First viewed : 13 June 1992
This was ostensibly a six-week history lesson on the development of popular music delivered by "Professor" Tom Jones with the aid of various musical guests. It was a mixture of performances and interviews before a live audience. Each episode focused on a different genre until the final one which was given over to Stevie Wonder.
The show was broadcast on Sunday nights on ITV. The price exacted for appearing on the show appeared to be a willingness to let Tom in on the performance of one of their hits, part of his, admittedly successful, attempt to re-brand himself for a contemporary audience. That seemed to be the main purpose of the show; the historical content was vacuous.
The two performances I remember are Tom doing an "embarrassing uncle" duet with EMF on Unbelievable and a more dignified version of Purple Rain with David Gilmour guesting on guitar.
Having not seen it, was this any less cringeworthy than his later moves with the Cardigans and Stereophonics?
ReplyDelete(he had the advantage of stronger material in those instances, of course!)
No, I'd say it was more given neither of those bands were so image-conscious. The EMF lads seemed uncomfortable about it both during the performance and in the interview.
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