favourite track on Reload by Tom Jones

heard about half of these despite never having heard the LP. Burning Down The House is the only one I liked.

That "All Mine" cover is unreal. I hate Tom Jones as a performer - his voice is all bluster and he has absolutely no sense of actually how to interpret and inhabit a song, just a throaty belt with no nuance or restraint.

listening to this for the first time in years, Tom and Robbie's banter on Are You Gonna Go My Way is pretty regrettable. I'd thought that the passage of time might have rendered Sex Bomb more tolerable, but I still hate it. The cover of Sunny Afternoon with Space is maybe the most powerfully 'of its time' thing here so far, but I kind of like it. The Cardigans and Divine Comedy collabs are good.

getting Tom to sing 'Lust for Life' was not a good idea, it does make me want to hear a version where it's just Chrissie Hynde singing it herself rather than duetting with Tom Jones, though

The Pretenders did cover 1969

I like this version of Little Green Bag, I think the bluster that boxedjoy complained about actually works on something ridiculous like this, the same way it did on What's New Pussycat, and his voice and the voice of the Barenaked Ladies guy combine quite well somehow

more 90s Tom Jones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0PMLz4gko8

did this album make any impact in the USA? I kind of get the impression it didn't, despite him obviously still having a profile over there at the time, what with stuff like the above and Mars Attacks.

This album, or at least its singles, felt a bit towering when I was young. The US equivalent would ofc be Supernatural except that was also quite big here.

I have heard the entire album in full once. "All Mine" is... well it's pretty interesting. The arrangement is pretty close to the original although by swapping Beth for Tom and Neil it's recast as cabaret, with the original's big band foundation archly foregrounded. The results are pretty predictable but both of them get what they want out of it, Neil being my favourite thing about it (sorta like Jarvis on This Is Hardcore but way gawkier; it's not Neil at his best at all but he's having fun). I generally like Robbie's stuff but this cover of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" might be the worst thing he's put his name to. Had the Full Monty medley not ended up on the "Let Me Entertain You" B-side they might have been better including that instead.

Then there's the hits, which err well I'm quite fond of them*, bcus time/place/age/etc, without feeling any need to praise them much. Tho I much prefer this "Sexbomb" to the disco-house makeover it got on the single (it was already a faintly terrifying remake of "Horny", you needn't stress the point further). The album version's had the longer shelf life however and the hit mix has gotten obscure. Idk how that happened though I feel like fuckin Howard from the Halifax adverts might be partly responsible.

I remember watching the Brit Awards 2003, aged five, and had a solid memory of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" closing the thing out under the credits. Over two decades later I YouTube'd it and bam, there it was.

Probably this album plays to Tom's strengths more as it enters the second half and just becomes one of those Jools old-fart all-star albums that came out in its wake but the

*except Burning Down the House, which has the honour of being the better-known version here, although I suspect the rediscovery of TH by younger audiences will see that change at some point.

but the (cont.) allying with younger names is the only reason to listen to begin with.

Lol had no idea he covered All Mine

"Little Green Bag" (with Barenaked Ladies)

This also, what a concept

I did wonder if Tom's cover of Elvis Presley Blues
by Gillian Welch was here. It's not. So, no vote

legit enjoyed this whole album as a “cheesy old guy engages with current fake indie stand modern songs” project, with a sincerity that knocked R. Cheese and M. Pops pre-pastiches into a cocked hat that had already fallen into a gutter, even though 3-5 of the tracks outright suck.

had also loved If I Only Knew too and prob still would if I played it tomorrow tbf

Delakota remix of Burning Down The House was 🔥 also v good fun iirc

Thanks for calling out his cover of Elvis Presley Blues. Really good version

I had this album at the time and enjoyed most of it. 'Sex Bomb' the best track by quite a margin. Faye from Steps asks Tom Jones about sex appeal at 29 minutes into this part of 'An Audience With Tom Jones':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isuzLo2vbCU

Haven't heard this album, but "She Drives Me Crazy" seems like would work for him. The only TJ album I know is 2021's Surrounded By Time---I liked it even more than Alexis Petridis--can't get to his review on The Guardian site at the moment, but here's my blog comment (Hourglass Edition has more songs)

Bluestronic, Tomtronic realness is Surrounded By Time (Hourglass Edition), where, on an invisible beach at the foot of a cliff (soundscapes, aided and abetted by Ethan Johns, son of Glyn, who helped the Stones realize some of their best tracks), Tom Jones meets a curious fella in Terry Callier's "Lazarus Man," a 9-minute extrapolation, and that's okay, dude's got all the time in the world, "I'm Lazarus, man!" Keeps exulting, can't get over it to anything else, giving me plenty of time to wonder what is life anyway, or especially, when it never does end, or comes back again again (and what is memory then, how does it adjust). Tom doesn't mind and/or can't help admitting (briefly) that he's old, feels the cold, then warms to Tony Joe White's "Mother Earth, " hopes she'll welcome him—someday, but right now, he's still got enough attitude for Malvina Reynolds' "Hole in My Head," so much so, he's got no room for no hole there—"TOO BAD!"

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/22/tom-jones-surrounded-by-time-review

Surrounded by Time is probably my favourite album of the decade so far so I mean

Yeah, it's not that much like anything else, despite the familiar voice. Thanks Kim!

Haven't heard any of these, but in my imagination "Lust for Life" is the best...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

two comedy votes cancel each other out

Weren't they all?

tbf, Tom now owns "Sex Bomb" but hey...