Tom Jones, now seventy years old, appears to have taken something of a spiritual turn. ‘Praise & Blame’, his thirty-ninth album, finds him moving away from the somewhat garish pop that made his name, and entering the more contemplative territory of gospel and blues. The material is a mixture of traditional spirituals and a selection of covers; the album opens with a version of Bob Dylan’s ‘What Good Am I’ and also includes songs by John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver. For someone like Jones, a project like this can either go very well or very badly. Happily, ‘Praise & Blame’ is a success; the song choices, production and, most importantly, the nuances of Jones’ vocals are all spot on. Comparisons with the final recordings of Johnny Cash seem inevitable, even though he and Jones are rather different figures. But in both cases we find legendary singers reflecting on spirituality later in their lives, and releasing some of the finest music of their careers. If Tom Jones follows the same trajectory as Cash and puts out a few more records like this, then we have much to look forward to.
There are several reasons why Tom Jones’ decision to release a double A-side single makes a lot of sense. Firstly, it proves how different his new album, ‘Praise & Blame’, is from his previous work. Released in isolation, either of these songs might seem like a fluke gospel single taken from a typical Tom Jones record, but in fact this is the style of the whole album. Secondly, it showcases the album’s range: ‘Did Trouble Me’, originally recorded by Susan Werner, is a rich, languorous song, while the rendition of the Staple Singers’ ‘Don’t Knock’ is more upbeat and immediate. The former is the stronger track here. Skilfully produced and beautifully sung, this is the kind of cover that quickly becomes the definitive version. That’s not to say that ‘Don’t Knock’ misfires. Although it doesn’t have quite the punch of the original version, Jones proves with this track that he has a hitherto unknown knack for working with this style of music. Which leads me to the third reason why putting out a double A-side was a wise move: because when something is this good, it always makes sense to have more than one.
