Tom Jones International

Tom — along with Hugh Jackman who, himself, is not too shabby — will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Friday, December 5, ABC-TV, 12:05 am, (11:05 pm CST December 4). Tom will be on the panel and will also sing. (We love it when he’s interviewed in addition to singing, don’t you?)

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One would think that there’s something wrong with some music reviewers in the UK and, as far as Tom Jones is concerned, they should all be told to just get lost. He shouldn’t preview his work for them; they don’t deserve it. They’re stuck in the past and refuse to, literally, listen and learn. The fact that Sir Tom can pretty much write his own ticket when it comes to UK appearances and promotion (print and electronic interviews, for example) might be taken into consideration. Ignoring the critics is a radical approach, but in the UK at least, someone of his stature might be able to pull it off.

Now, before you UK fans get all huffy about our “attitude,” we’d like to note that the rude name-calling in way too many of these reviews is what’s so offensive. It’s OK not to like someone’s work — even Tom’s — but these critics go beyond that. This week’s favorite seems to be variations on the word “priapic.” (And saying, in dismissal, “the fans will love it” is also very denigrating.)

That said, here’s the latest from the Times Online: (Note: The CD was reviewed two days ago (with that reviewer who fixated on Nick Cave). Why again? Cannot they say what they have to say and just shut up? We know that the Sunday paper is more prestigious than that of weekdays and Saturdays, but it’s also supposed to be more thoughtful with looser deadlines and no pressure to hurry with non-news stories. This time, The Times failed miserably. No thoughtful analysis, no reasoning, just rudeness. Again, it’s OK to pan someone’s work if you don’t like it but at least do so in the kind of thoughtful manner one would expect from such a newspaper.)

Tom Jones: 24 Hours - The Sunday Times review

Dan Cairns/November 16, 2008

(** — out of 5)

Another comeback, another cruel illumination. Quite why people hold Tom Jones’s vocal prowess in such high regard is a question asked again by the Welsh belter’s new album, which, for all that — or perhaps because — Lily Allen’s producers, Future Cut, wrap his mighty instrument in achingly modish vintage-soul settings, sounds like a record Jones could have made at any point. Only once is that vocal thunder used effectively, on a gigantic cover of the Shondells’ I’m Alive; and only on the reflective, almost funereal title track does he row back to reveal a rare subtlety and nuance. Elsewhere, it’s all bluster (Give a Little Love), generic gospel lite (Seasons) or nudging, winking, wheezing priapism (Sugar Daddy). Not one to break the habit of a lifetime, Jones espies a nut and reaches for the sledgehammer. Fans will love it.

Check out this video posted Friday by the BBC.

In this brief (3:12) interview, Tom responds to rumors about him that have surfaced over the years. Lots of fun. And he answers several lingering questions.

What questions would you ask him if you were the interviewer?

Thanks, Dre.

Note: Despite an email blast from tomjones.com today, please note that US residents cannot order If He Should Ever Leave You from iTunes in the US until the CD is released. To order this — or anything else — from iTunes in the UK you must have a UK bank account, so another 10 days of waiting is necessary.

This is a long post with links to complete reviews from Wales, Scotland and England.

The December issue of MOJO the sister music magazine in the UK to Q also features an interview with Tom and a review (the guy didn’t like the CD). We liked seeing Tom’s playlist. Check it out. (Thanks to UK fan for getting this for us; not available in the US for a couple of weeks.)

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“I love Wales.” The Greatest Living Welshman is getting emotional. “I will always love Wales. But it’s very easy to live here” — here being Los Angeles, where Tom Jones is reclining by the side of his swimming pool, underneath a sun umbrella. Right at this moment life doesn’t look that tough for the 68-year-old pop/soul legend, though for much of the last 12 months he’s been hard at work recording a new album.

24 Hours, his first for the S-Curve label, was produced predominantly by drum’n'bass-turned-pop duo Future Cut (Lily Allen, goldie) and features 13 songs, one of them a Springsteen cover (The Hitter), another written by Bono and eight listing Sir Tom as co-writer. “It’s very autobiographical,” he says. “And not all sexy, macho things, either.”

Eight co-writes. Not bad for someone so well-known as an interpretive singer.
Well I’ve written songs before — not alone, I have to work with someone — but usually, you see, when people hear I’m making an album, they send all these great songs, but I wasn’t hearing so much of that this time. So, do it yourself. One of the things that triggered that off was Bono. We were in a club in Dublin — I’d met him a few times but this was the first time we sat down and had a drink — and I said, “I’d love you to write me a soong.” He said, “Well let’s talk and find out what kind of thing you want.” We talked about our lives — he almost interviewed me, saying, “What was it like growing up in Wales?” And I told him I’d worked on building sites, digging ditches and stuff — and he took notes so the song would be about me.

And the song he came up with was Sugar Daddy?
I said to him, “Christ, is that what you think I am?”
(more…)

From ITN News here’s a story called Sex Bomb singer Tom Jones is back with his album 24 Hours. (There is sound, just takes a second or two to kick in.)

For the record, so few “knickers” were thrown in Las Vegas this time that either that’s gotten too old to mention or there’s a shortage of said garment in stores. Whatever, it’s officially time to give up the “Las-Vegas-knicker-throwing” garbage. It’s today and that is very yesterday.

Thanks, WB, for bringing this to our attention.

Please don’t forget to comment on your experience on your experience if you were lucky enough to see Tom in Las Vegas this time. That post is the third one down. Also, be sure to read the interview with Tom from The Sun posted just below.

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Here’s a nice (the perfect descriptor for this) interview with Tom by Kevin Hughes (with Tom left).

It was broadcast this evening on GWR in Bristol. About 9 1/2 minutes long, the interview is quite pleasant. Tom talks about Duffy, Bono, relaxing at home and other assorted things.

We posted it in two parts with thanks to those who sent is, as the rebroadcast link on the radio station wasn’t working:

Kevin Hughes Interview Part 1 • Kevin Hughes Interview Part 2

We’ve almost forgiven The Sun, the British rag that’s always saying unkind thing about everyone. This review and interview is interesting, positive and revealing. (Not that there’s no room for criticism.) It’s all interesting, especially the stuff about the song Sugar Daddy — explaining more about how it was written and about that title that seems to annoy so many fans. And the story of U2’s demo of the song is fun. Good stuff.

Tom Jones: I’ll keep on going

By SIMON COSYNS/The SunPublished: 14 Nov 2008

TOM JONES - 24 hours ****

HIS life has been, well, unusual.

At 68, Tom Jones — or knight of the realm Sir Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE — is one of Britain’s best-loved institutions.

He’s the ditch digger from Pontypridd who emerged from the Welsh valleys to give the world one of the most powerful voices ever heard.

He’s been a friend to Elvis and Sinatra, who he says “were nicer than the people I met still on the way up”.
(more…)

.Well, it’s over. Last night Tom closed his last two weeks of 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and is off for a promotion marathon to help 24 Hours become the hit it deserves to be.

It was a fun and busy two weeks.

Lots of fans and many Friends Through Tom (and TomJonesInternational.com) were here to enjoy the show, each other’s company and the very beautiful Las Vegas weather. They came from around the world and were able to celebrate Tom for 14 glorious shows.

The new regular songs in his set — I’m Alive, Give A Little Love, If He Should Ever Leave You, Seasons are great. One more to be added is Sugar Daddy.. It will be, he told some fans, “When I rehearse it.”

He talked about rumors of his death being greatly exaggerated (quite luckily) and how strange it is to read one’s own obituary.

But Tom looked great, sounded great and gave great show (as we may say here in the US).

If you saw the show, let us all know what you thought.

Tom’s off now for Europe, the east coast of the US and lots of TV appearances. (We even hear the late night US shows are ahead.) He’ll be back here January 15.

We know that fans will do their part — requesting the single, tuning in when he’s on TV so ratings go way up and, in all, helping the CD become the hit it should be. Stay tuned to tji.com for the latest updates.

We wish Sir Tom safe travels.

In the photos at right, some Welshmen gave Tom a dragon-embossed jacket Tuesday night. He looked it over, thanked them and clearly was pleased. Here, he’s checking out the size. “Hmmm. It says ‘one size fits all.’ I don’t know,” he said with a wicked little grin, “if that’s always true.”

Attention UK Fans: Be sure to see the post below from earlier today!

From Norm Clarke’s column in today’s Las Vegas daily newspaper. (Of course, Monday night’s was not the first show. Tom’s been mentioning it at every show since he opened October 30):

NORM: Jones forced to state the obvious

Nov. 12, 2008/Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Superstar Tom Jones has incorporated a recent bogus Internet report about his death into his act.

He opens his show these days with “I’m Alive,” which is on his upcoming first U.S. album in 15 years.

Jones, playing the MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre, learned about the Internet report earlier this month when a friend asked him how he was feeling.

Then the friend showed him the Internet story.

“I read my own obituary,” he told the audience during Monday’s first show.

Backstage, he told me one of the first calls he received came from Las Vegas lounge legend Cook E. Jarr, his longtime late-night running mate.

When Jones checked his voicemail, a distressed Jarr had left a tell-me-it’s-not-true message. The stress in Jarr’s voice was the opposite of his usual high-energy, dog-barking persona.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to stay on this planet if something’s happened to you,’ ” said Jones, who was touched.

Jones co-wrote much of the new album, “24 Hours,” because “I wasn’t getting any good material coming my way,” he said.

His 2000 album, “Reload,” featuring the club hit “Sex Bomb,” wasn’t released in the United States.

The new album comes out Nov. 25 on S-Curve Records, and he has high hopes after a strong start in Europe. It features two covers, Bruce Springsteen’s “The Hitter” and “I’m Alive” by Tommy James and the Shondells. Bono and Edge of U2 join him for the song “Sugar Daddy.”

We got a note today from Melissa Read of The Graham Norton Show on BBC 2.

It said in part:

“Tom Jones will be appearing on The Graham Norton Show and we are looking for fans to be in the audience. The tickets are free and the recording will take place in London on Wednesday 19th November 2008 at 5.45pm.

For tickets, please email melissar@sotelevision.co.uk.

Audience members need to be 18+

In response to our question, Ms. Reed told us, “The show will be shown on Thursday 20th November at 9:30pm on BBC2 in England. I believe it is on BBC America at 10:00pm on Saturday 29th November.”

Since Tom is in AC when it’s broadcast here, be sure to set your recorders.

If you get tickets, please tell us how it is.

First, the show. On Monday night Sugar Daddy was absent.We hope that when the kinks get worked out it’ll be back. Also, The Road hasn’t been added.

Now, as for 24 Hours we’re told by a fan in the UK that there are three versions:

The UK version, the US version (Same as the UK but without Feels like Music and with More Than Memories and the International version with 14, not 13, tracks. This one is the same as the UK but with an extra track called Take Me Back To The Party.

Let Us know if you have any additional info. Inquiring fans want to know.