68 years to make ‘24 Hours’

To our generation Tom Jones may be best known for singing “It’s Not Unusual” amid furry woodland creatures on the set of Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks!” but this old man still has something left to offer us, if only as a novelty of the 1960s.

Jones, the legendary blue-eyed soulster has released his first new studio album since 2005 in 24 Hours. This album is the product of a 68-year old original pop idol’s musings on life and, surprisingly, first ever real attempt at songwriting.  

That isn’t to say that he did it all on his own. This is especially obvious in the song “Sugar Daddy” that sounds a lot like a U2 song. Maybe because it was written for Jones by Bono and The Edge.

This album tends to vary from catchy to comical with an occasional burst of sentimental value. Even so, 24 Hours still sounds very much like Tom Jones.

The song he wrote for his wife “The Road” has elements of an eponymous throwback to the ’60s sounds that made him so popular in the first place. Even though it’s easy to laugh at old grandpa Jones when he calls himself “the mack daddy” in “Sugar Daddy,” it doesn’t take much to notice that he still has an amazing voice.

The most upbeat tune in the album has to be the very first song “I’m Alive” which is a catchy song that really showcases the power in his old vocal chords.

He takes it all down a notch when he sings the ballad of a title track “24 Hours” and with lyrics like “I hear footsteps at my door/ I don’t struggle anymore” it successfully sucks the life out of the rest of the album by the time it finishes.

Even with a depressing final ballad and attempts at songwriting, Tom Jones hasn’t changed that much.