DONOVAN ~ ANTHOLOGY 2

THE BEACH BOYS - "Pet Sounds"

Original released on LP Capitol T 2458

(US 1966, May 16)

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well).

The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best). Massively influential upon its release (although it was a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaulted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit. (Richie Unterberger in AllMusic)

JACQUES BREL: "Ces Gens-là"

Original released on LP Barclay 80 323 S

(FRANCE 1965, Novembre 10 / 1966, June 23)

10 de Novembro 1965. De regresso de uma digressão de cinco semanas pela União Sovitética onde, pela primeira e última vez no decorrer dos seus concertos, Brel acedeu aos pedidos do público e bisou uma canção em Leningrad ("Amsterdam"), e antes de viajar para o Canadá e Estados Unidos, onde subiria ao palco do Carnegie Hall em 4 de Dezembro, diante de cerca de quatro mil espectadores, Brel vê ser editado um novo 25cm (10 polegadas), com direcção musical de François Rauber e acompanhamento de Gérard Jouannest ao piano e Jean Corti no acordeão. A capa deste “Ces Gens-Là”, da autoria de Alain Marouani, mostra o cantor sentado à mesa de um bistrot, envolto por uma cortina espessa de fumo (o cantor fumava na altura 4 maços de cigarros por dia). Mais tarde, Brel diria que era a capa que ele preferia de todos os seus discos. Com o tempo a fotografia ganhou um peso icónico e hoje podemos vê-la, em grandes dimensões, numa montra do edifício que alberga a Fondation Jacques Brel, na Place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés, no centro de Bruxelas. São seis os temas que compunham este vinil: “Ces Gens-là”, “Jacky” e “L’Âge Idiot” no lado 1, e “Fernand”, “Grand-Mère” e “Les Désespérés” no lado 2. A primeira, que dá o nome ao álbum, é uma das canções mais violentas escritas pelo compositor belga:

D'abord...
D'abord, y'a l'aîné
Lui qu'est comme un melon
Lui qui a un gros nez
Lui qui sait plus son nom, Monsieur, tellement qu'il boit
Ou tellement qu'il a bu
Qui fait rien d'ses dix doigts
Mais lui qui n'en peut plus
Lui qui est complètement cuit
Et qui s'prend pour le roi

Qui se soule toutes les nuits
Avec du mauvais vin
Mais qu'on retrouve au matin
Dans l'église, qui roupille
Raide comme une saillie
Blanc comme un cierge de Pâques
Et puis qui bal-bu-tie
Et qui a l'œil qui divague...

Faut vous dire, Monsieur
Que chez ces gens-là
On n'pense pas, Monsieur
On n'pense pas
On prie

Et puis, y'a l'autre
Des carottes dans les cheveux
Qu'a jamais vu un peigne
Qu'est méchant comme une teigne
Même qu'il donnerait sa chemise
À des pauvres gens heureux
Qui a marié la Denise
Une fille de la ville, enfin, d'une autre ville
Et que c'est pas fini
Qui fait ses p'tites affaires
Avec son p'tit chapeau
Avec son p'tit manteau
Avec sa p'tite auto
Qu'aimerait bien avoir l'air
Mais qu'a pas l'air du tout
Faut pas jouer les riches
Quand on n'a pas le sou

Faut vous dire, Monsieur
Que chez ces gens-là
On n'vit pas, Monsieur
On n'vit pas
On triche

Et puis, y'a les autres
La mère qui n'dit rien
Ou bien n'importe quoi
Et du soir au matin
Sous sa belle gueule d'apôtre
Et dans son cadre en bois
Y'a la moustache du père
Qui est mort d'une glissade
Et qui regarde son troupeau
Bouffer la soupe froide
Et ça fait des grands flchss
Et ça fait des grands flchss

Et puis y'a la toute vieille
Qu'en finit pas de vibrer
Et qu'on attend qu'elle crève
Vu que c'est elle qui a l'oseille
Et qu'on écoute même pas
C'que ses pauv' mains racontent

Faut vous dire, Monsieur
Que chez ces gens-là
On n'cause pas, Monsieur
On n'cause pas
On compte

Et puis
Et puis
Et puis y'a Frida!
Qu'est belle comme un soleil!
Et qui m'aime pareil
Que moi j'aime Frida!

Même qu'on se dit souvent
Qu'on aura une maison
Avec des tas d'fenêtres
Avec presque pas d'murs
Et qu'on vivra dedans
Et qu'il f'ra bon y être
Et que si c'est pas sûr
C'est quand même peut-être
Parce que les autres veulent pas
Parce que les autres veulent pas

Les autres ils disent comme ça
Qu'elle est trop belle pour moi
Que je suis tout juste bon
À égorger les chats
J'ai jamais tué d'chats
Ou alors y'a longtemps
Ou bien j'ai oublié
Ou ils sentaient pas bon
Enfin ils veulent pas
Enfin ils veulent pas

Parfois, quand on se voit
Semblant qu'c'est pas exprès
Avec ses yeux mouillants
Elle dit qu'elle partira
Elle dit qu'elle me suivra
Alors pour un instant
Pour un instant seulement
Alors moi je la crois, Monsieur
Pour un instant
Pour un instant seulement
Parce que chez ces gens-là, Monsieur
On n's'en va pas
On s'en va pas, Monsieur
On s'en va pas

Mais il est tard, Monsieur
Il faut que je rentre
Chez moi 

A 18 de Março de 1966, Brel interpreta “Ces Gens-là” no programa televisivo Discorama e em entrevista a Denise Glaser refere: «C’est pas de la violence, c’est de la colère. Il y a des gents qui vivent plus au moins dans l’indignation, dans la colère, c’est mon cas, et ça ne s’arrange pas. J’aime pas l’humilité qui consiste à refuser de voir des choses laides en se disant: ‘Moi, je les vois et ça ne me touche pas!’ Et accepter que les autres subissent les conséquences de ces choses laides. Si on est relativement généreux de quelque part, à tort oui à raison, on passe obligatoirement par des moments de colère. Ça me paraît inévitable. Et quand on n’est pas en colère, c’est qu’on est tout seul!» “Ces Gens-là” foi editada em single, tendo atingido o 3º lugar do hit-parade francês em Janeiro de 1966, atrás de “Michelle”, dos Beatles.

Dado o êxito estrondoso do pequeno vinil, seriam anexados mais 4 temas (“Jef”, “Les Bergers”, “Tango Funèbre” e “Mathilde”), gravados entre 8 de Janeiro e 7 de Março de 1964, para a edição do correspondente LP. Em 23 de Setembro de 2003, para a edição da caixa-aniversário “Boite à Bonbons” (Barclay 980 817 – 2) , são ainda acrescentados outros 4 temas (gravados todos em 8 de Janeiro de 1963), cantados em flamengo e editados anteriormente no EP Barclay 70907: "Mijn Vlakke Land (Le Plat Pays)”, “Rosa”, “De Burgerij (Les Bourgeois)” e “De Nuttelozen Van de Nacht (Les Paumés du Petit Matin)”.

MARIANNE's "My Songs of the Sixties"

Once upon a time there was a sweet loving girl called Marianne... No woman from the 1960s lost her youth as thoroughly as Marianne Faithfull. And by youth, I mean her innocence, not her looks. Long after that decade ended, she wrote in a song, "Where did it go to ... my youth?" She answered herself only last year with lyrics that begin, «I drink and I take drugs/I love sex and move around a lot». And no citizen of the '60s drank, took drugs and had sex with Faithfull's public abandon. This Rato Records's collection (shared once more 'cause of many requests), in three parts, reunites 75 great songs that Marianne recorded during the sixties, before her personal life went into decline, and her career went into a tailspin.

MAURICE JARRE / "GRAND PRIX"

Maurice Jarre, falecido em Los Angeles, aos 84 anos (madrugada de domingo, dia 29 de Março de 2009), significou sempre um sinónimo de Cinema para mim, tantos foram os filmes que tiveram a sua inconfundível assinatura. Foi francês por nascimento (em Lyon, a 13 de Setembro de 1924) mas internacionalizou-se através das mais de 160 partituras que compôs ao longo da sua vida para grandes realizadores: Alfred Hitchcock, Luchino Visconti, John Huston ou David Lean, por exemplo. A colaboração com este último resultaria na obtenção de 3 Oscars da Academia pelos filmes “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) e “A Passage to India” (1984). Seria nomeado ainda por mais 6 vezes, a última das quais em 1990 pelo filme “Ghost”.

Muitos outros prémios lhe iriam parar às mãos, em variadissimas partes do mundo. Tem uma estrela na calçada da fama em Hollywood e, para além do cinema, compôs ainda ballets, concertos, óperas e cantatas. Recebeu também o Urso de Ouro, um prémio honorífico do Festival de Cinema de Berlim, destacando-o como um dos compositores "mais importantes e ao mesmo tempo mais populares" da história da sétima arte: «Os compositores dos filmes estão freqüentemente à sombra de grandes realizadoress e actores. É diferente com Maurice Jarre. A música de "Doutor Zhivago", como grande parte de sua obra, é famosa no mundo todo e permanece na lembrança da história do cinema», afirmou o diretor do festival, Dieter Kosslick.

Da sua extensa e impressionante filmografia é meu desejo partilhar aqui a banda sonora do filme “Grand Prix” que Jarre compôs para John Frankenheimer em 1966 (gravações efectuadas nos MGM Studios Scoring Stage, Culver City, California, entre 25 de Novembro e 14 de Dezembro de 1966). Trata-se de uma edição especial, limitada a 3000 cópias, e que contém toda a música do filme, a maior parte da qual não usada no album editado na altura da estreia, em Dezembro de 1966. Quem quiser escutar o alinhamento original basta programar o leitor de CD’s com a sequência 1 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 7 – 13 – 26 – 27 – 4 – 29. De referir que nas faixas 13 e 29 foi eliminado o barulho dos escapes dos carros, constantes na versão original.

“Grand Prix” fez as minhas delícias de adolescente, quando o vi pela primeira vez em Johannesburg, a 19 de Agosto de 1967, um sábado à noite. Tinha sido o filme escolhido para inauguração de uma nova sala de cinema chamada Royal Cinerama, especializada na passagem de flmes naquele formato (écran semi-circular com tripla projeção simultânea). Ao longo dos anos revi o filme dezenas de vezes, mas a memória daquela 1ª sessão nunca mais me abandonou. Recordo ainda o foyer do cinema todo ele engalanado com artefactos relacionados com o filme, onde nem sequer faltavam dois ou três prototipos dos bólides de Fórmula 1 da altura. E que lindos que eram esses carros...

Transcreve-se de seguida parte das notas que constavam da edição original do album (MGM) com a banda sonora, que na altura se resumia apenas a 10 faixas:

Grand Prix is the story of four drivers, the women behind them, the cars beneath them. These four daredevils dice with death across the race tracks of the globe. Each has his eyes and heart on the world championship. Only one can win. They are:

The American…Peter Aron (James Garner). Aron, a restless, abrasive personality, lives for driving. Starting the season with Jordan - BRM he is fired after a multiple crash at Monaco, rejected by the autocratic Manetta-Ferrari owner (Adolfo Celi), finally ends up in partnership with Japan’s ambitious Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune). Both badly want the world championship. Yamura for his cars. Aron for himself.

The Corsican…Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand). At an age when most top drivers have retired to the grandstands, he aims one last fling at the world title…and a win that could give him the elusive hat trick. An added tension to his bid is his blossoming love affair with fashion editor Louise Fredrickson (Eva Marie Saint). And at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour, tension spells trouble.

The Britisher…Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford). A talented young Jordan-BRM driver, whose marriage and racing suffer from the shadow of his dead brother Roger, a former world champ whose personality still haunts the circuits in general and the Stoddard family home in particular. And then there is his wife, Pat (Jessica Walter). Pat is a problem - a bored ex-model, failed actress, indifferent wife and troublesome mistress to Stoddard’s archrival and ex-colleague Pete Aron.

The Sicilian…Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabato). A wild young driver played by a wild young actor. Barlini lives and dreams cars, motorbikes and girls. One of the girls is Lisa (Françoise Hardy), an enigmatic beauty who emerges from a Riviera discotheque to follow the racing season…and Barlini.Of the quartet, one will raise his hand in victory, another will die. Not one of them or their women will ever be the same.

Maurice Jarre was born in Lyon, France. He studied composition and percussion at the Conservatoire with Jacques de la Presle, Louis Aubert and Arthur Honegger. In 1944 he was called up by the Navy and saw active service in World War II. When Jean Louis Berrault formed his own theatre company, he asked Jarre to become orchestral conductor and arranger. Jarre stayed with the Barrault company for four years. In 1951, he joined Jean Vilar, who had started a national theatre company. For the first time Jarre composed music for a wide range of plays: Shakespeare, Moliere, O’Neill, Eliot and Victor Hugo. In 1955 Jarre was awarded the Zurich prize for a symphony and violin concerto. That same year he won the Italian Opera Radiofoniche prize for a radio opera, "Ruiselle". In 1962 he again received the Radiofoniche prize, this time for a TV opera, "Les Filles du Feu". The composer has written concert music for the festivals at Aix-en-Provence and Strasbourg; ballets for the Paris Opera Comique and London’s Sadler’s Wells. Jarre started writing music for films in 1952. His first feature film assignment was Franju’s "La tête contre les murs". In addition to "Grand Prix" he has done scores for 38 other foreign and American films, including "The Longest Day", "The Collector", "Is Paris Burning?", "Night of the Generals", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago". He won the coveted Motion Picture Academy Oscar in 1962 for "Lawrence of Arabia" and again in 1965 for "Doctor Zhivago".

The Music

The relationship of the main characters in this film is a very close and personal one. Jarre expresses this musically, by intermingling the main characters’ identifying themes.

Side 1

1. Overture - The Overture contains substantial portions of the three Main Themes from the film: 1) Theme From Grand Prix – relates to all the drivers. 2) Sarti’s Love Theme – is generally used in connection with the Frenchman’s (Yves Montand) adventurous and romantic schemes; 3) Scott’s Theme – serves as background music for scenes featuring the British Jordan BRM driver, Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford). (4:35)

2. Scott & Pat – Sarti & Louise Unrequited love and fulfilled love. Mr. Jarre skillfully contrasts the Scott and Sarti themes. (2:20)

3. Theme From Grand Prix - This version of the theme is heard at the finish of the Brands Hatch race. (1:55)

4. Sarti’s Love Theme (Bossa Nova) - Employed by Jarre to underline portions of the racing sequences. (2:25)

5. The Zandvoort Race (Scott’s Comeback) - The crippled Scott painfully lowers himself into his dead brother’s racing car and triumphantly roars away. The engine’s blast signals the start of the Zandvoort Race – and a glorious comeback for the determined Britisher. (5:21)

Side 2

1. The Clermont Race - Unusual multi-camera shots – almost kaleidoscopic in effect. Sarti is driving but his mind is on Louise. Photographically and musically the Clermont Race has the quality of a racing car “ballet.” (2:15)

2. Scott’s Theme (Bossa Nova) - Heard over the loudspeakers while the Clermont Race is in progress. (2:15)

3. Sarti’s Love Theme - The scene is Sarti’s apartment at the Sports Club; Sarti and Louise first realize that they are deeply in love. (4:15)

4. In the Garden - A tender scene between Sarti and Louise. Music is heard coming from Barlini’s victory party which they have just left. (3:00)

5. The Lonely Race - Track it is the end of the film. The grandstands are empty. Pete (James Garner), deep in thought, is seen walking down the empty track reliving in his mind the races and events we have just seen. Sarti’s Theme comes first, then the roar of the invisible racing cars, followed by another version of the stirring Theme From Grand Prix, a dedication to all racing drivers. (2:26)

Produção: Edward Lewis
Realização: John Frankenheimer
Argumento: Robert Alan Aurthur e William Hanley
Música Original: Maurice Jarre
Montagem: Henry Berman, Stewart Linder e Frank Santillo
Estreia nos EUA: 1966, Dezembro 21

CAST:
James Garner - Pete Aron
Yves Montand - Jean-Pierre Sarti
Eva Marie Saint - Louise Frederickson
Brian Bedford - Scott Stoddard
Toshiro Mifune - Izo Yamura
Jessica Walter - Pat Stoddard
Antonio Sabato - Nino Barlini
Françoise Hardy - Lisa
Adolfo Celi - Agostini Manetta
Claude Dauphin - Hugo Simon
Geneviève Page - Monique Delvaux-Sarti
Enzo Fiermonte - Guido
Jack Watson - Jeff Jordan
etc.

(VER COMENTÁRIO SOBRE O FILME AQUI)

TIJUANA'S 6TH ALBUM

Original Released on LP A&M 114/SP 4114 
(US, May 1966)

Produced by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss
Arranged by Herb Alpert
Engineered by Larry Levine
Recorded at Gold Star Recording Studios
Album designed by Peter Whorf Graphics
Billboard peak album chart position: 1, 9 weeks (debuted 5/21/66)
Weeks in Top 40 album chart: 141

...«On a personal note, my father's favorite Tijuana Brass song was If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler On The Roof. My father left Russia alone at the age of 16. His dream was to make enough money so that he could bring his entire family to the United States. He didn't speak english when the ship docked at Ellis Island in 1916, but he found a way to survive and worked hard to finally realize his dream of helping bring his entire family to America. I will always remember him as a gentle, generous and loving man.» - Herb Alpert

With this album, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass settle into their hitmaking groove, the once strikingly eclectic elements of Dixieland, pop, rock, and mariachi becoming more smoothly integrated within Alpert's infectious "Ameriachi" blend. They sound more like a band now; along with Alpert's now-indelibly stamped trumpet sound, we can recognize jazzman John Pisano's distinctive rhythm guitar, Lou Pagani's piano, the droll Bob Edmondson's dulcet trombone, etc. Pisano, who debuted as a composer on Going Places, comes up with a memorably whistleable song "So What's New," and the rest of Alpert's songwriting brigade (Ervan Coleman, Julius Wechter and Sol Lake) chime in with some lively, catchy tunes. There is also an assortment of pop, film, and Broadway standards of the day, all impeccably arranged by Alpert, whose production instincts grew sharper and surer with every release. Result: another hugely entertaining hit LP, one that stayed at number one longer than any other TJB album (nine weeks).

13th FLOOR ELEVATORS First Album

Original released on LP International Artists IA-LP-I (mono)

(US 1966, October 17)

Did the 13th Floor Elevators invent psychedelic rock? Aficionados will be debating that point for decades, but if Roky Erickson and his fellow travelers into inner space weren't there first, they were certainly close to the front of the line, and there are few albums from the early stages of the psych movement that sound as distinctively trippy - and remain as pleasing - as the group's groundbreaking debut, "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators". In 1966, psychedelia hadn't been around long enough for its clichés to be set in stone, and "Psychedelic Sounds" thankfully avoids most of them; while the sensuous twists of the melodies and the charming psychobabble of the lyrics make it sound like these folks were indulging in something stronger than Pearl Beer, at this point the Elevators sounded like a smarter-than-average folk-rock band with a truly uncommon level of intensity. Roky Erickson's vocals are strong and compelling throughout, whether he's wailing like some lysergic James Brown or murmuring quietly, and Stacy Sutherland's guitar leads - long on melodic invention without a lot of pointless heroics - are a real treat to hear. And nobody played electric jug quite like Tommy Hall... actually, nobody played it at all besides him, but his oddball noises gave the band a truly unique sonic texture. If you want to argue that psychedelia was as much a frame of mind as a musical style, it's instructive to compare the recording of "You're Gonna Miss Me" by Erickson's earlier band, the Spades, to the version on this album - the difference is more attitudinal than anything else, but it's enough to make all the difference in the world. (The division is even clearer between the Spades' "We Sell Soul" and the rewrite on Psychedelic Sounds, "Don't Fall Down"). The 13th Floor Elevators were trailblazers in the psychedelic rock scene, and in time they'd pay a heavy price for exploring the outer edges of musical and psychological possibility, but along the way they left behind a few fine albums, and "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" remains a potent delight.

TOM JONES: "The First Years" (1965-1967)

Sir Thomas Jones Woodward is a Welsh singer known by his stage name Tom Jones. He was born in 1940, June 7, at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd, in Glamorgan, South Wales and became one of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the mid-1960s. Since then, he has sung many forms of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul music and gospel – and sold over 100 million records. Jones has had thirty-six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States. He began singing at an early age, at family gatherings, weddings and in his school choir. Jones did not like school or sports, but gained confidence through his singing talent. At 12 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Many years later he said: «I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life.» During convalescence he could do little else but listen to music and draw.

Jones's bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R&B singers Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson and Brook Benton, as well as Elvis Presley. In March 1957 Jones married his high school girlfriend, Linda Trenchard when they were expecting a child together, both aged 16. The couple's son, Mark, was born in the month following their wedding. To support his young family Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction. Jones's voice has been described as a "full-throated, robust baritone". He became the frontman in 1963 for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales. 

The group recorded several solo tracks in 1964 with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but they had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and the Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but the partnership was short-lived. The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager who also originally hailed from South Wales. Mills became Jones's manager and took the young singer to London, and also renamed him Tom Jones, to exploit the popularity of the Academy Award winning 1963 film.

Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever", was released in late 1964. It did not chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual", became an international hit after offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The following year was the most prominent of Jones's career, making him one of the most popular vocalists of the British Invasion. In early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States. During 1965, Mills secured a number of film themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film “What's New Pussycat?” (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film “Thunderball”. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1966. In Hollywood, he met Elvis Presley for the first time who he recalls singing his song as he walked towards him on set.

In 1966, Jones's popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to reshape the singer's image into that of a crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked, and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the US. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", "I'm Coming Home", and "Delilah" which all reached No. 2 in the UK chart.

Melody Maker Awards, 1966 - With Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield and Ringo Starr

Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time at the Flamingo, in 1967. His performances and style of dress became part of his stage act, and increasingly featured his open, half-unbuttoned shirts and tight trousers. He soon chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. His shows at Caesars Palace were a knicker-hurling frenzy of sexually charged adulation and good-time entertainment. Women started throwing hotel room keys onto the stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. They became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. The friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.

This double CD set collects the very best of Tom Jones’s songs, released in his first years of fame and success, between 1964 and 1967.