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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A skimpy collection, November 19, 2003
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!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GRACE JONES AT HER BEST!, September 8, 2000
Grace Jones relativley short music career never really hit the heights of success it often deserved. Her first three disco albums, PORTFOLIO (1977), FAME (1978) and MUSE (1979) were fairly forgetable although they did spawn at least one memroable track per album - all of which make there way onto this definitive compilation of Grace Jones work. LA VIE EN ROSE, I NEED A MAN and DO OR DIE had that early Grace Jones disco sound which was quickly abandoned in 1980 prior to the release of one of her very best albums, WARM LEATHERETTE, which succesfully combined the sounds of New Wave, reggae, rock and funk. From the album was PRIVATE LIFE (a top 20 success in the U.K) which also is rightly included on this album as this by far is one of her greatest recordings. This condensed compilation also features tracks such as MY JAMACIAN GUY (LIVING MY LIFE;1982), WALKING IN THE RAIN (NIGHTCLUBBING;1981), SLAVE TO THE RYTHM (SLAVE TO THE RYTHM;1985) and possibly her very best recording,PULL UP TO THE BUMPER (NIGHTCLUBBING;1981). This compilation coincided with her departure from Island Records for a deal with EMI which did not bring her any of the high success she enjoyed with her time at Island.Often strange but compelling album from an equally extraordinary artist.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of Grace, April 21, 2001
An album which closes off her Island Records chapter. This album shows the extreme change in music styles from her debut Disco album PORTFOLIO, 1977 through to her new age album SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM, 1985. Although Grace Jones wasn't exactly a money racker for her record companies or a chart topper, this compilation proves that each of her albums has at least one memorable smash hit. Tracks on this album include the original 12" version of La Vie En Rose, and "radio edited" versions of I Need A Man, Do or Die and Pull Up To The Bumper. I think one of the smarter moves was placing the "Thorngren Remix" of Love Is The Drug (which is not noticeable or credited in the liner notes) on this compilation, the reason being is that in my opinion, I believe the cover version which appeared on the Warm Leatherette, 1980 album sounds too much like the original Roxy Music version. The Best of Grace Jones can be found all on one cd admittedly, though this truely is a blessing to those who admire Grace Jones, but not enough to collect all of her albums for each hit she produced.
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