News
01 June 2010 Tom Jones - Praise And Blame
Tom Jones returns with a remarkable new album ‘Praise and Blame’, a collection of songs that examines choice and responsibility via a musical journey through the traditional spiritual repertoire.
This landmark album comes in the legendary singer’s 70th year, a glowing achievement in what has been a ground-breaking, unpredictable roller-coaster of a 45-year career. The songs are taken from repertoire that includes American traditional, gospel and country, seeing Tom going back to his roots and creating a truly evocative musical work, aided and abetted by producer/musician Ethan Johns.
The album’s mantra was ‘get back to basics’. The songs were recorded wholly live so as to capture the strength and truth of each complete performance. The follow up to 2008’s ’24 Hours’, ‘Praise and Blame’ is witness to a singer at the top of his game, with the songs themselves coaxing exhilarating performances out of Tom and his players . As he says himself, “it’s such a natural, honest record. And it’s a record that makes you think.”
From the opening track, a stunning version of Dylan’s ‘What Good Am I’, the listener is invited on a forthright, reflective and poignant journey that explores the terrain of the conscience. Moving through a disconcerted ‘Did Trouble Me’, a gut-howling version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Burning Hell’, and on to the exhortations of ‘Run On’, these tracks appear to—with the help of Ethan and the band—be ready made for Tom Jones.
With the core tracks recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Bath and additional contributions from a collection of talented musicians including Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, BJ Cole and Orin Waters, ‘Praise and Blame’ has found its rightful home courtesy of Island Records, where it seamlessly fits into the label’s family tree.
Tom says of ‘Praise and Blame’: “It’s food for thought, it’s real, it’s natural, and in that sense it’s truly me.”
