Island Life

Warm Leatherette came in 1980 and it was revolutionary.
Her new sond was rock in fusion with the new wave sound that was happening at the time, She teamed up with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare to create a sound that would become Grace Jones' trademark for years to come. All of the tracks on Warm Leatherette are a powerhouse, each song contains a beat and feelin' about it that's quite unique. Many songs from this album are missing on "Island Life" such as: Warm Leatherette, A Rolling Stone, The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game, Pars and Breakdown. Two tracks are inc. on Island life: Private Life and Love is the drug (not the album version though).

Nightclubbing came in 1981 and it was her best. Continuing in the same path of Warm Leatherette it had something unique about it, all of the songs on Nighclubbing were (are) critique proof all of the songs are nearing perfection. Again many songs are missing on Island Life: Nightclubbing, Demolition Man and Feel Up. Three tracks are inc: Walking in the rain, Pull up to the bumper (again it's been changed) and my favourite the lovely but spooky I've seen that face before (libertango).

In 1982 Living My Life came, although musically the album was just as good as it's predecessors it failed to live up to the expectation of Grace Jones' image so far. Again many songs are missing: Nipple to the bottle and The apple stretching.
ONE song is included on Island Life: My Jamaican Guy.
Slave to the rhythm followed in 1985, and it's included.


A skimpy collection   November 19, 2003
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Island Life is a collection of Grace Jones' biggest hits on the Island records label. It draws from albums like Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978), Muse (1979), Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), Living My Life (1982) and Slave To The Rhythm (1985). The tracks are arranged chronologically so it maps out her musical development from the robotic disco sounds of La Vie En Rose through her new wave experiments with Private Life, her torch song phase in Libertango up to the funky R&B of My Jamaican Guy.

She wasn't taken seriously as a musician up until the release of Warm Leatherette in 1980, but I have always enjoyed her early disco work, especially the Portfolio album with its great tracks like Tomorrow, Send In The Clowns, I Need A Man and La Vie en Rose. The following two albums, Fame and Muse, were weaker but still contained a sprinkling of memorable disco musings like Autumn Leaves, Do Or Die and others.

Warm Leatherette really put her on the musical map, especially on account of her version of the title track that was an obscure synth-pop single by Daniel Miller's The Normal. She also did interesting versions of Private Life (The Pretenders) and Love Is The Drug (Roxy Music). Tracks 6 to 8 come from Jones' very successful Nightclubbing album. Libertango and Walking In the Rain are witty, accessible pop ballads while the funky Pull Up To The Bumper is controversially sensual. My Jamaican Guy from the innovative Living My Life album is jerky, funky and tribal with stunning vocal arrangements.

Unfortunately Island Life doesn't really succeed in providing the best of Grace Jones. It ought to properly have been a double disc as there are many other classics in her oeuvre that deserve to be on a best of album. Songs like Demolition Man, the title track from Nightclubbing, Rolling Stone, Art Groupie, Nipple To The Bottle and The Apple Stretching are equally worthy of inclusion on a greatest hits compilation. And then there are the great albums that followed her Island period: Bulletproof Heart and Inside Story, but that's another story!