Mr. Jones is releasing a new album that is geared at changing the way the public perceives the Tom Jones persona. It is an endeavor Mr. Jones believes is a long overdue return to his musical roots.

The album, called Praise & Blame, is a wildly addictive mix of gospel, blues, rock and country and has the Welshman placing his own vocal footprint on songs performed by Bob Dylan, the Staple Sisters, Mahalia Jackson and John Lee Hooker. It is an album that fits his globally recognized baritone like a silk glove.

“We wanted it to be of a gospel nature, but an earthy gospel,” Mr. Jones told Billboard in explaining the creative spark behind the album.

“So we listened to a lot of gospel records, the Staples Singers and Elvis, of course, but I wanted to take it somewhere else. The idea was to do a live, honest type of thing, but songs that meant something. There’s some on there I feel that will stop you in your tracks.”

And stopping the listener in his tracks is exactly what Praise & Blame accomplishes.

This album is not cookie cutter gospel music that puts pop sounds to songs containing the words God, Jesus and Lord. This is a raw, gut wrenching gospel album fused with powerful blues rhythms. It is a recording in which Mr. Jones embodies all the pains, joys, hopes and fears that gave birth to the very songs he sings. This is an album for those who have lived life.

Praise & Blame, thus, is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The riveting rendition of Burning Hell rolls over you like a freight truck, while Mr. Jones’ interpretation of What Good Am I? an obscure Dylan song, exposes the singer’s raw emotions.

In Lord Help, the son of a Welsh coalminer cries out for the needy, fatherless and “war-torn people in this land.” It is a song that fuses rock and gospel in a way only Mr. Jones could do.

One cannot help but hear the personal passions of Mr. Jones as he sings Did Trouble Me and If I Give My Soul. And the O’ Brother Where Art Thou sound of Ain’t No Grave is downright entertaining, as is the interpretation of the gospel song “Didn’t Rain.”

There truly is not a weak song on the album, as Mr. Jones, along with producer Ethan John, carefully selected and arranged the songs. But even though the album is accumulating its fair share of accolades, controversy surrounding the album made news this month when an executive at Island Records, Mr. Jones’ European label, described Praise & Blame as a “sick joke” in a leaked e-mail. The executive later apologized to Mr. Jones and the record company disavowed the comment.

Mr. Jones, however, has a history of taking risks and it is that very nature that has kept him, as well as his talent, a vibrant part of the music community. The Welsh-born singer has refused to let his music stagnate and works diligently to remain current and fresh. This, in turn, has permitted Mr. Jones to broaden his fan base and further his development as an artist.

Such innovation led to the critically acclaimed 1994 album, The Lead and How to Swing It, which was a collaboration with Trever Horn, Teddy Riley and Alan Molder, as well as collaborations with Fugee’s star Wylcef Jean and legendary pianist Jools Holland.

A few years ago, Mr. Jones released his first album, 24 Hours, in the U.S. in over fifteen years. Songs such as Never and The Road began the trend in which Mr. Jones injected his years of life experience into his music, while songs like I’m Alive demonstrated Mr. Jones has not lost his signature baritone.

First breaking onto the music scene in 1964 when It’s Not Unusual became a No. 1 hit, Mr. Jones has become a staple of the music scene. Other hits soon followed, such as What’s New Pussycat, Green, Green Grass of Home,Delilah, and She’s a Lady.

Within a few years after bursting onto the music scene, Mr. Jones had conquered the Las Vegas Strip, befriended Elvis Presley and earned his own trans-Atlantic variety show, This is Tom Jones. After spending the early 1980s on the concert circuit, Mr. Jones came roaring back after he released a cover of Prince’s Kiss and did the same again in Europe in 1999 when he released Reload, an album of duets with Europe’s top performers.

But somewhere along the way the sexual side of the Tom Jones persona took on a life of its own and the singer was concerned the large piles of ladies underwear that would accumulate at his feet would distract from his talent.

Praise & Blame, however, dispels any myth that audiences could ever forget why Tom Jones is Tom Jones. It is Mr. Jones’ voice – a voice that can be a powerhouse at one second and a whisper at another – that has sustained his career. While undergarments may have been entertainment for the crowd, there is no denying this man can sing and sing like no other.

The Tom Jones phenomenon has yet to show any sign of stopping and Praise & Blame is being released by Lost Highway Records on July 27, 2010.

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Tom Jones goes back to his roots

By Kev Geoghegan Entertainment reporter, BBC News/ 19 July 2010 Last updated at 07:11 ET/BBC News

At the ripe age of 70, Sir Tom Jones has managed to court controversy with a new gospel and blues-tinged album, which caused one record executive to fire off some ill-advised e-mails to colleagues asking: “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

The record, Praise & Blame – a pared-down affair which sees a reinvented Jones covering artists like Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker and working with folk producer Ethan Johns – showcases the voice, still powerful after five decades in the business.

As style changes go, it is a remarkable turnabout. Gone is the hip-swivelling, leather-clad disco-grandad, replaced by a more relaxed, loosely-attired and distinguished elder statesman of UK music.

A year ago, Sir Tom even stopped dying his hair and beard and embraced his natural grey.

“I like the colour of my hair now. Before, when I didn’t dye it, it was a salt and pepper colour but the last time I left it, it came out white and I thought, ‘Well, that’s good’,” he says.

Man In Black

Praise & Blame, due out on 26 July, sees Jones exploring issues of faith, sin and redemption.

It has drawn not unreasonable comparisons with the work of the late Johnny Cash, in particular the stripped-back American Recordings series in which Cash covered various artists including Depeche Mode and industrial doom-merchants Nine Inch Nails.
Continue reading the main story

“I think the only real comparison is that some of the songs are similar and it’s stripped down with just a few instruments, but I think this is more vibrant,” Sir Tom explains.

Certainly songs Lord Help, by the relatively obscure blues artist Jessie Mae Hemphill, and the John Lee Hooker 1960 classic Burning Hell, are slices of old-fashioned rock and roll.

“Some of the ballads are similar but the up-tempo stuff, it has more of a rocky nature, it’s more hot gospel,” he agrees.

For a man who used to hang around with Elvis Presley while he was alive, it comes as little surprise that Sir Tom also crossed paths with the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.

“I knew him quite well, he did my TV show and he was on it on about 1970 with his wife,” he says.

“He was a lovely fella.”

Label Concerns

After nearly a decade with his career out of the limelight, Sir Tom had a brief resurgence in 1988 with his cover of Prince’s Kiss with The Art of Noise. But it was another 10 years before he had a huge hit with his Reload album in 1999.

The chart-topping LP saw him reach a new generation of fans, working with younger artists including Stereophonics, Nina Persson of The Cardigans and Catatonia’s Cerys Matthews.

Yet, Sir Tom’s last few albums have been met with a muted commercial response, even when he returned to his horns-infused lounge-singing roots in 2008′s 24 Hours, which barely scratched the UK album chart.

“I’ve been wanting to do this album for a long time but it’s hard to get a record company to go along with you because most of them want hit singles and pop music which I have been known to do,” he says.

“But Island Records asked if I would do a Christmas album and I thought this would be a chance to do more of a gospel album than hymns.”

Sir Tom moved from EMI to Island in 2009 in a reported £1.5m deal. It was that deal which resulted in an e-mail, written by vice-president David Sharpe and subsequently leaked to the press, condemning Sir Tom’s new musical direction.

The e-mail reportedly demanded colleagues “pull back this project immediately or get my money back”.

Embarrassed apologies were quickly offered to the singer, amid claims the whole row had been a publicity stunt, something Sir Tom vehemently denies.

“You know, he’s on the financial team there, he’s not on the creative side,” Sir Tom explains. “But people who read the article, they don’t know that.

“It says he’s one of the vice presidents or the vice president of Island Records. But he didn’t have anything to do with the making of the album.”

Critically, reviews of Praise & Blame, have been more positive, praising the “raw, rugged” sound of the album.

And a recent performance of the album in its entirety at the Latitude festival, caused chaos when thousands of fans tried to watch a late night “secret” performance on one of the smaller stages.

As for the future, it remains to be seen whether this new dignified image of Sir Tom will eventually give way to the old-school Las Vegas showman callings of his earlier career.

What is less ambiguous, is the fact that Sir Tom has no plans on taking a much-deserved retirement.

“As long as my voice is still powerful, I’ll sing. But if it starts to not be as good, then hopefully I’ll have the sense… I think my voice will let me know, it always has done.

“I’m 70 years old now, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anywhere near it.”

Praise & Blame is released in the UK on 26 July.

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The Scotsman offers a mediocre, 3-star (out of five) assessment:

TOM JONES: Praise & Blame ***

Published Date: 20 July 2010/By COLIN SOMERVILLE

What happened in Vegas should not necessarily stay in Vegas, as the mighty Welsh crooner who built a career in the Nevada desert goes back to his ecclesiastical roots. Unfortunately it sometimes smacks of a sepia-tinted quickie wedding chapel rather than the gnarled wood of the pews in his local church in Pontypridd, but his honest intentions prevail.

Nothing works as directly as the single, a stripped back reading of John Lee Hooker’s Burning Hell, just raw bottleneck guitar and a 70-year-old man’s voice. Nobody’s Fault But Mine is cut from similar cloth. Opening the record with What Good Am I suggests Jones is setting himself a test, but in truth he only occasionally scales the heights required. Not terribly clever is inviting an unflattering comparison to Johnny Cash by covering Ain’t No Grave, the anti-spiritual featured on Cash’s last ever American Recordings.

The closing Run On has been heard before as God’s Gonna Cut You Down, which could be the fire and brimstone condemnation of record label boss, David Sharpe. He was supposedly furious that the new album sounded like a collection of hymns, despite being told some months ago that that was Jones’ avowed intention.

Finally, video:

The photo at the top left of this post is a screen shot from a video interview of Tom done on Sunday. Nothing really new, but fun anyway. You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.