Music Revew: Tom Jones - Spirit in the Room - Page 2

Frankly, I am nearly past my middle years and I don't know how a younger person might respond to these songs. I would hope that any adult with wisdom and feeling of any age will be touched, moved, and enriched by the listening.

According to the press release, the musical accompaniment was purposely kept as simple as possible on this recording, and that is just right. It allows Jones' expressive voice to wring every bit of feeling from each lyric. The press release also says that the whole recording was done in about two weeks, and that gives just the right feel and urgency to it, not brushed and made perfect, not tamed, but almost like literally being in the room and feeling the spirit.

This is a magical recording, one to be savored again and again. I believe that it should take its place alongside Johnny Cash's American Recordings albums as the best music by a great, mature artist of our time.

Article Author: Rhetta Akamatsu

Rhetta Akamatsu is an author and online journalist who writes about music, books, movies, and more. She is the author of The Irish Slaves: Slavery, Indentured Servitude and Contract Labor Among Irish Immigrants, Haunted Marietta, T'ain't Nobody's …

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