20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Tom Jones

by

Tom Jones

Edit

From 1965 to 1971, the sexiest Welshman on the planet was Tom Jones. He also possessed one of the most powerful voices in popular music. This 20th Century Masters Series does a competent job in giving us 12 of his first 13 hits--missing is 1965's "With These Hands." While he was an anomaly amidst the British Invasion going on at the time, he placed five songs in the Top 10, including three million-sellers: "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," "Without Love There Is Nothing" and "She's a Lady." Jones' popularity even resulted in a TV variety program, "This is Tom Jones," from 1969-1971. His popularity was based as much on his sex appeal as it was on his singing ability. [Can you say "Ricky Martin"?] Even after his hit-making years, he was one of the biggest-selling acts in Las Vegas. [I can't see Ricky Martin living la vida loca thirty years from now in Vegas.]

Now, the question becomes, is twelve songs enough? Before this 20th Century Masters release, the definitive Tom Jones anthology was already available: 1998's The Best Of Tom Jones. It not only duplicates all twelve songs here, it adds minor hits like 1966's "Not Responsible," 1971's "Puppet Man" (written by Neil Sedaka) and 1988's "Kiss" (written by Prince and recorded with Art of Noise) and seven others for a total of 22 songs.

If you want only the familiar hits, stick with the 20th Century Masters release. If you want a more complete overview of Tom Jones' career AND all of his hit singles, get The Best of Tom Jones.