Send "Tom Jones " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Latimesblogs |
 Tom Jones turned 70 in June and one listen to "Praise & Blame" leaves no doubt that he's finally decided it's time to stop kidding around. Musically, he's checked out of Vegas and set up shop in Memphis, or maybe Muscle Shoals, for a revivifying excursion through American gospel and blues.Comparisons will be drawn to Johnny Cash's teaming with Rick Rubin on his series of "American" albums, and Jones and his producer, Ethan Johns, need make no apologies for charting a parallel path that brings out the best in this veteran singer's artistry. In fact, "artistry" isn't a word that's come up frequently enough through Jones' long career, which he's too often used to exploit his sexuality rather than his spirituality. Here, he and Johns are working with a faultless batch of songs, starting with Bob Dylan's soul-searching "What Good Am I?" from the Bard of Hibbing's standout 1989 album "Oh Mercy." The journey moves through John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell," which sounds here like a White Stripes' outtake, through Billy Joe Shaver's remorseful "If I Give My Soul" and even a more upbeat, yet still haunting, arrangement of "Ain't No Grave," the title track from the final entry in the Cash-Rubin series. Johns lays down a resonant sonic foundation akin to what's become the hallmark of T Bone Burnett's work, and it's the ideal framework for Jones' newfound gravitas. That's a quality that has been unusual through much of the Welsh singer's life, but hopefully won't be from here on out....full text |
| Thephoenix |
| Is it possible that Tom Jones, at age 70, is only now using everything he's got to his best advantage? Praise & Blame casts away the extraneous baggage that has weighed down many of Jones's previous recordings and puts the focus squarely on the voice, which not only retains all its dynamic range and muscle but exhibits, in its maturity, a refined sense of nuance and grace. An incomparable singer who can adapt to his style just about any tune, Jones has at times over his long career — particularly during the glitzy Vegas years — allowed the music to become subservient to the sex-god image. Praise & Blame buries that costume for good. Produced by Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Rufus Wainwright), this Americana-leaning set teams him with a small band equally adept at coaxing him through John Lee Hooker ("Burning Hell"), Dylan ("What Good Am I"), Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("Strange Things"), and Billy Joe Shaver ("If I Give My Soul"). The songs, recorded live in the studio, all bear a message of one sort or another, but the overarching message is this: as he eases into his Viagra years (he's even let his hair go white), Tom Jones is in no danger of growing old....full text |
| Ew |
| People scoffed when Tom Jones showed up in Martin Scorsese's PBS documentary series The Blues alongside the likes of Eric Clapton. But Mr. ''What's New, Pussycat?'' has an unmistakable flair for black vernacular music. On Praise & Blame, the singer revels in gutbucket and gospel, delivering 12 emotionally charged sermon-songs with raw-throated abandon. Who knows? He might yet get some respect from blooze purists...full text |
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