In yet another example of the slapdash archival nature of so many fly-by-night quickie DVD releases, there are no credits at the end of this hour of The Voice doing what he does – on autopilot. The jacket blurb informs only that the material is “from a selection of 70s television broadcasts”, but it took RC less than two minutes’ research to discover that the footage is, in fact, from 1980/81.
The performances come from a Canadian series, recorded in Vancouver, which has previously been the subject of litigation. Three years ago Jones’ management successfully sued a company distributing audio-only live albums from the programmes, but a legal path has since been cleared to allow visual material onto the market. What we get is nothing special, Tom just going through the motions and waiting for the cheque to clear.
Reimagining Delilah as a disco jazz workout is a huge mistake, and the traditional Danny Boy fails completely as a soft-strummed country ballad. It’s only when sidling up to the laydeez that Tom really seems to catch fire, be it in the company of Gladys Knight on Guilty or Chaka Khan on We Can Work It Out. And let’s just hope he’s long since consigned those sequinned jackets to a charity shop.
