A review by paulieg
Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography by Tom Jones

5.0

"Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas At The Flamingo (1969)" is one of the very best live albums ever recorded, and I encourage anyone who wishes to poke fun at Sir Tom for "What's New, Pussycat?" to listen to that before saying another word. YES, this auto-bio would have had to consist of 300 completely blank pages for me to give it less than 5 stars, but I'm happy to report that this chatty, candid memoir is engaging enough to keep even a non-fan reading past bedtime. Some reviews have groused that the most important part of this story--the *ladies*--has been airbrushed from this memoir in deference to his longterm marriage, but I didn't mind that omission; I was more disappointed to not learn what it felt like to wake up as TOM JONES on a bright morning in, say, 1970: there's a photo in the book of Jones in a short robe and a full gold necklace, standing next to an Olympic-sized indoor pool THAT HE OWNED, and I would have loved a few paragraphs on what his daily routine and ruminations were at that time. Even without that information, this is a great tale of a singular life.