{"id":42157,"date":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/praise-blame\/"},"modified":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","slug":"praise-blame","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/praise-blame\/","title":{"rendered":"Praise & Blame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago Tom Jones released a stunning album, 24 Hours<\/i>, that I recently declared to be the best of his career<\/a>. While I don\u2019t retract a single word of that declaration, I have changed my mind in the last few weeks. The reason being, of course, that Mr. Jones has just dropped his 39th studio album, and although it is completely different in every way from its predecessor, Praise & Blame <\/i>is really his finest recording ever.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

With 24 Hours<\/i>, Jones updated his successfully updated his sound without losing his identity, and it really is a great modern pop record. This time around, however, Jones decided that he was going back to his roots and record an album of gospel songs and songs of devotion, many of which he has been singing since he was a youngster.\u00a0 Also thrown into the mix are a couple of genial covers of more contemporary material that fit incredibly well into this record.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Jones hired Ethan Jones (no relation) to produce the album, and the two worked closely together to achieve the intimate and raw quality of this record, which works wonders for Tom\u2019s incredible voice. There\u2019s not a hint of the Vegas showman belting out pop tunes while dodging knickers in his performance on this album, just the stark grit and soul that comes all the way from somewhere deep within.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

So stripped-down is the sound here that each track only sports a few instruments to lay the backdrop for Jones to sing over in such a way that he rarely needs to use any of that power to make a point. Much of the credit, of course, goes to the players, which include Benmont Tench, Booker T. Jone,s and the multi-instrumentalist producer himself. His singing on this record is really just brilliant; every note is delivered from the heart and his often overlooked ability to evoke a whole range of emotions is well and truly recognizable here.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Perhaps Jones\u2019 most powerful performance on Praise & Blame <\/i>would be his stirring take on \u201cNobody\u2019s Fault But Mine,\u201d a song originally recorded by Blind Willie Johnson. Willie Nelson also covered this on his new spiritually-charged gem Country Music<\/i>, but as good as it was on that record, I honestly think Jones\u2019 cut here is the definitive version of this great old song. Another blatant standout is a cover of John Lee Hooker\u2019s \u201cBurning Hell,\u201d which finds Jones digging deeper than ever for one of his most inspired performances; his determination and the angry guitar riff are a force to be reckoned with.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cDid Trouble Me\u201d is another song that is a perfect fit for Jones who a little more like his old self here than on any of the other tracks to be found here. The blues\/rock of \u201cLord Help\u201d and the commanding vocal by Jones are in perfect unison, as Jones gets busy as only he can (\u201cLord help the war-torn peoples!\u201d).\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Easily the most curious inclusion on this album is a simple but very effective cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cWhat Good Am I?.\u201d Jones gave a superb performance here and I\u2019m sure Dylan would approve, how could he not? Three outstanding songs close the album out with a bang as Jones romps through the rollicking \u201cDidn\u2019t It Rain,\u201d eases his way into the more somber \u201cAin\u2019t No Grave,\u201d and powers his way through the sublime \u201cRun On.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

There really ain\u2019t no more to say except for this, Praise & Blame <\/i>is Tom Jones at his very best. Ethan Jones has done for Jones what no other producer has done before \u2013 which was to realize that with a voice like that, less is always<\/i> more, and I really hope these two work together again because there is so much more they could do. The last few years Tom Jones has really been in the zone, and there\u2019s no reason not to keep the ball rolling now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8539],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-42157","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tom-jones","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52069,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42157\/revisions\/52069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42157"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42157"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}