All My Friends Are Back Again (The Al Jones Anthology) - Al Jones

Advantages: Jools Holland and the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
Disadvantages: Tom Jones' vocals in a few tracks

...well with the strong vocals of Tom Jones. The swing style aspect of the song really sells it to me as it is one of my favourite genres. 8-Odd Man Out - A saloon style piano intro and yet again an up tempo track. A more lyrically accomplished song along with varied style backing vocals that have a hint of Bohemian rhapsody. Not particularly a fitting song for the vocals of Tom Jones and the intrumentals only begin to establish itself near the end of the track. 9-Roberta - An up tempo rock and roll song you wouldn't tire of watching Elvis the Pelvis jig to. The vocals and instrumentals are equally as good and the song creates an image in your mind of a 50's style American diner. One of the most memorable songs on the album whereby Tom Jones has a hint of Elvis in his voice though they were good friends before he died so it wouldn... Read review

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Advantages: Includes: Gravel Pit
Disadvantages: Could do with more better tracks

..." is the first of two tracks featuring the soulfull Junior Reid. "Conditioner" is a duet of ODB and Snoop Dogg, the only track featuring Big Baby Jesus AKA ODB AKA Russell Jones on the album, since Mr. Jones spends these days most of his time in prison or drugclinic. Track number 7 on the album is "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" B-side of "Gravel Pit" and a typical Wu track. "Let My Niggas Live" features Nas' angry rapping. "I Can't Go To Sleep" is about al the violence between and the misery of the poor black people in the US. It is followed by the presumably next single "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)" which has Method Man in the leading role. Busta Rhymes shows some of his typical rapping skills on "The Monument". The for-last track is the first single "Gravel Pit". It is the Wu's most commercial single yet, acompanied by a fabuluous video... Read review

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Advantages: Selection of musical styles, well produced, great party album
Disadvantages: One or two fillers

...?' Well, after playing this CD many times, who cares. The whole idea of covering other artistes' songs as duets sounds corny but Tom et al pull it off. There is something here for everyone - a bit of soul (Heather Small 'You need love like I do' and Mick Hucknall 'Ain't that a lot of love'), rock ('Little Green Bag' with Bare Naked Ladies' 'Going my way' with Robbie) classic (check out the duet with Van 'the man' Morrison) and the aforementioned, absolutely over the top version of 'Baby its cold outside' with Cerys. All in all, this is a brilliant album - there are one or two 'fillers (covers of 'Sunny afternoon' and the dire cover of 'Never Tear Us Apart'). Play it loud and long - this is a album for the car!... Read review

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