Tom Jones
Long Lost Suitcase
(S-Curve Records)
This 41st studio album by Tom Jones has something for everyone, really. The 75-year-old, Welsh-born singer truly delivers on covers like Willie Nelson’s “Opportunity to Cry,†The Milk Carton Kids’ Celtic hoedown “Honey Honey,†and a truly ballsy read on Los Lobos’ “Everybody Loves a Train.” Highlights here are Jones and his fantastic backing band riffing through Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would,†the soft snare brush approach to “Tomorrow Night,†and big, plopping bass and pluck of album ender “Raise a Ruckus.” (These last two songs are the only original tunes on this album, which is the third in a trilogy of back-to-basics music Jones has released in the past few years.) You’d be hard pressed to find a male vocalist as strong and expressive as Jones, especially one nearing his 80’s. But Tom Jones delivers once again with his second decade of this century releases. Long Lost Suitcase is a knock-it-out-of-the-park winner.
