ImaIges ma
On this day 16 December 1967, the Melody Maker reported on the dilemma faced by Welsh singing legend Tom Jones,
Tom Jones is a man with a problem. And the problem is, where do I go from here?
The singer with a million dollar plus payout next year - from big cabaret dates in New York and Las Vegas - has to go forward in his career or stagnate.
His "I'm Coming Home" is bouncing massive sales on the cash registers of Britain, but Tom said last weekend "I have to move on from being just a singer to something else. I don't want to have to concentrate on making hit singles in the future."
Tom's success on the treadmill of pop single success has been large and impressive, but it's not enough which is why 1968 will see Tom Jones launched on his first movie project- - as reported in last week's MM.
"In this business you;re either a singer making hits or in films. I have to move into films If I am going to expand as an artist. "I don't cater for screamers anymore. That's why I toured recently with a big band rather than a group.
"It was a polished show and the audience had to sit and listen. And they really enjoyed it.
"Before I did the tour. I was worried about whether working with the Ted Heath band was a wise move. It was.
"It was good music and I felt happy and relaxed and able to give a good show."
Tom rates being on the road with a fine big band as one of his b ig highlights of 1967, perhaps his most successful year ever.
The other highlight? "Doing the Royal Command Performance, which was great."
Tom's first film will be set in the Bahamas and feature him as a West Indies playboy who races hydroplanes. It's essentially an action role, which is how Tom sees his future in films.
"Anything I do will have to have a lot of action and let me move around a bit, and musn't rely too much on speech.
"Originally, we planned that I would sing just a title song over the credits but I think we will have to fit a song into the script somewhere. People will expect me to sing a song, so I suppose I'll have to do do one."
Branching into films means a lot to Tom Jones. Was he prepared for failure on the wide screen? "No, one of the things I musn't do is make a bad film. That's why I waited so long. I could have made a film at the time "It's Not Unusual" was a hit, but it would not have been right for me. This one cannot be bad. We've spent a long time preparing for it and making sure it'll be good,"
Tom has seen a lot of singers go into film - and live to regret the celluloid rubbish they have been saddled with. He is determined not to tread the path of Elvis Presley and turn out 90 minute musically nothings that will do him more harm than good.
It's another Christmas at home for Tom and family this year, but this time, his parents will be with him and not home in Wales.
The have recently moved into Tom's old house at Shepperton - a stone's throw from Tom.
"They'll be with me on Christmas Day," said Tom. "We'll be spending the day pretty quietly, I expect - just the feet up with a good dinner and lots of drinks and lots of records playing."
That just about sums up Tom's idea of relaxation: bed till noon or later, then hours of spinning records, both for entertainment and in the search for new material.
He is hoping that over the Christmas period he can come up with a song for his next single. "I still want to do an up-tempo number, but I can't seem to find a good one.
"If the tempo's right, the melody is usually weak. That's why I seem to record a good ballad than a bad up-tempo song just for the sake of it.
"I recorded a few things at the same time as I made "I'm Coming Home" but none of them were are suitable for a single. They are ballads with a Country and Western feel and I think I should avoid them for the time being."
The Jones boy - the singer with muscles in his voice - can look forward to 1968 with more glee than most of us. After all, with all his work abroad, devaluation is working for him and not against him. Oh, for problems like his.
