Customer Rating:  
Summary: Not Nearly "Complete" - Bit Still A Decent Compilation
Comment: Unlike a release for his Parrot stablemate, Engelbert Humperdinck, they did not call this his "greatest hits" - but then again it's not exactly "complete" either. Nor is British journalist/broadcaster Miranda Sawyer totally accurate in her two pages of liner notes where she says "... Deram is proud to present this collection of his all-time most famous hits."
Two of the tracks (15 and 17) were not among the 47 he registered between 1965 and 1988 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100, Adult Contemporary (AC), and Country charts (he also had three R&B cross-over hits in that span), while four others fell outside the Top 40 on the more lucrative Hot 100 listings, although they did marginally better on the other charts: I'm Coming Home (# 57 Hot 100 in early 1968 and # 30 AC); Till (# 41 Hot 100 late 1971 and # 4 AC0; The Young New Mexican Puppeteer (# 80 Hot 100 May 1972 and # 14 AC); and Letter To Lucille (# 60 Hot 100 June 1973 and # 11 AC).
The thing is, how can they put out an album titled "The Complete Tome Jones" and leave off these solid smash hits: With These Hands (# 3 AC/# 27 Hot 100 late summer 1965); Thunderball (# 5 AC/# 25 Hot 100 late 1965/early 1966); Can't Stop Loving You (# 3 AC/# 25 Hot 100 late 1970); Puppet Man (# 26 Hot 100 June 1971); and probably the most glaring omission, Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow (# 1 Country/ # 3 AC/# 15 Hot 100 early 1977)?
Even so, as another reviewer points out the sound quality ranges from adequate to very good, and although it lacks a proper discography, it remains a 4-star compilation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Buy!
Comment: I'm so happy that this CD is such a great value! There's one particular song that I've been trying to get for a LONG time and that is "I Couldn't Say Goodbye" which is so heartbreaking. Tom Jones was popular long before I was born, but I can really appreciate his songs through these CDs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all.
Comment: If you like Tom Jones' music, everything that he ever did that's worthwhile, (and a couple that arn't) is on this disc. This is the disc you need to buy if you don't want to buy a copy of every album he's ever cut. This is a pretty good buy for the money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Without a doubt the best bang for your buck!!!!!!!!!!
Comment: Take a look at the alternatives and I'll bet you will agree with me that "The Complete Tom Jones" is the finest anthology of Tom Jones on the market today. According to the liner notes Elvis was a big fan. And Janis Joplin, who had a pretty fair set of pipes herself, was "almost blown off the stage" by him.
In the late 1960's Tom Jones was a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. He was not merely a "singles" artist although he would place a total of 30 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Tom Jones also sold tons of albums. LP's like "This Is Tom Jones" and "Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas" and several others were huge sellers and made the man one of the top selling artists of the era. And let's not forget the hysteria surrounding Tom's live performances. No doubt about it...Tom Jones was the real deal!
For the most part "The Complete Tom Jones" focuses on the hit singles. You will enjoy hearing the remastered versions of these tunes because the fidelity on many the original Parrot singles was simply not that great. You will find all the big hits you might expect including of course "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat?" and his biggest hit of all-time, 1971's "She's A Lady". But my favorite Tom Jones recordings are some of the second tier hits like "Letter To Lucille", "Help Yourself" and most especially "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer". I have long felt that this was Tom Jones' finest recording. In addition, you will find the surprise 1988 hit "Kiss" recorded with The Art of Noise as well as the haunting 1991 British hit "I Couldn't Say Goodbye". The liner notes are adequate and the price is right as well. All in all, a nice addition to your collection. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Still Atomic After All These Years!!!
Comment: For those of us now in our twilight years (or OTD, Older Than Dirt, as this affliction is more commonly known) that Welsh master of the hip-swivel known as Tom Jones had a much longer and more storied chart record than his current incarnation as fellow Wales native Catherine Zeta-Jones favorite singer. (How do I know these things? Look how many times his image and music crop up in movies and commercials featuring Zeta-Jones! Coincidence? I think not!!) Between 1965 and 1977, Jones (Tom, that is) cranked out more than a dozen unabashedly masculine, testosterone-driven tunes that sent female hearts aflutter worldwide. (And gained him many male admirers as well; after all, if guys can like supersexy Elvis, why not Tom Jones?) Most of the very best are collected in this wonderful CD: The playfulness of "What's New, Pussycat?", the betrayal and jealousy of "Delilah," and the sturdy, old-time sentiment of "Green, Green Grass of Home" (Warning: Playing this latter song in the presence of Females Of A Certain Age is almost certain to start the tears aflowin'! I know from experience!!) As a bonus, Complete Tom Jones also includes a couple of newer tracks recorded in an updated style (which may be called Techno-Jones); The Voice makes these numbers memorable as well. All in all, a great collection that you should purchase immediately. So why only four stars? Yes, one or two great songs are missing (such as the James Bond theme, "Thunderball"); also, maybe it's a guy thing, but to me, Tom Jones was at his absolute best on the rare occasions he recorded straight ahead, pedal to the metal Rock And Roll. Here, the boogie-loving Jones fan must settle for "It's Not Unusual," "Kiss," and the all-time best Jones anthem, "She's A Lady." I just feel that if Tom had recorded more uptempo numbers, he might have reached Elvis-like success; in any case, his career would have had a longer shelf life. But don't let that stop you, there's plenty of great material here, and it's nice to see that with all the recent interest, the great Tom Jones is still Atomic Tom after all these years!
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