What a difference one album can make. A couple of years ago Tom Jones's reputation was at a bit of a low ebb, routinely derided as a cabaret singer well past his sell-by date. Then came Reload, a spirited collection of collaborations with a host of young indie stars that did wonder for the randy Welshman's street cred. Now we have the follow-up, which sees him take an even greater leap into the unknown by making a whole record with the aid of R'n'B superstar Wyclef Jean. The thinking behind this rather bizarre pairing seems obscure, since the two men appear to have little in common apart from a healthy sense of their own masculinity. And by the end of Mr Jones, it frankly doesn't feel much clearer. Jones certainly lets rip at these gutsy new soul songs with as much enthusiasm as ever, but they sit rather oddly with former Fugee Jean's bursts of hip-hop slang, which are routine compared to the stuff he obviously saves for his own albums. "I won't stop rockin' till I retire,"sings the 62-year-old Jones, with every show of sincerity. In that case, we'd better hope he comes up with some better ideas than this in future.
