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Sir Tom Jones has become the victim of a furious tirade from none other than the vice president of his record company, in a leaked email to .

David Sharpe of Island Records reacted angrily to hearing the gospel-influenced songs on Jones' upcoming Praise And Blame record.

In an email to his company colleagues, he lambasted the Artise And Repertoire (A&R) department for the management of the record, Jones' first for the company following his switch from EMI.

"Imagine my surprise when I walked into the office this morning to hear hymns coming from your office - it could have been Sunday morning.

"My initial pleasure came to an abrupt halt when I realised that Tom Jones was singing the hymns! I have just listened to the album in its entirety and want to know if this is some sick joke???

"We did not invest a fortune in an established artist for him to deliver 12 tracks from the common book of prayer [sic].

"Having lured him from EMI, the deal was that you would deliver a record of upbeat tracks along the lines of Sex Bomb and Mama Told Me...

"As venerable and interesting as Tom's story is, this is not what was agreed and certainly not what we paid for. Who put him with this 'folk' producer and who authorised that he should go off on this tangent...

"Please don't give me the art over commerce argument, it's run its course... You need to pull back this project immediately or get my money back - for god sake [sic] what are you thinking when he went all spiritual?"

The Sunday Times contacted him for his comments on the email and he said, "Parts of this record company wanted to deliver an album for the typical Tom Jones fan and I don't know if that's what we've got. Shall we say we've paid for a Mercedes - we've got the hearse that's arrived."

Initial reactions to the album and its lead single Burning Hell have been positive, with the single delivering a raw, soulful rock sound.

In a documentary, Imagine: Tom Jones What Good Am I? (Tuesday 6 July, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One Wales, 10.35pm) Tom Jones discusses his changing image. "Looking back, the pants were too tight and I suppose I've only got myself to blame for that. I didn't think it would catch up with me though, I assumed my voice would always shine through.

"But in the end, the image took over and people stopped taking me seriously because of how I was presenting myself.

"Mark [his son and manager] was always very close to me because I was only 16 when he was born - there are some brothers who have a bigger age difference than that.

"You see, in my head I'm still 25 and he made me aware of things I'd not considered before, about who the real me was."

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