Jack White has teamed up with Tom Jones for a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s classic track, “Evil.”
The song is part of White’s Third Man Records label’s 'Blue Series', and will be backed by a new version of Jones' 2002 Frankie Lane cover, “Jezebel.”
Pre-sales for the songs will be available through Third Man Records via their website from Monday, February 13.
100 limited edition Tri Color 7”s will be available at Spillers in Cardiff, Wales (“The Oldest Record Shop In The World”) on the UK release date of Saturday, March 3rd. Check their site for location, hours, etc. here.
50 Tri Color 7”s will be inserted in random mail orders, as part of Third Man Records’ standard practice.
The tracks will be released on March 5.
White is due to release his debut album, “Blunderbuss,” on April 24.
Jack White & Tom Jones – Evil Original by Howlin’ Wolf
Sir Tom Jones received the Music Industry Trusts Award for his outstanding contribution to the British music industry, at the event’s annual Awards gala on Monday night.
Jones burst on the scene with his first international hit, “It’s Not Unusual,” in 1964. Over five decades, the Welsh singer has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.
David Munns, Chairman of the Award committee said: “Tom Jones is one of those rare beings, a timeless entertainer, a great guy, who clearly loves what he does, and whose talent appeals to successive generations. Tom is Mr Cool, one of the world’s greatest singers and performers and we are extremely proud and honored that he is the 2010 recipient of the Music Industry Trusts Award.”
“2010 is shaping up to be a very memorable year for me,” said Tom. “I’m delighted to be honored with the Music Industry Trusts Award, and to join the roll-call of some great past honorees, such as George and Ahmet (Ertegun, founders of Atlantic Records)). I’ve visited the Brit Performing Arts & Technology School, supported by the BRIT TRUST, one of the Award’s charities, and was blown away by the incredible talent there, and I’m looking forward to finding out more about Nordoff Robbins’ great work.”
Jones joins the list of great names that have held this honor: Sir George Martin, Ahmet Ertegun, Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin, John Barry, Michael Parkinson, Lord Andrew Lloyd Weber and Kylie Minogue.
The Music Industry Trusts Award has raised £3.7 million, to date, for its two charities, Nordoff Robbins and the BRIT Trust (which includes the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology). The Award is unique because it recognizes the contribution that an individual has made to the industry across a range of activities: record producer, film music composer, broadcaster, legendary artist, record executive, songwriter and concert impresario. The Award evening has become renowned for its magic moments, with unique live performances that have a special resonance for the recipient.
Released earlier this year, Tom’s latest album is “Praise And Blame,” a collection of gospel and blues numbers. It’s a stripped down, lean affair, thanks to producer Ethan Johns (Kings Of Leon), and it’s been compared (favorably) to Rick Rubin’s work with Johnny Cash.
Jones and producer/guitarist Johns recorded the project with live sessions at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, England with a small band that consisted of Johns on guitar, Jeremy Stacey on drums and Dave Bronze on bass. Guests include Booker T. Jones, BJ Cole and Gillian Welch.
There was some controversy around the release of the new album, thanks to a leak at Island Records, where U.K. vice-president David Sharpe flipped out, via a terse email to staff over the content of the record.
Upon first hearing Jones’ new music, Sharpe reportedly wrote an email to a colleague on May 19 calling the record “a sick joke,” insisting the label "pull back this project immediately or get my money back." Sharpe’s email was leaked to the press in early July, just weeks before “Praise” was released; some have speculated that this was a marketing stunt, while others believe it happened naturally, as reported.
I, for one, still haven’t figured out Sharpe's claim that Island Records’ investment was “his” money.
People continue to buzz over the new Tom Jones record, “Praise & Blame.”
Over the past few days, I’ve posted a few items on the project (see “Tom Jones rocks Letterman”here and “Tom Jones gets 'Praise & Blame' from his own label”here), and hennemusic readers continue to respond in large numbers to the stories.
So…here’s some more of Tom’s live appearances in support of the new disc.
Judging by the response to my Tom Jones post yesterday (see “Tom Jones rocks Letterman”here), it appears Tom is doing a fine job of turning heads with his new album, “Praise & Blame.”
Ironically, one of the first heads that was turned belonged to Island Records’ vice-president, David Sharpe.
Upon first hearing Jones’ new music, Sharpe reportedly wrote an email to a colleague on May 19 calling the record “a sick joke,” insisting the label "pull back this project immediately or get my money back." Sharpe’s email was leaked to the press in early July, just weeks before “Praise” was released; some have speculated that this was a marketing stunt, while others believe it happened naturally, as reported.
I haven’t been able to locate a copy of the full email, but there are certainly enough quotes reported in the media to piece its key points together.
Here are parts of Sharpe’s email, as reported by several sources:
“Imagine my surprise when I walked into the office this morning to hear hymns coming from your office – it could have been Sunday morning. My initial pleasure came to an abrupt halt when I realised that Tom Jones was singing the hymns! I have just listened to the album in its entirety and want to know if this is some sick joke????”
“We did not invest a fortune in an established artist for him to deliver 12 tracks from the common book of prayer. Having lured him from EMI, the deal was that you would deliver a record of upbeat tracks along the lines of Sex Bomb and Mama Told Me…”
"As venerable and interesting as Tom's story is, this is not what was agreed and certainly not what we paid for. Please don't give me the art over commerce argument, it's run its course...what are you thinking when he went all spiritual?”
Tom was, naturally, not pleased with the news that a VP at his new label was slamming his first project for them. “People are going to read this and think the record company doesn’t like this or that I’ve made a mistake,” he told the Welsh paper, Western Mail. “It’s not coming from the creative people in the record company, because they’re backing it up all the way, I mean they’re thrilled with it, so I don’t understand it. When I questioned them and said ‘what the hell is this all about? Who is this fella? I don’t even know who he is, I found out that he’s some fella who signs cheques or something. But he’s not in the creative side of it and they’re 100% behind it, but people don’t know that.”
Tom added, “They’ve apologized, they can’t apologize enough – and they’ve said ‘we’ll make good on this’.”
To make matters worse, it’s been reported that Sharpe refused to back down on his stand following the leak; he’s been quoted as saying “Parts of this record company wanted to deliver an album for the typical Tom Jones fan and I don't know if that is what we got. Shall we say we've paid for a Mercedes - we've got the hearse that's arrived".
As for the stunt vs. reality angle, I can’t imagine why a label exec would make himself look this ignorant and out of touch in a public way – especially when the music has such an obvious amount of soul – so I suspect the email was written, as reported, and a leak did happen.
Look, Sharpe isn’t the first record exec in history to be ignorant and out of touch; heck, The Beatles were turned down by all kinds of music industry people who had no sense of vision and, historically, the industry is littered with stories of this kind.
Sharpe’s lack of musical sensibilities and his desire to play it safe, by simply having Jones do what he’s done before, is symptomatic of an ongoing problem in the music industry as a whole. Labels fall all over themselves to find artists and acts that sound just like someone else who’s had success: “let’s just copy that formula and make some money for ourselves.” Without making any connection between “safe” and declining music sales, the industry continues to want to make a quick buck profiting from trends and the public’s short attention span.
The other side of the coin is artist development: allowing an artist to grow their vision organically without interference from accountants disguised as management, like Sharpe. It’s rare to find long term thinking with artist development at major labels, and part of the reason artists have always debated the pros and cons of signing with a small or major label – or simply do it themselves.
Ironically, the success of “Praise” will make Sharpe look even more foolish while making his company more money.
Things to consider: if “Praise” succeeds in a big way, will Sharpe earn a bonus? On the other hand, if “Praise” stiffs, will Sharpe lose his job?
I suspect Sharpe was worried about his job - note the phrase: "pull back this project immediately or get my money back." How did Island’s investment become “his” money? Is that why he appeared to be in panic mode when he wrote his nasty email, or was he simply trying to cover his ass (like the contestants on “The Apprentice” do every week)?
Private company emails are one thing, but for Sharpe to continue to blast his own artist publicly is, essentially, an act of sabotage – is it enough to get him fired by his bosses?
Tom Jones is back with a new album, “Praise & Blame,” a collection of gospel and blues numbers.
It’s a stripped down, lean affair, thanks to producer Ethan Johns (Kings Of Leon), and it’s already being compared (favorably) to Rick Rubin’s work with Johnny Cash.
Jones and producer/guitarist Johns recorded the record with live sessions at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, England with a small band that consisted of Johns on guitar, Jeremy Stacey on drums and Dave Bronze on bass. Guests include Booker T. Jones, BJ Cole and Gillian Welch.
Tom Jones – The making of Praise & Blame (2010)
At the age of 70, Jones is reinterpreting songs by Susan Werner, Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker, as well as traditional repertoire from the works of The Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
“Well, I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and some of the albums I’ve done in the past, one or two tracks sometimes have been like this–stripped down,” Tom told the Huffington Post. “I’ve always liked that…not for all songs, but for songs of this nature especially. I feel you don’t need a lot on them musician-wise. I think this is the best way to approach it, for me anyway. And I think it shows the voice off, and you can hear the tonal quality of the vocals. We took a lot of time picking the keys to get them in the right keys. We wanted to do some of the slower songs low because my voice over the years has become lower and richer.”
Tom was no stranger to the material. “I used to do songs like this in Wales growing up,” he said. “If I went to Sunday school at 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon, to the Presbyterian Chapel, we did a lot of gospel hymns which I didn't realize was gospel until later on. Not as much as they do in the Southern states, but the songs are definitely there with the gospel element. For instance, when I was in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley--God bless him when he was still alive--we would hang out at night in his suite and we would sing mostly gospel songs because he loved gospel, and he would start to sing these songs and I would join in. He asked me, "How come you know these songs?" and I said, "Well, we sing them in Wales, not exactly as you do." Now I do, but not when I was a kid so much. But the songs were definitely there.”
Last night, Tom rocked a John Lee Hooker classic on Letterman’s show….check it out:
Praise & Blame - Tom Jones