Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It might prove a stroke of good fortune in the end, to be let go from what amounts to arguably the highlight of cerebral boredom for many, listening to televised Karaoke aimed at those to whom many will be forgotten and dismissed in the search for vanity in the three or four minutes it takes to sing a song. For true mastery, for longevity and absolute superstardom, Tom Jones was and more than likely will always be, a true voice in which music just turns to velvet within. If being released from a television show can have a golden glint attached to it, then the Welsh maestro’s latest album Long Lost Suitcase is a room full of liberated bullion.
If Long Lost Suitcase is the result of leaving behind baggage that was holding him back, placing the man and the voice into a realm that was questionably holding him back then the case in point stands, Tom Jones’ audience needs him to be carousing and providing music that is both entertaining and suited to his life and not be at the beck and call of television producers and ratings. No matter how noble the cause, no matter how good some individuals might be, television is not the answer, hard work in the clubs and venues of the land are the real testing ground and it was an upbringing and education that served Tom Jones well.
The album is a reflection of that talent, it is not just entertaining, it feeds an energy that the listener cannot but help be roused by, that wakes up the spirit and offers a temptation to purge the soul of insecurity and revive the long-lost days when music was the personification of the artist, not one dominated by newspaper headlines and viewers expressing their thoughts on social media.
Tracks such as Honey, Honey with Imelda May, the excellent Bring It On Home and Everybody Loves A Train, Factory Girl and Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used To Do? all bring the resurgent testosterone that undoubtedly lives in the body of a man whose voice makes people go weak at the knees and quiver like a jelly mould placed on a tempest laden sky and to whom more importantly, each song is sang with passion.
There is no need to feel any disorientation, Tom Jones is back doing what he does best, entertaining the nation with good hard vocals and the twinkle of a man who engages more than television will ever provide.
Ian D. Hall