Comments on: TOM JONES - “It’s Not Unusual”

By: Laban

Laban — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:01:30 +0000

The boys don’t know but the old men understand. Love the horns, the whole thing swings, great production delivered with gusto, easily his best (along with ‘Thunderball’, but that’s deliberately OTT as all good Bond themes are).

(First heard on the waltzers at the fair, aged 11, a perfect place to hear it)

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:56:47 +0000

Wish I could agree with you about “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” but I’m afraid to me it still sounds like Freddie Starr trying to impersonate Solomon Burke.

As Dale reminded us yesterday (May 1987 - what a godawful chart) Tom’s first actual comeback hit following “Kiss” on The Last Resort was the ultra-naff “A Boy From Nowhere” from the unmourned musical Matador.

By: wichitalineman

wichitalineman — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:52:50 +0000

Total agreement about the spit-on-face line! Sweaty in a nylon shirt way, I come over all synasthetic when I hear his voice and can smell a clammy, Beefeater-like restaurant circa mid 70s. Horrible. The overwrought ballads work better because they are SO extreme (the weird grunts and squeaks on I’ll Never Fall In Love Again are actually closer to Prince than that sledgehammer cover of Kiss) but his uptempo stuff is unbearably pleased with itself.

So many comebacks telling us he was ‘cool’ and finally the public were bludgeoned into believing it - now I’m in the minority.

By: Lena

Lena — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 14:13:59 +0000

In the 90s when he had his revival I didn’t like him - and all his songs are like the signifiers of things instead of being the things in & of themselves. So the only place he makes sense is Las Vegas, more or less…

…and so it makes sense that this was used for a Coke or Pepsi radio ad at the time, because it’s loud and brassy and in-your-face commercial already…

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:17:00 +0000

Nah, this is a great record, though probably the only decent thing he’s ever done. Well ‘Kiss’ and ‘Delilah’ were OK I suppose.