Island Life - Grace Jones

A compilation as a Critical Junction?
Island Life by Grace Jones is a little more than a compilation, it's a chronicle of her development as a singer, flirting with different styles and experimenting with cover versions as well as her own original tracks. The album takes its title from Island Records, and contains a chronological sampling of the work she produced deuring her tenure with the record company from '77 - '85. Although it doesn't feature anything from her album Muse tracks are taken from Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life, and Slave to the Rhythm.

Jones is as much known for her modelling as her singing and the album cover by Jean-Paul Goude is a fitting example of her iconic style, Jones was a muse of the graphic designer/photographer and the picture was created in 1978. It is an anatomically impossible position and was created using a cut and paste technique. (God bless the days before photoshop)
Kicking off with the Piaf cover La Vie En Rose Jones displays her 2 1/2 octave vocal range and she continues with the disco theme that gave her Diva status in Gay clubs everywhere on the tracks, I Need A Man and Do or Die. The sound shifts to a more New Wave experimental groove on The Pretenders Private Life and her excellent Roxy Music cover, Love Is The Drug. A more scaled down Torch Song sound can be heard on I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango) and the accordion appears again reminiscent of the production on la Vie En Rose. Pull Up To The Bumper co written by Jones, gave her a hit single twice, firstly as a single release of her 1981 album Nightclubbing, and again in 1985 as Island Life climbed the album charts. Walking In The Rain is more spoken than sung, with a laid back funky groove laid down underneath that spells out early Lounge., The last two tracks on the album My Jamaican Guy and Slave To The Rhythm continue the funky theme while adding a decent splash of R&B.
Electric Picnicers will get to experience Grace Jones live in Stradbally this weekend, in the meantime, as a Critical Junction this Thursday on Live Drive Heeeeeere's Grace!

Track Listing
1. La Vie En Rose
2. I Need A Man
3. Do Or Die
4. Private Life
5. Love Is The Drug
6. I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)
7. Pull Up To The Bumper
8. Walking In The Rain
9. My Jamaican Guy
10. Slave To The Rhythm