Album: Tom Jones

Mr Jones,V

Having finessed his way to indie-pop credibility with the Reload duets album, Tom Jones turns his attention to hip hop and R&B with Mr Jones, a shrewd move more in keeping with his natural instincts. As he explains in the press release: "I lean towards rhythm and blues, so hip hop is not foreign to me," though there's a world of difference between today's meek, mild-mannered R&B and the slavering, uncaged beast Tom would recognise as such. With Wyclef Jean and Jerry Wonder Duplessis at the helm, he's on fairly secure ground with things like the single "Tom Jones International", which features the appropriate low bass groove and brazen hip hop self-promotion; but rather less persuasive inviting a girl back to his "crib" in "Whatever It Takes", or inserting the term "bling bling" into a version of "I Who Have Nothing" built on a sample of his own 1970 hit. More successful is a "Black Betty" whose crunchy breakbeat groove is quietly underscored with a sample of Leadbelly's original, and a "Younger Days", which depicts Jones recalling rowdy younger days replete with enough ladies and limos to stage a Puff Daddy video shoot. "With a mic and a guitar, I used to wreck it on any stage," he boasts, contending that he's still young enough at heart to play the part. And for the most part here he is.