The Lead and How to Swing It

Tom Jones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 18, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Interscope Records
• ASIN: B000001Y6L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,099 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. If I Only Knew

2. A Girl Like You

3. I Wanna Get Back with You

4. Situation

5. Something for Your Head

6. Fly Away

7. Love Is on Our Side

8. I Don't Think So

9. Lift Me Up

10. Show Me

11. Changes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is why Tom Jones is so great., June 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lead and How to Swing It (Audio CD)

If you've heard Tom Jones sing and love the sound but can't take the Vegas schmaltz, this is the album to get. Tom can sing anything with anyone: he growls, he soars, he hits notes that a man his age (sorry, Tom) has no damn business hitting.

I read an interview with Tom years ago where he said that he thinks his continuing success comes from knowing when to "take the pee out of yourself" (which translates to "make fun of yourself" in American English). I think that that's how he can pull off asides like "T.J.'s in the house with phat beats from the streets." ("Something for your head") Don't be frightened -- he wisely stops short of actually rapping.

From soulful, melty ballads like "I wanna get back with you" to the self-esteem anthem "I don't think so" ("failure wants to play tapes in your head -- will you just lay there in your bed? No, I don't think so!") this album shows off the incredible range of a truly talented vocalist to whom stereotyping has not been quite fair. If you really need Tom's particular brand of charming smarm, there's "Show Me," and if you get halfway through "Lift me Up" without becoming the backup singer you always knew you could be, well, you have more restraint than I.

Check this out -- it ain't Delilah!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE "VOICE" DOES IT AGAIN, March 24, 2000

By 

JEFF (Atlanta, GA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lead and How to Swing It (Audio CD)

Tom jones can sing anything and it's provin here on this fantastic CD. He touches on all types of music that he likes and sings like nobody else could. Nobody belts out a note like him. I fully recommend this CD for all ages with all different tastes in music. I have seen him several times in concert and he is more powerful live than on a recording. I give this CD 5 stars!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still kicking @ss!, February 15, 2003

By 

Strychnine "Strychnine" (Okinawa, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lead and How to Swing It (Audio CD)

This man has a voice that drags you to the heights of Mount Everest and will then glide you down a slope into a sea of tranquility... This album is simply a superb collage of Tom Jones' great vocals and excellent beats and background music. Don't miss out on a GREAT album!