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By Pieter Klein, “Algemeen Dagblad”, Friday 3. March 2000
Finally, after 35 years, recognition seems to be there for The Voice of Wales. Old rocker Tom Jones is nominated for the prestigious Brit Awards. Tonight they will be presented. The competition is among many old friends: Bowie, Sting, Van Morrisson. The sexbomb from the past century is completely back. Older, wiser, hipper. Portrait of a cult figure.
London – Still a voice like a cathedral, with a smaller range yet, but richer, deeper. No more fuss, the ‘perms’ throwing bras on the stage during shows, the twisting hips and the flirting. Tom Jones doesn’t need that anymore. The Godfather of Welsh Rock is, at the age of 59, more than an image and a popstar of the past.
He made a surprising, such-and-such comeback with his album Reload. The album filled with covers hit the lists worldwide. Together with Robbie Williams, Divine Comedy, Van Morrisson, The Cardigans, Zucchero, Simply Red, Natalia Imbruglia Tom Jones gave singing lessons. And how: swinging, powerful, horny and even ironic. An upstirring version of Are You Gonna Go My Way. A wink to the past in Sexbomb with Mousse T. A powerful performance of little and big popclassics.
He won the most important a rockstar at an advanced age can win: a new credibility with a younger audience. “Youngsters on the street give me thumbs up on the street. That is very flattering”, says Jones. He admits: the nomination for Best Male Singer in the Brit Awards is a reward itself.
He sang in the White House, got a royal honour, won a real Dutch Edison recently, but still was the man of the sixties hits. Songs that, still now, anybody can whistle along: It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Green Green Grass of Home and of course Delilah.
His often described background became a caricature more and more. Born as Thomas Jones Woodward in Pontypridd, son of a labourer from the coalmines in Rhondda-valley. Sang in the church choir, listened to the British and American radiostations, performed for his mother. Quitted school at the age of 16, married and became father one year later. A Jack-of-all-trades and master of none, becoming a local hero with his band Tommy Scott and the Senators in 1963.
His reputation: fast with his fists and pouring a glass, a womanizer. A big chap, a working class hero, with a black voice. The musical masters are recognised easily: the soul of Solomon Burke, the blues of Big Bill Broonzy, the rock and roll of Jerry Lee Lewis, with whom he later performed. And of course the American master of seduction on stage: Elvis. Who became an admirer of Tom for his part.
The craziness on stage became a trademark: ooh’s and aah’s. the long sustained notes, sighing, hand on the private parts, the promise of wild nights, the energy of a beast, the softness of a tender lover.
Sweet as honey, the hysterical female admirers: piles of bras on the stage became a part of the image that he cherished for years, but that turned against him in later years. The regression was inevitable. In the disco age of the seventies Jones became a discord, who couldn’t keep up. He flirted with country, kept a share of admirers, but was confronted with a pitying press, that described the phenomenon with a shake of the head. Tom Jones became a droll gimmick and he knew.
In the late eighties he took his revenge. Kiss was the name of his mark of resurrection, a cover of the hit by Prince. In the nineties a series of performances followed, with which he silenced his criticasters. Still that enormous power, that indestructible, infectious enthusiasm. He became less wild but stated that his music would stay ‘basically sexy’. The dreamed movie-career never made it really, but together with Randy Newman he excelled as performer of ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’, soundtrack with the hilarious movie The Full Monty. There were many trips, like with Paddy Maloney’s The Chieftains, with a beautiful performance of ‘The Tennessee Waltz’.
Reload, for which he is nominated now, started a new phase in his musical career. With a voice that became richer, according to himself. He stayed that nice ordinary lad from Wales, but reached the age of discretion. “You can’t sing about certain things, unless you have experienced them. You can put more in it, when you’re older, with more emotions”.
He doesn’t have to prove he is a sensual star – he is. He doesn’t want to become history as that ‘cheap clown, the funny teddy bear, associated with piles of panties’: ”I do not want to live on old glamour”.
The natural entertainer knows the tear-jerker audience slips away from him, but: “I don’t want to go back, I want to go on”. It doesn’t matter if father and mother do like it. Tom Jones isn’t kitsch, but cult. And the end isn’t in sight yet for the living legend: “I love to sing and want to go on”. Although the age imposes restrictions: “You can put your best foot forward, but the other one has to follow”.
