I had not actually planned on seeing Tom Jones on his LA stop on his tour to support his latest album, "Surrounded by Time" but it was a surprise by my husband and I'm so glad I was able to catch this show. I can't say I was ever a huge fan of the crooning Welshman but I have enjoyed many of his hits including his breakout smash from 1964, "It's Not Unusual" which is one of my all-time favorite songs. I have to say that Jones put on one incredibly thrilling show despite being forced to sit throughout the entire concert due to him still recovering from a recent hip replacement surgery. What makes this even more impressive is that the now eighty-two year old's rich baritone is still quite vibrant and supple, putting the live performances of many of today's singers who are half his age to shame.
Jones began as a blue-eyed soul shouter who enjoyed success almost immediately, covering pretty much all genres of popular music. But once he hit the bright lights of Las Vegas in 1967, Jones turned into a lounge lizard who amped-up his sexy image with half-unbuttoned shirts and tight pants causing women to become so excited that they threw their panties on stage. This glitzy persona also helped Jones lose some credibility as a serious musician. But by the late '80's when Jones' son, Mark took over as his manager, the singer was encouraged to return to basics, guiding him back to his musical roots, leading to a brand new audience discovering Jones.
He opened the show with "I'm Growing Old" and a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Not Dark Yet", two haunting, meditative songs of looking back on a life lived from his latest album, "Surrounded By Sound", the forty-first in his storied career that impressively debuted at number one on the UK album chart, making Jones the oldest artist there to earn a number one record. While there was a certain sense of melancholy that lingered over the evening, Jones remained gregarious and upbeat, moving as much as he could in his chair.
The aim of the concert was to promote the new album, a collection of songs the singer loved or admired from other artists. We heard his versions of "The Windmills of Your Mind", a song Dusty Springfield first made into a hit in 1969; "Pop Star" which Jones shared an amusing story behind Cat Stevens' writing of this song; another Dylan composition from 1976, "One More Cup of Coffee" and the timely, "Talking Reality Television Blues" from alt-country performer, Todd Snider.
But Jones did not forget the songs that made him famous. Not surprisingly, he started with the song that kicked off his career, briefly sharing the story of his background that lead to "It's Not Unusual" becoming his breakout in 1964. There were rousing versions of "What's New, Pussycat?", "Green, Green Grass of Home", "Delilah" and his cover of Prince's, "Kiss" which launched his comeback to the pop charts in 1988.
And Jones ended the evening with what would have been his encore but since he couldn't go back and forth from the stage with any ease, he just continued on with two songs from musicians from the early days of rock & roll that he greatly admired: Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" which we got a story of how he and Elvis went to see the legendary rocker together while they both were working in Vegas and "Great Balls of Fire" by "the Killer", Jerry Lee Lewis, the recently departed rock & roll wild man. Despite his somewhat limited physical abilities, the still quite charming Jones managed to put on an absolutely captivating show.
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