Tom Jones: Live at Cardiff Castle (2001)

Tom Jones: Live at Cardiff Castle [DVD] 2001

Recorded in July 2001, Tom Jones's high-voltage return to his roots in Live at Cardiff Castle, featuring more than two hours of hits spanning four decades, certainly set the grounds of Cardiff Castle--and 10,000 fans--alight. As a singer, Jones has always played a canny game. He's proved particularly adept at reinventing himself as an avuncular costar for today's young singers, bumping and grinding through hip-hop and rhythm and blues without neglecting the brassy novelty numbers which set him on the path to stardom back in the 1960s. The voice has survived the years virtually intact. Subtlety was never exactly a Tom Jones trademark and everything is attacked with the stops full out. All the hits are here: "Delilah" and "What's New Pussycat" are interspersed with "Burning Down the House" and a "Sex Bomb" which really zips along. The hips might not be as snake-like as they once were and the pouring sweat is testimony to the effort required by gyrations which would test a much younger man. But when he sails into "The Green Green Grass of Home", it sounds like a deserved paean both to his staying power and a charisma which genuinely appeals across the generations. --Piers Ford

: Tracklisting:

A lot of love
Hard to handle
Help yourself
Never tear us apart
Your right im left she's gone
Burning down the house
Delilah
She's a lady
Without love
Sometimes we cry
Crapped out again
Venus
If I only knew
You need love like I do

Mama told me not to come
Give me one reason
Am I wrong
A boy from nowhere
Never fall in love again
Green green grass
Pussycat
Leave your hat on
Sex bomb
It's not unusual
It's your thing
Are you gonna go my way
Kiss