Tom Jones Spirit In The Room

(2013/Rounder) 13 tracks
Universally graced with critical and commercial success – reaching No 2 in the UK, ‘Praise and Blame’ saw Tom mark a return to his roots and emerge with a powerful body of work drawn from the American spiritual repertoire. Now moving forward with ‘Spirit In The Room’, Tom draws on an evocative range of compositions executed with an unprocessed passion that make them his own. There is a raging interpretation of Tom Wait’s ‘Bad As Me’, a wonderful rendition of Odetta’s ‘Hit Or Miss’, the front porch blues of Vera Hall Ward’s ‘Travelling Shoes’ and a stunning reading of the other-worldly ‘Charlie Darwin’ by Low Anthem— all revealing Tom as he continues to explore his artistic landscape. ‘Spirit In The Room’ once again brings together producer / guitarist Ethan Johns (Brit Award Producer of the Year 2011) and Tom for intimate performances with a very considered and select group of musicians— multi instrumentalist Johns, Richard Causon on vintage keyboards and piano (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon and Rufus Wainwright), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on drums, and Ian Jennings and Sam Dixon on bass. Recorded at Bath’s Real World studios, ‘Spirit In The Room’, like it’s predecessor, allows an unvarnished Tom Jones to bring a voice to songs as only he can. Accompanied by Ethan Johns throughout, the album includes gems from a diverse choice of writers – Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney amongst others. Simple, raw and soulful, welcome to ‘Spirit In The Room’. As we’ve been reporting, Tom has also graced a recent single on Jack White’s Third Man label . Featuring Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Evil’ in his own inimitable style and produced and played by White and some of his Raconteurs, the single comes backed with a reworked version of Frankie Lane’s classic ‘Jezebel’ and has already picked up widespread praise . (tomjones. com)

Tom Jones

Born on 7 June 1940 in Pontypridd - Wales The son of a miner worked his way up to the top of the world show business with tenacity. After first, admittedly thin successes, Tom Jones sang his first LP with iazy evergreens in 1965, which was released under the title "From The Heart'. Shortly afterwards followed the title "What's New, Pussicat", which sent him into the hit parades for the first time. However, this success did not seem to last, because it took Tom Jones another year to finally conquer a permanent place in the hit parades. At first he succeeded with the song "The Green Green Green Grass Of Home".

After this sentimental success an unstoppable career began, which is especially in the USA extremely durable. The former bricklayer, who claims to drink nothing but champagne, prefers Las Vegas, while his star on the European continent, which Tom Jones has deliberately neglected, is fading more and more. The star, who has always used to season his performances with a good portion of sex, now lives in London and Hollywood.

Original Press Release: TELDEC Schallplatten GmbH