Tom Jones – Long Lost Suitcase
Tom Jones? Yes that Tom Jones. The skin tight pant wearing, panty projectile dodging, welsh crooner we all know and love.
He’s back with the third album in his trilogy of cover tunes, and this one is the best, by far.
In this edition Jones belts out covers tunes from some of the best blues artists and rock icons, Willie Nelson, Rolling Stones, Gillian Welch, and Sonny Boy Williamson, just to name a few.
“Elvis Presley Blues”, a Gillian Welch penned masterpiece, is performed as an electronic version and Jones sings it like he means it. That’s because he does, Jones was friends with the King and is sung here with incredible emotion. One can just feel the experience in Jones’ 75-year-old voice in every brilliant waver and crack.
The Sonny Boy Williamson classic “Bring It On Home”, with its sparse backing band accompaniment is cool, just cool.
When Jones sings “He Was A Friend Of Mine” it’s a blatant indication that Jones still has it. His voice has gotten better with age.
Even when he belts out the Stones’ “Factory Girl” with a Celtic lilt, reaching the annihilation point when his voice reaches the upper limit of his current range is superb, just superb.
“Till My Back Ain’t Got No Bone”, by Eddie Floyd is presented here in a ‘70’s groove, reminiscent of something probably heard on the “Shaft” soundtrack. They just don’t write ‘em like that anymore, “ If it takes all night I’ll keep on walking till my back ain’t got no bone”. Now that’s brilliant.
Jones goes country with his solid version of Hank Williams’ “Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used To Do”, a song that is so great that even I could sing it. Well, maybe not. I’ll leave that to Tom as I get claustrophobic in tight leather pants.
The albums ends with “Raise A Ruckus”, a frolicking little ditty that will get your foot a tapping so hard it’ll get your panties in knot (making them harder to throw I suppose).
This album is a couple tunes short of perfection but it still should be in your collection. I’ll admit now that I’m a Tom Jones fan, but I’ll definitely keep my undergarments where they’re supposed to be.
--Doug Kerr
