Tom Jones's late-blossoming credibility is proof that everybody is considered cool eventually as long as they hang around long enough. But while 1999's collaborations album Reload was a fairly canny stab at the youth demographic, the bright spark who thought of hooking Jones up with Wyclef Jean shouldn't bank on that Christmas bonus. It's not that Wyclef isn't a capable pop-rap producer, nor that Jones doesn't still have a gutsy soul voice. It's simply that the twain should never have met.
When the 62-year-old swaggers, "We blowin' up this party with this sex bomb" on Tom Jones International, we are in the realm of Richard Madeley's Ali G impression and William Hague's baseball cap. Even the better songs, such as the bittersweet Younger Days, are capsized by toe-curling bursts of hip-hop slang, so when Jones brags "I won't stop rockin' till I retire", aghast listeners may find themselves wishing that day would come soon.
