Customer Reviews

Definitive 1964 - 2002

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A truly great collection. The presentation standards are good, with a decent printed cover, and full colour booklet with some great photos of a young tom jones. The booklet acts as a kind of mini biography, charting his career from start to finish, with some nice quotes from Tom himself. Particularly interesting is the way Tom talks about his friendship with Elvis, and how when the first met, elvis asked him 'how the hell do you sing like that?'

The music on the 4 cds is all top class. Although mostly cover versions, Tom really does add his own touch to them, and makes them his own. The remastering is perfect, with the exception of track 1 on disc 1, which sounds a little grainy, but as the 4 cds are all in chronological order, this is oldest, so some quality loss is understandable.

To sum up, Tom Jones isnt an artist. He is however, one of the great entertainers, and this box set show cases his career very nicely, and justifies the hefty price tag

Tom Jones compilation discs are too numerous to mention. Most of them deal with specific genres or types of songs the grammy winning pop star recorded, be it country songs, romantic ballads, live concert sets, and a multitude of collecions highlighting his Top40 hits in the US and UK. This collection, a 3 CD box set complete with extensive liner notes, rare photos, and an interview with the singer, is by far the most comprehensive treatment his four decades long career has recieved.

The songs are largely in chronolgical order of orignal release, starting with the very first single Jones ever recorded, nearly a year before his trademark "It's Not Unusual" put him on the map in both England and the states. The first two discs focus mainly on Jones recordings from his "prime period", 1965-1971 when he enjoyed the bulk of his commercial success. Plenty of album cuts (mix of original songs and remakes) and occassional live cuts surround a collection of nearly every notable hit single the singer had in his heyday. US million sellers such as "She's A Lady", "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", and "Without Love (There Is Nothing)", along with other notable hits such as "Green, Green Grass Of Home", "Delilah", "Help Yourself", etc are all included. There's a handful of lesser known songs from the mid 70's when Jones career was slowing down that are not often available on CD. The third CD picks up with Jones re-emergence in 1987 and follows him through his more recent work, which while not as well known in the US as his 60's output, has garnered high critical acclaim. If nothing else, the third disc shows Jones versatility is alive and well and his voice has held up extremely well also.

The only thing missing is Jones Nashville years, when he focused on country oriented material in the late 70's through mid 80's. Jones scored multiple Top 20 hits on the US Country Charts during that time, highlighted by 1977's "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow" which topped the country chart and hit #15 on Billboard's Hot 100. No explanation is given as to why this significant period of recordings is ignored, unusual given that Jones affection for country oriented material dates back to the early days of his career, especially with 60's singles like "Detroit City" and album cuts he recorded such as Willie Nelson's "Funny How Tme Slips Away", both of which are featured here.

One thing about Tom Jones, he has tried his unmistakably identifiable voice on almost every genre of music, hard rock, heavy metal, pre rock era standards, Broadway show tunes, adult contemporary pop, country, and this collection, despite a few noteworthy ommisions, captures the best of all of them. For the price, this is a very good overview of the singer's career and shows that there is much more to Tom Jones than his Vegas showman persona would seem to indicate.

This compilation is a wonderful collector's CD, but I was surprised not to see a few faves and hits, like "Only Once", "Come to Me" and "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow"...among a few other songs I wish were included for my own whim. I truly enjoyed hearing his newer soulful songs, especially "Black Betty" and "Tom Jones International".

I need to mention the "booklet" that was included. It was a great read until I realized paragraphs and pages missing making the biography incomplete and confusing to follow. I tried contacting the distributor and Amazon to no avail. I inquired if this was an isolated situation on Tom's Official Web site forum and discovered that it was not and that other fans encountered the same misprinted information. The site's "Admin" responded and asked a few questions. I assumed they were going to look into it. Haven't heard back.

Never the less, this compliation is enjoyable and a good representation of Tom Jones's career from the early 60s to the early 2000s. 40 years and The Voice is still going strong.

Wow! What a collection. It is fabulous and highlights very well, Tom's career.This 4CD set comprises his hits, rarer tracks and many covers - all with the Tom Jones 'oomph'. A must for any Tom Jones fan to add to your collection. Great reading as well - now that helps explain the price tag although I must admit to waiting a while to purchase an absolute bargain, however well worth the price tag at full price, 93, yes 93 tracks. I guess the only downside to this collection is the non inclusion of his country hits but don't let that stop you grabbing this one.

could not believe the quality on all tracks but the first. wish they could have found the master on little lonely one . an unknown track on tower from 1964-1965. a great song and one of MY favorites by Mr. Jones.

This was one of the best cd's I've gotten of Tom Jones. I have all of his old records but this is even better.

This is a complete box set for collector's and fans. All killer, no filler. This isn't a cheap product, nor is it a cheap price. But if you like Tom Jones, then you want this. Remasters of many songs that he did that hit the charts, they weren't top 40, but you still liked them. This is a must have, because they don't play these songs on the radio anymore. If you want to hear it, you have to buy it.

I got this collection for Christmas and I was thrilled!!!! It is absolutely awesome. What an amazing career he has had. I love how it ranges from 1964-2002 because it features the best of all his songs. I wasn't sure if I would like all the songs and boy was I wrong. This set turned me into an even bigger Tom Jones fan, which I didn't think was possible! This is a no brainer for all the Tom Jones fans out there. The book on the inside is wonderful too because it has a ton of wonderful pictures and it is fantastic to read about his career. This set is 100% perfect and I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Like all great and popular performers, Tom Jones has his adamant fans, and equally adamant critics. The legendary Welshman who burst onto the musical radar screen during a second wave of the British Invasion in 1965 has long since gained a reputation for being a ladies man that has gone as far as some of them throwing their panties onstage during his Las Vegas shows (a practice that he has always been, at best, uneasy with); and his performances are arguably so over-the-top that they defy description.

But as THE DEFINITIVE TOM JONES 1964-2002 shows us, there's more to Mr. Jones than just all of that--much, much more. Once one digs into this 4-CD collection, one finds that Jones was and still is one of the great male vocalists of the age with a huge voice on par with the man he is basically the Welsh equivalent of, Elvis. Much gets made of the kitsch value of "It's Not Unusual" and "What's New Pussycat?", his first two big hits in America (both Top Tens), not to mention his biggest US smash, 1971's "She's A Lady" (a #2 hit). But the man's longevity can clearly be traced to many other hits he's had as well, many of them covers of classic American R&B and country favorites. His approach to such Music City smashes as "Green, Green Grass Of Home", "Detroit City", or the Jim Reeves classic "He'll Have To Go", all of which are from 1967, are a kind of cross between R&B and countrypolitan styles, redolent with Floyd Cramer-type piano work, and they fit Jones to a tee, despite him not being American. Jones also cross-pollinated those styles onto a song closer to his UK roots, the Jim Currie/Lonnie Donegan composition "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", which originally only got to #49 here in America in the fall of 1967, but which, upon re-release, got up to #6 in September 1969, aided by the success of his TV variety show "This Is Tom Jones." It is a performance of such extreme emotion that it's almost painful.

For my money, the best of Jones' performances is his take on the R&B/gospel chestnut "Without Love (There Is Nothing)." Here's a song of incredible durability that had already seen tremendous cover versions by legends like Clyde McPhatter, Ray Charles, Little Richard, and (ironically) Elvis himself; and Jones put his own powerful stamp on it in late 1969. The song incredibly hit #1 on the US adult contemporary chart, and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, at the end of January 1970, becoming one of Jones' unquestionable displays of how astute a vocal powerhouse he was. And to follow up that big hit, there was "Daughter Of Darkness"; "I (Who Have Nothing)" (the 1963 Ben E. King hit that was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller); and "Can't Stop Loving You"--all three equally viable and memorable hits from that same year of 1970.

As several reviewers have already remarked, the collection does miss the man's 1977 Top 15 countrypolitan hit "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow." It also misses a pair of other songs Jones did that I think are of significant validity as well: "If I Ruled The World", the Leslie Bricusse/Cyril Ordanel composition from the musical "Pickwick" that Jones did for his 1970 album TOM; and "If I Ever Had To Say Goodbye To You" from 1982, which is one of his most moving performances.

Still, the absence of those three doesn't change the five-star rating, because there's too much else on this collection to ignore. Once you get past the camp, kitsch labelling that critics have attached to him, there really isn't anything else left but to conclude that Tom Jones remains a very serious vocal powerhouse, one that may never ever be seen again.

well this time I had good luck with Amazon. Last time I ordered something I didnt get it and I paid for it. It was the new Harry Potter book. Even wrote but never heard anything about it. but this CD collection is great and I got it in a timely matter