Tom Jones International

Please be sure to check back often over the next few days. As this post was updated twice in less than 12 hours with new material, there’s also lots to come soon, including an article that your moderator is very pleased about! Do check in!

In the Radio Wales interview he makes the statement that Las Vegas entertainment is “mostly musicals” rather than singers. Sorry, that’s simply wrong. Each night — counting all the venues — there are over 200 choices for entertainment. Among those are seven Cirque (or Cirque-like) shows and one of those is closing this summer when Elvis leaves the building. There are two book shows from Broadway — Phantom: The Las Vegas Experience and Jersey Boys. (Phantom, alas, is closing this summer.) Otherwise there are loads of singers who come for a one-off or several shows along with comics, magicians….the list goes on and on. Sir Tom needs to look at a travel website (I know, websites aren’t part of his life) or a travel magazine. If he does, he’ll see lots of individual singers — Celine, Rod, Elton, Shania Twain (who’s beginning a run at Caesars this summer), Madonna, Neil Diamond, Nickelback….the list goes on. Everyone who is anyone plays Las Vegas. So, we may rightly conclude that, for some reason, someone is giving Sir Tom really bad info. Why? He says he’s giving Las Vegas “a miss,” but does that have to include all of North America? On the other hand, the phrase “taking a break” implies a return.

In the Steve Wright interview he talks about The Voice and a comment he made about Jessie J on that show has been blown up by the UK press into a story saying he will not return to the show if Jessie J. doesn’t. Does it sound like that’s what he’s saying — that he will only return if Jessie J. does?

You can hear the interviews in the TJI.com Video Library.

David Owens | May 19 2012 | Western Mail Magazine

Although he’s soon to celebrate his 72nd birthday, Sir Tom Jones shows no sign of slowing down. With a new album about to hit the shops, a prime time TV talent show and new acting career on the go, he’s never been so busy – or creatively fulfilled. Dave Owens talks with The Voice about The Voice… and the meaning of life

The sun streams through the top-floor window lighting up the green baize of the full size snooker table that is the centrepiece of the room.

It’s an unusual and striking venue for an interview.

The Groucho Club, the exclusive members-only retreat in London’s West End, is the location for my conversation with The Voice – the unofficial king of Wales, Sir Tom Jones.

Although he’s soon to celebrate his 72nd birthday, Sir Tom Jones shows no sign of slowing down. With a new album about to hit the shops, a prime time TV talent show and new acting career on the go, he’s never been so busy – or creatively fulfilled. Dave Owens talks with The Voice about The Voice… and the meaning of life

The sun streams through the top-floor window lighting up the green baize of the full size snooker table that is the centrepiece of the room.

It’s an unusual and striking venue for an interview.

For for the rest of the article and those reviews, please click here to (more…)

Vintage Guitar carried a review by Dan Forte of Praise and Blame in its January 2011 issue. TJI missed it and perhaps you did, too. If so, just click the link above. It is very, very positive.

Note: TJI didn’t post the entire review for two reasons — both important. First, it is dated. Even thought it was printed in January, it was dated then. Second, there is a strict warning at the end of the review prohibiting such posting without permission of the author and the publication. Didn’t have time to get that. Apparently, Tom’s official site did, as they’ve posted the entire thing.

Please don’t forget to answer the TJI Question of the Month below!

Several UK papers today had a story about Tom Jones having been considered for the role of James Bond. One newspaper even had a photoshopped picture of him (left) as Bond. Anyway, here’s the best story and TJI will hopefully have the radio interview referred to ASAP.

Tom Jones ‘considered for 007 role’

Oct 3 2010 WalesOnline

Welsh music legend Sir Tom Jones has revealed that he almost earned a Licence To Kill – after James Bond bosses once considered him to play the agent.

Sir Tom said that producer of the series, Cubby Broccoli, toyed with the idea of casting the It’s Not Unusual singer as 007.

But in an interview with Smooth Radio to be broadcast today, the chart veteran says his huge public profile as a singer at the time meant that film chiefs decided against the move.

The role has been played by such screen legends as Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, before Daniel Craig took over for the most recent pair of films, Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace. Sir Tom already has a connection with the Bond films, having recorded the Thunderball theme in 1965.

The singer did not make clear at which point in his career he was up for the role, although it is likely to be the late 1960s or early 1970s when Sir Sean’s tenure in the role was ending.

He told presenter Lynn Parsons that playing the suave hero would have been his dream screen role.

“When I was young I would have liked to be James Bond, and at one time it was discussed,” he revealed.

“I think it came from Cubby Broccoli, who was the man in charge, of course, and he said when my name was put forward, ’Tom Jones is so recognisable as Tom Jones – he’s a character, he’s become this singer with a big character’.

“’So in order for him to do James Bond, would people accept him as being James Bond? Could they get past him being Tom Jones?’ – and so apparently that was what the problem was,” Sir Tom added.

But he said to be even linked with the part was “definitely a big compliment”.

For the ★★★★ review of Praise and Blame please click here to (more…)

According to tj.com and several news outlets, a “double A-side” release of Run On / Didn’t It Rain is set to come out in the UK on 20th September through Island Records and will be available as a limited 7″ single and digital download, which comes with the added bonus track of Lord Help. No word on any US release yet.

The site also said that Praise and Blame has reached gold status. In the UK, a record is certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) when it has shipped (not “sold”) 100,000 units; a platinum, 300,000 units. (In the US, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold status means 500,000 shipped; platinum, 1,000,000 units shipped.

Mazel tov, Sir Tom!

You will absolutely want to read the review posted below! It says, at the top, “Jones is aging with Paul Newman’s elegance and grace. Amazing grace, as it happens; Jones’ new release, Praise & Blame, his latest in a catalog exceeding 60 studio, live and greatest hits albums, is a raw, raucous, Gospel-drenched, Soul-infused marvel.” And it gets better from there!

Tom Jones: Praise & Blame

By Brian Baker/CityBeat.com (Cincinnati, Ohio) / August 17, 2010

If there was any justice, the panties thrown at Tom Jones these days would be the size of parachutes, but the fact is that Jones, who turned 70 in June, has built an audience populated with the granddaughters of his original fans. He covered Prince’s Kiss with Art of Noise in 1988, and his 1999 album Reload was a set of hip cover duets with the likes of the Cardigans, Portishead and the Stereophonics. Jones is aging with Paul Newman’s elegance and grace. Amazing grace, as it happens; Jones’ new release, Praise & Blame, his latest in a catalog exceeding 60 studio, live and greatest hits albums, is a raw, raucous, Gospel-drenched, Soul-infused marvel.

Jones has long claimed Mahalia Jackson as an early influence and he proves it conclusively on Praise & Blame, a collection of traditional and contemporary songs concerning the search for salvation. Jones opens with a reflective acoustic take on Bob Dylan’s What Good Am I, his extraordinary voice exhibiting equal measures of restraint and power over the track’s tribal pulse, followed by Lord Help, an explosion of snarling Blues electricity. Jones goes pure Gospel on Did Trouble, swings with chapel-rattling force on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Strange Things Happen Every Day and tears into John Lee Hooker’s Burning Hell with a visceral glee, while his robust and defiant take on Ain’t No Grave stands in stark contrast to Johnny Cash’s end-of-life resignation.

Praise & Blame easily stands among Jones’ best work. If he and producer Ethan Johns translate this vibe into his next Pop album (Rick Rubin and T Bone Burnett must be kicking themselves that they didn’t pull this assignment), Tom Jones’ triumphant return to the top of the charts will be assured.

Moderator’s Note: I had to remove what I called a good review of P&B because I was accused of theft, although I provided a link to the site on which it was posted and noted this guy was knowledgeable about blues. He is not knowledgeable about ethics and courtesy. But, the main reason I posted it was nothing else remotely worth posting came in yesterday and I like the videos he had. What he said was nothing new. So, if you would like to see the videos of Tom doing songs from the album, look up youtube vids of Tom, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (DIdn’t It Rain) and John Lee Hooker (Burning Hell). Do be aware, however, that the latter is not a “real video” or a particularly good version.

As for that guy to whose site I had the gall to link openly and with praise, when I saw the ultra-personal, name-calling post he wrote about me elsewhere, I commented as follows: “Mr. Boles you have called me names, threatened me and been generally rude. I linked to your site and gave you substantial credit for being knowledgeable. I’ve removed the offending [post] without resorting to name-calling or posting your private information all over the net. A simple, private email to me would have accomplished the same thing. In fact, I received your email about my “theft” at 9:24 am PDT and it was removed at 9:28 am. PDT. That was before I saw the nonsense [you wrote about me]. One must ask if you favor execution for someone who steals a car or wallet. You clearly don’t believe in “let the punishment fit the crime.” Ridiculous. But, on the other hand, you helped to publicize my site and given more publicity to a most worthwhile recording, so I must thank you.”

Turns out, his diatribe against me and posting of TJI is good publicity as the number of visits to TJI have shot way up this morning. Maybe those people will return. Thanks to all the regular visitors to this site who emailed me about this but, I must tell you, I care a great deal that you feel as you do but do not care about this self-important, shameless self-promoting person. The issue, like the mind of the person who raised it, is smaller than the proverbial tempest in a teapot. It is, rather, just crap and should be ignored.

Tom On TV: Except for the few minutes of an hour Sir Tom is likely to get, it all sounds very 1950s, the kind of thing that killed old-fashioned variety shows, doesn’t it? Whatever, various news sources are reporting that:ITV has confirmed that Paul O’Grady’s new program will launch on September 10. Paul O’Grady Live! is billed as a “lavish new entertainment show and a perfect part of the weekend. There will be crazy games, stunts and big song and dance routines as well as few special surprises and Paul will be touch with viewers across the land live via Skype,” the network confirmed. Sir Tom Jones will be among O’Grady’s guests on the first show. The presenter will also make his “acrobatic debut” alongside Britain’s Got Talent winners Spellbound. More guests have still to be confirmed.

Below is a review of Praise and Blame. It was published last month in The New York Times, written by Stephen Holden, one of the papers two worthwhile film critics. I just came across it and am happy I did, as I didn’t see it on other TJ sites. Like so many others, Holden liked the album, but the last sentence of the review, especially, is terrific. He gets it!

Photo of Sir Tom leaving the MGM August 18, 2010. Thanks to the person who sent it.

TOM JONES: Praise and Blame

By Stephen Holden/The New York Times/July 25, 2010

Praise and Blame finds Tom Jones on his knees trembling before God. This studly Welsh baritone, now 70, certainly has the voice to make a lean, tough country gospel album. His baritone, gnarly textured when he sings softly, is still the roar of a Samson when he belts. Mr. Jones may not express the rock-bottom Christian fatalism of Johnny Cash, but he still conveys the contrition of a penitent sinner as he delivers a mixture of traditional spirituals and contemporary gospel songs tautly arranged for a small band. The group includes his producer, Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon) on guitar, Jeremy Stacey on drums, and Dave Bronze on bass; Booker T. Jones, B J Cole, and Gillian Welch make guest appearances. The florid, brassy arrangements of his most famous hits are nowhere to be heard on a record that doesn’t waste a note

Outstanding cuts include Bob Dylan’s knotty What Good Am I? growled in a near murmur to an accompaniment of funereal drum beats, Mellotron, and guitar. Susan Werner’s Did Trouble Me, whose narrator regrets the years wasted not heeding his conscience, sounds like a spiritual cry in the wilderness. Burning Hell, John Lee Hooker’s stormy blues, follows him “down to the crossroads in fear and trembling,” where he considers making a deal with the Devil. Billy Joe Shaver’s If I Give My Soul is the prayer for another chance from a roustabout musician who lost his family to wild living while “traveling with the Devil’s band.”

Mr. Jones’s sudden swerve into the devotional apparently took his record company by surprise. A leaked internal e-mail message from a vice president of his British label wondered if Praise and Blame was “a sick joke.” It isn’t. It is a respectful, expressively focused exploration of a genre beloved by Mr. Jones’s American counterpart, Elvis Presley.

A year ago readers of this site met Portia, the fan from Indiana who asked Tom to sign her right shoulder which she proceeded to have tattooed as a permanent memento. Now, Portia (the dark-haired woman with another fan named Chris in the photo at left) certainly wasn’t the first to have Tom’s signature perma-inked onto her body.

In 2008 there was a rather obstreperous fan from Australia who, she explained, had flown to Las Vegas for the sole purpose of getting Tom Jones to put his John Hancock (no, she probably didn’t say “John Hancock” and, if you don’t know what that can you can google it in the assurance it is not dirty) on her ankle. He signed and that night she had it tattooed.

Chris wanted to do the same and came to Las Vegas with Tom’s logo dragon already in place on her right shoulder. He tried to add his signature during the show August 14 but the Sharpee wouldn’t cooperate. Chris, a patient sort, waited until she saw him in the corridor and, recognizing her as the woman with the unsigned dragon, he quickly signed it (photo, right). Chris went to a party and, shortly before the tattoo parlor closed for the evening(it was Vince Neil Ink on the Las Vegas Strip, owned by the former Mötley Crüe lead singer and Las Vegas resident ) had the tattoo finished.

Another woman I remember had a wrist tattoo of Tom’s signature and another, who wanted her tattoo out of sight, had him discreetly sign her thigh. (He did so in public and it was, as noted, discreet.)

Anyway, it’s all in good fun. And those who got tattooed in Las Vegas and went home to a significant other sporting the TJ tat, should hold fast to those significant others. They are very understanding.

For a terrific review (by a reporter who actually got to speak to Sir Tom) and an odd photo you may not have seen before, please click here to (more…)

Tom finished his run at the MGM Wednesday night — with a sold out show! That bodes well for his return. Now, it is only a rumor — and remains a rumor until tickets go on sale and/or it is confirmed on the official site — but lots of people who might know are saying Sir Tom will be back in early November. But, please remember, rumors are not confirmed. If and it is confirmed, a rumor becomes fact. Until then, don’t do anything — like make reservations.

To give everyone who was in Las Vegas a chance to travel home, TJI will ask everyone’s opinion of the Las Vegas experience this time in a few days. Please hold your opinion until then.

At the bottom of this post is a rather refreshing radio interview recorded weeks ago but broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, August 16. Host Janice Long and Sir Tom talk about his new album (of course) and he talks more than usual about his management team — son and daughter-in-law Mark and Donna Woodward. There’s only a little bit but of fun made of Americans and Long does note that older performers are treated somewhat better in the US than in the UK. That was a surprise.

Praise & Blame | Tom Jones
(3.5 out of 5)

by Christopher Toh/05:55 AM Aug 19, 2010/TodayOnline (Singapore)

SO THE dude didn’t get to play in Singapore. But perhaps this album might assuage the fans’ feelings a little. Unlike some of Tom Jones’ recent recordings, this one is actually free of a lot of production pomp.

For one thing, the band plays live – just like in the good old days – and you can’t help but picture Tom and the band just standing or sitting in a circle in the studio, egging each other on with their performances.

Sure, those in the know will probably compare this to Johnny Cash’s latter day American recordings, especially on The Man Comes Around – both have stripped down arrangements, both are filled with gospel-tinged blues-based styles. And on the album opener What Good Am I?, he also lets his bass tone growl menacingly, just like Cash.

But it’s exactly what makes the album more listenable than some of his previous offerings. The raw delivery has Tom Jones giving a gutsy take on all the songs, although it’s on the faster tracks like Don’t Knock, Lord Help and Burning Hell that Jones allows his vocals to shine.

However, this album isn’t for everybody, and, yes, if you’re not in the mood, this album can be a chore to sit through. While there are some gritty performances, some of the other tracks come across as too lightweight, with not enough gravitas to make it work. Nevertheless, it’s still a sign that the dude isn’t about to hang up his mic just yet.

You’ll find the 28+ minute radio interview it in the TJI.com Video Library. Please note that the very end of Burning Hell which comes at the very end of the interview, is cut off. Sorry but, since the song is so readily available, I chose not to take the time to go back and redo it. Surely you understand. BTW: The program is referred to (but left unexplained) in several places as the “Maida Vale,” the section of West London where those studios are located (and where at least one Agatha Christie novel was set).

Friday’s show, still short a song or two, was very different in feel from previous shows. Tom did acknowledge old friends in the audience with a direct smile or a nod. He was in a great mood, had lots of fun.More and more familiar faces were there, too. I was pleased to see good friends from New York and meet new friends from California, Florida and two from New York who are entertainers here. Sorry to see some of you leave. Taith ddiogel. Gweld chi cyn bo hir.

Tom Jones music review

We’re generous souls, and we like to allow people the benefit of the doubt. Can the Welshman pull off another cracker?

By Alexi Duggins/Time Out Dubai/ 11 August 2010

Praise & Blame (rank) 4/5

We’re generous souls, and we like to allow people the benefit of the doubt. So we’ll assume that the email supposedly leaked from an Island Records vice president, in which Mr Jones’s latest album was referred to as a ‘sick joke’, and which yearned for ‘a record of upbeat tracks along the lines of Sex Bomb was some kind of publicity stunt. Because otherwise, said VP may as well remove his ears, for the throaty Welsh warbler has just produced his best effort in years.

Out go the paeans to erotic incendiary devices, and in come spirituals apparently inspired by Johnny Cash’s American recordings. Where he goes wrong is in covering two numbers from Cash’s Rubin-produced back-to-basics sessions. Jones just about gets away with the banjo-strafed Ain’t No Grave. But in Run On (aka God’s Gonna Cut You Down), where Cash sounded like the stamping feet of undead warriors, Jones just comes over all club singer.

But once he steps out of Cash’s shadow, he delivers an impressively accomplished album. Jones’s delivery has rarely been so convincing. His vocal is so smoulderingly smoky it sounds like a cigar factory inferno, and the soaring banjo gospel of Did Trouble Me is the most affecting he’s sounded in years.

When I learned of the music on Praise and Blame, one thing made me very curious. I’d heard Sir Tom speak of his lifelong love of this genre of music but how did his producer, Ethan Johns, born waaaay after the BBC probably stopped playing it very much, learn about it? I wanted to ask him this and about how he chooses projects, collaborators, etc. So, I tried to get an interview with him. I was so pleased when I did. I spoke to him Sunday. You’ll find my story in the Huffington Post. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed the process of writing it.

Please don’t forget to answer the Question of the Month posted below on August 2. Let your opinion be known!

Below are three reviews that manage to be crass while being complimentary (review #1); indulge in odious comparison (review #2) and complimentary while, at the same being a bit snarky (review #3). Well, that’s showbiz.

Jones reborn: That’s what’s new pussycat

August 04, 2010/By Michael Barclay, for NightLife/The Record Ontario, CA

Tom Jones: Praise and Blame (Lost Highway/ Universal)

Tom Jones has cut the cheese — from his act. For all his formidable, virile vocal talent, Tom Jones has been kitschy in almost everything he’s done, from the swinging ’60s to his ’90s comeback covering contemporary tunes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that: the man is a monstrous talent and a charismatic performer.

On the raw and spiritually inclined Praise and Blame, however, there is nary a wink to be found. What good am I? Jones asks on the opening track, and then spends the rest of the album proving to any doubters just exactly how good he is. Instead of hearing Tom Jones bellowing over a big band or glitzy modern production, he reins himself in to front a stripped-down band playing American gospel and folk music.

For the rest of this review and two more, please click here to (more…)