Tom Jones 24 Hours

'24 Hours', his new album, might just be his best yet. It is certainly his most fully realised, and also his most intimate by far. There are reasons for this: the man who is arguably the best interpreter of any song he chooses to sing irrespective of genre has now, at last, turned songwriter. For the first time in his career, Tom has had a major hand in writing most of the songs collected here. Surrounding himself with a musically diverse group of producers and songwriters, Tom set about creating songs that would be big and impassioned and cinematic. Inspired by the kind of soul-searching that, he says, comes to us all sooner or later, much of '24 Hours' concerns those subjects closest to Tom's heart - his family, his grandchildren, life and death, and the power of memory. '24 Hours', his first album for Parlophone/S Curve, was recorded in Los Angeles throughout last year, and was mostly produced by Future Cut, the drum 'n' bass outfit who have previously worked with Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal and Goldie.