Dismiss old-timers at your peril – they’re dominating the charts, and our culture
This week s veteran chart-toppers, like Tom Jones and The Who, could teach young artists a thing or too about being fearless
30 April 2021 • 6:00pm
At 80, Tom Jones is expected to achieve his first number one since 1999 with album Surrounded By Time
Credit: Rick Guest
Chart-watchers will be forgiven for doing a double take when they look at the new album chart this evening. The top 20 is rammed with pensioners.
At 80, Tom Jones becomes the oldest ever man to have a number one album. He is also the oldest artist to top the charts with an album of new material (in pure age terms, Dame Vera Lynn pipped him to it aged 92 in 2009 with a greatest hits album). Jones’s album, Surrounded By Time, is his first chart-topper since 1999 – and, he said, he is “thrilled beyond words” at the news. Also entering the chart at number 11 is John Lennon (who died in 1980 but would be 80 if alive) wit
Tom Jones meets Delilah again on his magnificent new album Surrounded by Time
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Tom Jones: Surrounded By Time review – clever experiments by chameleonic crooner | Tom Jones
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One of the least creative things you can be is
a National Institution. Sure, itâs nice to be loved, but where is the space to manoeuvre? Fans â and thereâs a lot of them â come to expect your trademark, and arrive at gigs demanding something they recognise, as opposed to something that will surprise them.
The past decade, however, has seen
Tom Jones balance his role as a National Institution with some of the most gutsy and raw performances of his career. Working closely with producer Ethan Johns, he tapped into the gospel, country, blues, and soul influences that first fired his imagination as a kid in the valleys. 2010âs âPraise & Blameâ was a startling late-career about-turn, followed by âSpirit In The Roomâ and 2015âs âLong Lost Suitcaseâ.
Tom Jones Credit: Rick Guest
Tom Jones has announced plans for a new covers album and he’s shared the first track – a reworking of Todd Snider’s ‘Talking Reality Television Blues’.
The Radiohead style cover of the track, which you can listen to below, is the first taster from ‘Surrounded By Time’, the follow-up to his 2015 record ‘Long Lost Suitcase’. It comes out on April 23.
“I was there when TV started – didn’t know I’d become a part of it – but it could be that its power is to remind us how wonderful, crazy and inventive we are, but also how scary the reality it reflects can be,” Jones said.