POP MUSIC REVIEW : Vegas Gloss Buries New Direction for Jones

Though it’s a point easily forgotten after Tom Jones’ two decades of Las Vegas gloss and grind, his big Welsh baritone once earned the awe of American soul singers, the Beatles and other ‘60s contemporaries.

From almost the day in 1965 that he first hit with “It’s Not Unusual,” however, Jones has squandered his vocal gift on hack-work songs while developing a pandering sex-god stage act that made him a joke to most neutral observers.

His 16-song set Sunday at Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre opened with portents of change: Jones’ pit band introduced him by playing a reasonably funky version of the Talking Heads’ “Mr. Jones,” and Mr. Jones himself--sporting the black long-coat from his recent “Kiss” video--performed his “Help Yourself” with nary a bump nor grind.

But, as the singer announced, “this was just foreplay,” and he soon trotted out his old moves for the remainder of the show--a parade of such familiar tunes as “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Delilah,” “With These Hands” and “What’s New, Pussycat?” Jones’ voice has lost none of its power and range, but, with his schmaltzy material, it was like using a giant redwood to make paper pulp for a tabloid.

Two new tunes were airy, synth-pop ballads, but a third, by Irish songwriter Chris DeBurgh, hinted at what Jones might achieve with better material. Singing the words of a father who fears the world he has brought his daughter into, Jones exhibited a sense of drama and emotion that broke through the mere professional sheen he brought to the rest of the performance.