This Is Tom Jones
Volume 1: Rock 'N' Roll Legends
The Trend-Setting Series Features Rare and Groundbreaking Performances by The Who, Janis Joplin, Little Richard and Others for the First Time on Any Home Video Format
IN-STORES JUNE 26th
What's new pussycat? Tom Jones on DVD-that's what's new. One of the greatest and most influential music-variety television series of the last 40 years is coming to home video for the first time, as Time Life Video debuts This Is Tom Jones. The trendsetting television series stars the Welsh-born Jones, along with a variety of rock, pop and soul greats. This Is Tom Jones originally aired on ABC from 1969-1971 with 57 episodes. Volume 1: Rock 'N' Roll Legends contains performances by The Who, Moody Blues, Janis Joplin, Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, Joe Cocker and Aretha Franklin, along with cutting edge comedy by the likes of Richard Pryor, Peter Sellers and Pat Paulson. This Is Tom Jones Volume 1: Rock 'N' Roll Legends arrives in stores for $39.99SRP on June 5, and includes nearly two hours of bonus material, featuring on-camera introductions to each episode and a new, in-depth interview with Jones.
Network television needed a healthy dose of youthful sex appeal and swagger in the late '60s. Enter Welshman Tom Jones, a man who oozed charisma thanks to his powerhouse voice and exciting stage moves. Jones was 28 years old when he hosted the first season of "This Is Tom Jones." Initially shot in London and later filmed in both Hollywood and London, the program attracted the biggest stars of the day - Jones' peers. He'd won a Grammy®, sold millions of records, and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" as well as at the top venues from New York City to Las Vegas. But unlike the majority of TV hosts, Jones belonged to the rock 'n' roll generation.
The guest artists on This Is Tom Jones read like a Classic Rock dream list. The Tommy-era Who unleash "Pinball Wizard" a mere few months after the release of Tommy (Keith Moon's maniacal glaring at the camera alone is worth the price of admission!) From psychedelic (the Moody Blues' "Ride A See-Saw") to blue-eyed soul (Joe Cocker & the Grease Band's version of "The Letter"), the show delivered. Jones trades verses with Cocker on "Delta Lady" and with Janis Joplin on the R&B classic "Raise Your Hand." Tom also performs his own hits, "It's Not Unusual," "What's New Pussycat?" and "Help Yourself." Unlike other TV variety shows from the same time period, sections of This Is Tom Jones were shot as a concert, with Jones and guests very close to the audience, for a truly live feel.
The son of a coal miner from South Wales, Tom Jones dropped out of school when he was 15 and was married and a father at 16. After playing in clubs in both Wales and London he was signed to Decca Records in 1964 at the age of 24. As he said in the exclusive interview done for this DVD collection, "as far back as I can remember I always sang. My mother says I could sing before I could walk. Apparently I was crawling around on the floor singing." Jones' second single for Decca, "It's Not Unusual" was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and set Jones on a course of hit-making that has continued throughout his career. In the year 2000, forty years on from his first success, Jones remarkably achieved his biggest sales hit ever with the album Reload. In 2006, Tom Jones became Sir Thomas Jones Woodward as he was knighted by the Queen of England; shortly afterward he released his latest single "Stoned in Love." He continues to record and tour throughout 2007.