CD - Grace Jones - Hurricane

Reviews, By PJM1, 31st October, 2008

Oh my. It’s good to have someone like Grace Jones in the world. Not only has she earned the reputation as the biggest, scariest diva on the planet, but she also managed to produce some of the most iconic imagery and music of the seventies and eighties.

Take a listen to Island Life, her essential singles collection from 1985, if you don’t believe me. Pull Up To the Bumper is still one of the sexiest tracks ever recorded. And Warm Leatherette. And while her reputation for walking out on TV shows (when she is not refusing to go on them at all without a sack over her head – true) or assaulting the host (the BBC’s Russell Harty back in 1981) then she is spellbinding audiences with her awesome stage presence.

This lady doesn’t need beautiful boys dancing on either side of her. If you like your musical icons to be truly mysterious and strange, then this is the lady for you.

So what does a new album from her (the first in almost two decades) offer the world? Jones has assembled a real eclectic mix of producers for this album. But rather than being patchily varied Hurricane is really quite beautiful. There is a real classy fusion of reggae, tango and her trademark posturing. And then there is that voice that seems to come from Planet Desire. From the stunning opener, This Is to Corporate Cannibal (“Pleased to meet you, pleased to have you on my plate” she growls), there is plenty of drama along the way to keep any gay boy, gay girl or fashionista satisfied. Grace Jones is the mistress of both style and substance. The accompanying video to the single is as groundbreaking as ever. Hard to believe that this woman is now 60.

Jones recently appeared at the Meltdown Festival on London’s South Bank, and literally blew the audience away, to every critics’ surprise. Rumours abound of her hitting these shores next year, including one leak that says it could be as early as January. Let’s hope so. Welcome back Ms. Jones.

Watch the video for Corporate Cannibal here:

Grace Jones – Hurricane is out November 3, 2008 through Wall Of Sound/Liberator Music.

We have ten copies of the album to give away to Same Same members. Click here to enter.