Grace Jones: where to start in her back catalogue
Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions (1998)
“I think I’d have to say The Best of the Beatles.” So decreed Alan Partridge when asked for his go-to Fab Four LP, raising sniggers from rock fans. Of course, the usefulness of this slightly hidebound allergy to compilation albums crumbles the further one travels from the core of the rock canon. Certainly, if you want to hear Grace Jones, a singer who rose to international prominence in discotheques, soaring at the height of her powers, you need to understand how she ruled over discerning dance floors. It makes complete sense then, that a well-curated anthology (including extended, nightclub-facing mixes) would beat any studio record.
This double album, complete with outtakes and hard-to-find single versions, provides an unbeatable introduction to the work she recorded during an imperial phase spanning 1980 to 1982, when she made the albums Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing and Living My Life. The title takes its name from the Compass Point studios in the Bahamas, set up by Chris Blackwell of Island Records in 1977, which had a solid reputation from hosting such heavyweights as AC/DC, Judas Priest and U2. Beyond rock, it developed a fearsome parallel reputation for producing killer reggae-influenced pop and disco albums thanks to the incredible house band, the Compass Point All Stars, formed round the stellar core of Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Mikey Chung and Uziah “Sticky” Thompson. Out of the many acts who worked with them, including Tom Tom Club and Black Uhuru, their work with Jones remains the peak achievement.
Of course the real revelation on this compilation is Jones herself. Her initial tendency as a singer to drift slightly flat is replaced by a sublimely powerful voice that has accrued an incredible grain to complement and contrast her obvious polish. As great as the cherry-pickings of her disco trilogy are, no one needs to hear her half-heartedly attending to Send in the Clowns or, God forbid, Tomorrow. Yet her covers of Warm Leatherette, She’s Lost Control and Nightclubbing are desert island discs that mark her out as an incredible conceptualist as well as a performer.
The three albums to check out next
Hurricane (2008)
Few musicians celebrate their 60th birthday by making one of their best albums after almost two decades away from recording, but that’s what Jones did with Hurricane in 2008. It’s a vital piece of work that engaged with the post-trip-hop end of dubstep, the not inconsiderable legacy of Massive Attack and a hitherto unexplored familial connection with evangelical gospel song. Her radiation of a timeless vigour was reflected in the release of the reworked and remixed Hurricane Dub in 2011. Crucially, however, Hurricane displayed a clear link back to Warm Leatherette, not just in terms of sonic texture and groove, but also in the luxurious presence of the Compass Point All Stars.
Slave to the Rhythm (1985)
After finishing the Compass Point trilogy in 1982, Jones took a break from recording to concentrate on her acting career. She broke the three-year hiatus by embarking on a short but productive relationship with ZTT. A concept album of sorts, Slave to the Rhythm, is a collection of wildly different versions of the same song. As befits a project devised by Trevor Horn at the height of his pomp (initially for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who rejected it), the album is a delightful synthesis of the sublime and the ridiculous. For example, opening track, Jones the Rhythm, features Ian McShane (AKA TV’s Lovejoy) giving a sonorous reading from Jungle Fever, the autobiography of Jean-Paul Goude, the French photographer and designer. Why? Because it was 1985, that’s why. Inside Story (1986)
The mid to late 80s was such a period of acceleration when it came to dance music that Inside Story ended up dating quickly. Looking back now, we can see house music lurking just around the corner, whereas producer Nile Rodgers of Chic clearly couldn’t. The booming chassis of gated reverb drums married to pristine, trebly rhythm funk guitar may have been slightly behind the curve when it landed in 1986, but now, decades after the fact, it just sounds superb. Jones had already proved herself a great songwriter on tracks such as Nipple to the Bottle, but here she got to push herself across the full album, ranging from the rampantly pumping I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You) to the considered Victor Should Have Been a Jazz Musician.
One for the heads
The Balearic Sound of Grace Jones As befits someone with such deep roots in disco, Jones’s back catalogue is studded with nuggets of DJ gold. This completely unofficial bootleg does a great job of rounding up four killer cuts on vinyl for those who can no longer afford to track down the originals. To hear the godfather of DJing and remixing Tom Moulton getting busy with the razor blade and reels of tape on the extended mix of La Vie en Rose is a proper dancing-barefoot-on-thebeach-as-the-sun-comes-up moment. The selection is bookended by the equally brilliant Larry Levan garage mix of Pull Up to the Bumper, which effortlessly introduces the wide open avenues and heat haze of high summer in New York City to any environment with a big pair of speakers.
The primer playlist
For Spotify users, listen below or click on the Spotify icon in the top right of the playlist; for Apple Music users, click here.
Further reading
State of Grace, by Miranda SawyerAfter a bottle of wine and several shots of sambuca, Sawyer, who delivers a typically brilliant profile, gets much more than she bargained for from Jones.
I’ll Never Write My Memoirs, by Grace Jones and Paul Morley“I was born. It happened one day, when I least expected it …” Thus begins the suitably bombastic, self-regarding and slightly brilliant autobiography of Miss Jones, written with some assistance from her old ZTT pal Paul Morley.
As Much As I Can, As Black As I Am by Barry WaltersSubtitled The Queer History of Grace Jones, this clearsighted, well-researched piece looks at the cultural significance and importance of the singer in the context of gay disco culture.