Disco Delivery

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Strange Weather - The Tumultuous Re-Emergence of Grace Jones (Part Two)

Read Part One...

Piecing things together from some of her recent interviews, frustrated with the apparent fruitlessness of her recording endeavours, she claims to have pretty much left the studio completely during the first few years of the decade, with little interest or plan in returning. That would eventually change upon meeting producer/ film composer and British aristocrat, Ivor Guest. She described the meeting in an interview in the Autumn '08 issue of Pop Magazine:

Guest is British Blue blood, the Fourth Viscount Wimborne, and has worked most famously as a film composer. He was introduced to Jones by Philip Treacy, the British milliner whom Jean Paul Goude had suggested as a potential new art director for the corporate engagements and one-off gigs that were keeping her financially afloat in the fallow recording years.
“He came to Philip’s one evening when I was in [London] town. At the time, of course, I didn't want to do music. I had stopped. I think Philip had told Ivor ‘You can come over, but just have dinner and be social and do not talk about music.’ Then the second time he had brought me a track. It just suddenly got very inspiring. Then I went back and looked at the tracks I was doing before. It started this whole chemistry...”

In 2003 it was reported that Guest and Grace were not only a creative team, but reportedly engaged, with the unconventional prospect of Viscountess Grace setting tongues wagging in the British gossip press. What wasn’t quite as widely reported on the musical side was a reunion with Sly & Robbie at Scotland's Tryptich Festival that year in what was billed as a 'comeback performance,' foreshadowing their eventual reunion on record. As well there was also Grace and Ivor's budding creative collaboration, of which the first low-key reports came in 2004 from arranger Philip Sheppard’s website, where he reported working on string sessions for a forthcoming Grace Jones record (which later became the track “Devil In My Life”).. Despite having no apparent record label commitment, in the time between then and the eventual album release, the only major updates seemed to come via Ivor Guest's Myspace and Grace’s Wikipedia page, which was continuously updated with details of the forthcoming record, and disseminated by fans..

Initially titled “Corporate Cannibal,” judging from articles and Wikipedia updates, the album was reported to have been completed along with director Nick Hooker’s video for the then title track in early 2007, with Ivor & Ant Genn as producer, contributions from Guest collaborator and electronic music prodigy Robert Logan and even Brian Eno (who is credited as a production consultant) cited as prime collaborators. The first tangible, though tentative hints of the results came later that year in May, where the first track from the project leaked out. The tracks, two versions of a track called “This” and another called “Volunteer” were previewed on the blog of Leslie Winer, a musician/poet and former model, who has been referred to as the “godmother of trip-hop.” The second leaked version of “This” would prove to the the final version, eventually released on “Hurricane” as “This Is..” however, the remix and the other track, “Volunteer” were suspected to have come from from the shelved “Black Marilyn” project. In her blog entry, Winer claims she and a friend, Joe Galdo (formerly of the disco group Foxy, curiously) had originally written the song, but had apparently been stiffed of credit on Grace's version, in what she called a 'publishing grab.'

Leaks aside, another low-key preview of the upcoming album happened earlier that same month, on her birthday, no less. On May 19th, Grace made a surprise appearance with her son Paulo at the small Sonic Boom Electronic & Experimental Arts Festival in Coventry in support of one of one of her and Guest's main collaborators, Robert Logan. She joined him onstage for a performance of “Nightclubbing,” which, especially in retrospect, seemed to drop a few hints on the sound of the upcoming album. The surprise performance was captured for posterity and posted to YouTube months later:

Grace Jones live with Robert Logan on her birthday
Uploaded by simonhayden

The same year, she made a brief appearance at the 2007 Meltdown Festival (curated that year by Jarvis Cocker), in what one writer called one of the festival's “golden moments” as part of Hal Willner's revue of the Disney Songbook. It wasn't until over a year later, this past June, when Grace was brought back; this time as a headliner, with a full show and a full band, showcasing her hits and forthcoming material, and effectively stealing the show at 2008's Meltdown (curated by Massive Attack), that the return of Grace Jones felt, at long last, real and imminent.

Grace Jones @ Meltdown (18 June 2008): I've Seen That Face Before
Uploaded by boris99gj

Reportedly starting her set some 30 minutes late (which seems quite punctual for Grace), the forthcoming reviews were universally positive, many practically gushing forth with what seemed like long withheld praise. It wasn't long after that the video of Corporate Cannibal, initially captured on digital video by festival goers, proceeded to go viral on the blogosphere, amid the news of her signing with indie label Wall of Sound. With the album having been wisely re-titled “Hurricane,” a title much more worthy of her iconic status, the album, four years in the making, and 19 years in the waiting, finally saw it’s release at the start of November, some five months later.

Opening with an incisive, bold declaration: “this is my voice, my weapon of choice” on “This Is..”, between the record’s darkness and light, compared to the stylistic exercises of her earlier work, the themes on the album are both loftier and more personal, making “Hurricane” as perhaps her most complete statement on record thus far.

The timely lead single “Corporate Cannibal” makes the perfect foil for Grace’s intimidating, predatory persona in conveying it's lyrical indictment of western corporate culture. The results can perhaps be described as Massive Attack-meets-Naomi Klein, with Grace out front. While, on the surface Grace may not be anyone's idea of an astute socio-political commentator, the widescreen, cinematic production, Nick Hooker’s menacingly minimal visual statement, along with concept of the album's cover art, the chocolate Graces on the production line (which seems to bear the closest connection to this track's theme), combined with Grace’s persona as the vehicle, will likely render this one of Grace's most salient musical statements. A subject she claimed she had long been wanting to write about, partly relating to her own experience with the record conglomerates, she discussed the song in a video interview on Myspace and a print interview with The Telegraph:

Talk of current affairs brings us back to Corporate Cannibal, a song that Jones had been "holding in for a long long time. People hear that line 'I'm a man-eating machine' and they think it's about sex but it's not. It's about a monster, a multinational skyscraper munching people in off the street. Its about the way these corporations chew us all up. And now they're all eating each other. There's a meltdown and we have this economic crisis. But I watch the news and I just think: 'Let the dying die'. None of it was ever real, it was all fantasy money…but then they end up taking the real money from the ordinary people and that makes me angry."

On the more personal side, some of the album’s most sublime, revelatory moments come on both the current single, “Williams Blood” and “I’m Crying (Mother’s Tears),” the latter casting Grace in what must be her most vulnerable role on record. While Grace has never been known as a top purveyor of recorded intimacy, she manages to achieve it here. The former, “Williams Blood,“ - a writing collaboration with Wendy & Lisa that apparently dates back to the early 90‘s is one of the standouts on the album. While the intro with it’s unironic dead-serious recitation of “Amazing Grace” may strike some as veering thisclose to total self-parody, the track quickly redeems itself. An epic, autobiographical reflection on her familial identity and independence, complete with churchy chorus in the back, the song vacillates between vulnerable reflection “..When are you gonna be a Jones, like your sister and your brother Noel,” swiftly rising to a tense rage and release “I’ve got the Williams blood in me!..” Apparently Grace initially intended for "Slave To The Rhythm" super-producer Trevor Horn to helm the track, which unfortunately never came to pass. As it stands here, regardless of it’s limitations (there are moments - cleverly covered by the background choir - where the song seems to go a bit beyond Grace’s vocal range), it’s perhaps most representative of the vibe of the album overall. Opening up the personality, without compromising the persona, it's a brilliantly balanced revelation.

The Grace Jones News fan blog, just announced the release of the official video for "Williams' Blood," which is basically a montage of scenes from her Meltdown Festival performance this past June.

Grace Jones - Williams Blood
Uploaded by GraceJonesTV

I have to say, it's a bit of a letdown, given that a video was set to be directed by Chris Cunningham (Madonna, Björk etc..), who had photographed Grace for the November '08 issue of Dazed & Confused, so not sure if that's even still in the works anymore, or if this is a stop-gap measure. In other videos though, there are several live performances of "Williams' Blood" making the rounds on YouTube, including this beautifully staged, and slightly mad performance from Later.. with Jools Holland. It's been posted almost everywhere, but it's just too good to pass up:

Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (live at Later...)
Uploaded by RadioMad

In what was either a curious lapse in judgement, a brilliant bit of viral marketing or perhaps both, shortly after Williams' Blood was announced as a single, a remix by the Belgian duo Aeroplane, upon supposedly being rejected by Grace's camp, quickly went viral on the blogosphere. The resulting outcry evidently convinced the label to officially release it on the 12” release. A stellar mix, retaining the feeling of the original, both it's warmth and intensity, yet shifting it's musical context over a sharp, hypnotic electronic sheen. Of all the officially released mixes, it remains the most effective. While the Aeroplane main mix has made the rounds over the last little while, here's a link to the Aeroplane dub:

Listen: Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (Aeroplane Dub)

Just prior to that, the first mixes to leak were a couple of anonymous mixes – a “Cosmic Jam” and “Electric Dub” released on a bootleg 12” sent out to retailers. It was eventually found out that the versions on the bootleg promo were the rejected Yam Who? remixes. While not quite as excellent as the Aeroplane remix, the Yam Who remixes do a good job of accessibly recasting the track over a more laid-back groove, particularly the more rhythmic Cosmic Jam, which is perhaps my favourite of the two.

Listen: Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (Yam Who? Cosmic Jam)
Listen: Listen: Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (Yam Who? Electric Dub)

"Hurricane," the album's title track is, quite appropriately, the album’s centrepiece of iconography. Reinforcing and drawing upon Grace Jones' Amazonian mythology, it's one of those things that is unequivocally, distinctively Grace. One of the fruits of her and Tricky’s late 90’s collaboration, there are probably few, or no figures in music with the force of personality to personify themselves in such a way ("I am woman, I am son.. I can give birth to she, I can give birth to son"), as a literal force of nature, ("ripping up.. lifting up.. tearing down trees") with any degree of seriousness and pull it off the way Grace does here. Despite having been one of the most unofficially circulated Grace Jones tracks of the past decade, the final version here, with it's much more textured, cohesive production, is a definite improvement on all the previously leaked versions.

Much of the album’s second half sees a reunion with the likes of Sly & Robbie, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, Mikey ‘Mao’ Chung and Wally Badarou, formerly of the Compass Point All-Stars. Their glory days are most obviously revisited in "Well Well Well." Dedicated to her former producer, the late Alex Sadkin and co-written by Jones and Barry Reynolds, one of her most reliable collaborators in the early 80’s, it's one of the most instant tracks on the album. Musically, with those drums at the top, it sounds like the direct descendant of “Private Life,” or at the very least, a lost remnant of the "Warm Leatherette" sessions.

Adorned by the sticky dub grooves and basslines reminiscent of her early 80’s records, underpinned by the cinematic sonic pallette of Ivor Guest & Ant Genn, “Love You To Life” and “Sunset Sunrise” on the album’s final stretch is where the sound of Classic Grace most clearly meets her more current ambitions. The esoteric meanderings of “Love You To Life” and “Sunset Sunrise” (co-written by son Paulo) with Grace cast as conscious earth mother are perhaps some of the best showcases for the warmth and the more serious depth of Grace's voice. It's a side of her voice that, on this album, has had some of it's most credible exposure.

“Devil In My Life,” co-written by long time collaborator Bruce Woolley, and which reportedly dates back to the early 90's perfectly concludes the album. Dominated by Phillip Sheppard's sweeping string arrangements, a highly cinematic production steeped in drama and (self-)destruction (?), it's production following a similar vein as “Storm” from the late 90's, it's perhaps one of the most ambitious, darkly epic productions she's ever put her name to.

After 19 years and the unmitigated major label disaster that was her last album, “Bulletproof Heart” (1989, Capitol) which even Grace herself has deemed the low-point of her catalogue, “Hurricane” has proved to be a pointed, auspicious return to form. The meeting of Grace's sound and image feel, for the first time in years, truly and completely right. Perfectly timed, at a period when pop culture was awash with 1980's references, with fashion and emerging pop figures from the likes of Róisín Murphy, to Santogold, Sam Sparro and others citing her influence, with the album reminding people what made her famous and influential, yet at the same time moving forward with a strong, clear creative vision, Grace and those around her have managed to master that delicate equation of all successful comebacks. True to her nature, instead of taking the more well travelled routes for artists of her age, the dance diva route or that of the oldies songbooks, Grace and those around her have ably managed to not so much regain but retain her relevance. Having never been an artist defined by numbers in the first place, Grace, without any significant commercial compromise, has successfully regained the attention of the same cross-section of the public - the more discerning of pop audiences, as well as the more forward, influential underground audiences that she has always commanded. With 2008 being a year of high profile comebacks in the music industry, while not the loudest, or even the most highly anticipated, Grace's return will likely go down as one of the more well-executed returns of 2008.

While much has been made of the album's similarity in sound to Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" (1998, Virgin), there's nothing on this album that truly feels dated. While much of the album's songs have been kicking around for the better part of the past two decades, and while it's not even Grace's first effort at personal reflection and social commentary (see her 1986 “Inside Story” album for earlier examples of both), when the results are this good and this strong, it hardly matters. Previously covered up by jaunty production (see “Inside Story”), buried beneath awkward attempts at accessibility and trendiness (see “Bulletproof Heart”), or stalled by various professional difficulties in the 90's, “Hurricane” emerges as a clear, complete and articulate expression of what appear to be some of Grace's long held artistic ambitions.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Look for an ascot, a big cigar..

Eartha Kitt - Where Is My Man (1983, Able)
Eartha Kitt - Where Is My Man (Instrumental) (1983, Able)

A little something before I get on with the final part of the Grace Jones post..

As anyone whose payed attention to the news lately must know, the legendary Eartha Kitt passed away this Christmas, at the age of 81. I just borrowed her 1989 autobiography "I'm Still Here" at the Public Library. So far, I'm still only at the beginning, but what a life she packed into those 81 years. Barring any requisite showbiz mythmaking, I don't doubt the obstacles and the desperate circumstances she had to claw out of to get to where she was. While all the tributes were pouring in all over the news, I couldn't help but pull out some of my records and take a listen to her mid-80's disco hits..

I had been introduced to them around three years ago, before YouTube really took off, after downloading a video of her performing "Where Is My Man." After that, I just had to have a copy for myself.. Prior to that, I had seen copies of the singles and her album "I Love Men" (1984, Able) in used shops many times before. It undoubtedly piqued my curiosity, but until that time though, I don't think I ever really had the nerve to pick any of them up..

Equal parts campy and catchy, "Where Is My Man," was the single which helmed her musical comeback at the time. Produced by Jacques Morali, top purveyor of disco camp and quality (see The Village People, The Ritchie Family, Phylicia Allen, Dennis Parker etc.) and credited to Morali, comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, and musician Fred Zarr, this seemed like a second moment for both Eartha and Jacques after their respective dry spells..

As an aside, although there isn't much mention of him, one of the song's co-writers, Fred Zarr, appears to have been one of Jacques Morali's main collaborators around this time, having been credit on almost everything he released around this time.. Given his credits and his apparent synth wizardry, I'd venture to guess that he was a large part of Morali's energized sound in the early/mid 80's. In a little bit of disco trivia, aside from his high profile gigs for Madonna, Whitney Houston, Debbie Gibson etc.. Zarr was also involved as a co-producer in a lot of the somewhat shady Began Cekic records of the early 1980's.

Back to the record though - a song that brings images of the Dallas/Dynasty 1980's and old Hollywood types (Zsa Zsa Gabor and her "love or money - why not both?" philosphy comes to mind), the meeting of Eartha, Vilanch and Morali couldn't have been a better recipe for instant camp. The combination of Vilanch's hilarious lyrics, the production combining old school disco finesse (those string highlights) with those catchy guitar hooks and of course Eartha's performance put it right over the top.. Complete with signature feline growl right at the beginning, she camps it up spectacularly, with a little wink or two, simultaneously paying tribute and poking fun at her image. I suppose they didn't call her the "original material girl" for nothing..

A big leopard printed 80's fantasy dripping with Diamonds and Champagne, the video is a classic, too.

Eartha Kitt - Where Is My Man (Official Video)
Uploaded by earthakitt

My favourite line in the song (not in the video, sadly), has to be in a little section toward the end. Her drawn out phrasing and the little dose of innuendo is classic: "I want.. a billionaire.. with a big, big.... big.. BIG......yacht!.. Who can take me to....Monte Carlo... Saint Tropez... and eventually..... Tiffany!"

Bruce Vilanch himself wrote a great little article in The Huffington Post about his meeting with Eartha and how "Where Is My Man" (and those lyrics, no less) came about:

"In another pocket of his existence, Jacques annually created a score for the Crazy Horse show in Paris. Spectacular showgirls lip-synched the English lyrics as well as spectacular showgirls could to an audience of non-English speakers who had about as much interest in the lyrics as Lorenz Hart might have had in the showgirls. Armed with this knowledge, Jacques asked me to write a lyric to one of his disco tunes. And he had another reason. 'The girrrrl will be lap-sinking to Eartha Kitt. And zo the lyrics need to be special.' Will she be doing an Eartha Kitt impression? 'Don't be bizarre. It is not a drag show. Eartha is sitting on a hill in Connecticut, not working. She will record this one thing.' The song was called 'Where is My Man?' It's about Eartha and her endless search for a soul-mate who never met Bernard Madoff.

I sent the lyrics to Eartha. A day later, she called. 'Brrrrruce, my love. Where have you been since 1952? This is so, so Eartha. But listen, I've never done this disco music before, so you must make a recording of this just the way you want me to phrase it so we get the maximum Eartha out of it.' If I didn't know that Ashton Kutcher had not yet been born, I would assume I was punked. Moi, teach Eartha Kitt how to phrase? Naturally, I fired off the cassette, which prompted another call from Eartha, threatening to sue me into the next world if I ever dressed up like Jim Bailey and did her act. She then went to New York and recorded the song with Jacques. During the session, they called. There was a long dance break on the record and Jacques felt she should cover it with something, something Eartha-esque. I dragged out my best trans-continental Eartha and purred, 'I want a man...with a big...big...big...big.....big....yacht.' Notice I resisted dinghy. And please enter it into the record. They loved the song at the Crazy Horse, Jacques and his business partner Henri Belolo released the song as a single, it became a gigantic dance record all over the world, I got to tip several people lavishly, and suddenly Eartha was Back."

Although it was largely a club hit in the US, it seems like it had hit the pop charts in parts of Europe (Number 5 in Sweden, apparently), judging from the TV appearances she made and from what others have said. Strangely, the single version of the song wasn't included (at least not on my pressing, or any of the ones I've found) of her "I Love Men" album from the following year. It was replaced, instead by a 10 minute Megamix version, which judging from the track timings, makes me wonder if it bears any relation to the Hot Tracks East-West Remix.

I skimmed through Eartha's autobiography for a little something more on this period in her career, and the few morsels that I did find were not exactly positive. As of the publishing of her book, she claimed, in an all too common music industry grievance, that she never got paid properly for the records she made under the auspices of Morali & Belolo:

"...At the end of Timbuktu I found myself scrounging again. An offer here, an offer there - Australia, England, or a few places in America. And no recording contract could be obtained anywhere.

Jacques Morali came along and offered me a contract to make a disco record. He and Bruce Vilanch wrote "Where Is My Man" which became a gold record in Sweden. (I did not know this until I walked into the office of Scorpio Records in Paris where I saw it hanging on the wall of Henri Belolo's office.) The album, I am told, especially 'Where Is My Man?' was a huge success, but no royalties were paid to me in the four years we worked together. I didn't enjoy making the record, but at least I was in the charts again, riding back into popularity, which I am extremely grateful for.." (pgs 345-6)

I suppose, for her, it was a career opportunity she couldn't really refuse at the time.. Whatever her misgivings, "Where Is My Man" and the singles and album that followed have gone down as dance classics, especially within the gay community. For many, "Where Is My Man" will comfortably sit alongside the likes of "Santa Baby" or " C'est Si Bon" as emblematic of her style and appeal as anything else she'd ever done..

To end things off, I had to include this video - the same one that I had downloaded three years ago. Eartha performing "Where Is My Man" on the German program Musikladen, teasing the poor fellow in the front.. Notice how she forgets to 'sing' into her microphone at 1.55 and 1.58

Eartha Kitt - Where Is My Man (Musikladen)
Uploaded by fritz51333

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
DISCO DELIVERY #11: PHYLICIA ALLEN - JOSEPHINE SUPERSTAR (1978, CASABLANCA) (FRIDAY MARCH 17, 2006)
THE FUGITIVE COP (WEDNESDAY MARCH 8, 2006)

LINKS:
EARTHA KITT FAN CLUB
EARTHA KITT @ DISCOGS
EARTHA KITT - WHERE IS MY MAN 12'' @ DISCOGS
EARTHA KITT - WHERE IS MY MAN @ WIKIPEDIA
QUEERTY - EARTHA KITT: HERE'S TO A LIFE (BY JAPHY GRANT) (MONDAY DECEMBER 29. 2008)
THE HUFFINGTON POST - EARTHA KITT: MY ENCOUNTER WITH A LEGEND (BY BRUCE VILANCH) (FRIDAY DECEMBER 26, 2008)
GUARDIAN - OBITUARY: EARTHA KITT (BY ADRIAN JACK) (FRIDAY DECEMBER 26, 2008)
BBC NEWS - OBITUARY: EARTHA KITT (THURSDAY DECEMBER 25, 2008)
PHILADELPHIA CITYPAPER - 20 QUESTIONS: EARTHA KITT (BY A.D. AMOROSI) (FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 6, 1997)

CATEGORIES: MINI DELIVERIES, IN MEMORIAM.., VISUAL DISCO, DISCO NEWS

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Strange Weather - The Tumultuous Re-Emergence of Grace Jones (Part One)

Of all the things Grace Jones is infamous for, her penchant for lateness is about as notorious as her temper. As anyone who has followed Grace for any significant length of time might know it’s not unknown for the lady to be, as I've been told, hours late for her own shows yet still manage to win over the crowd by the end of it. It’s perhaps the sort of thing which led her former collaborator and paramour, Jean-Paul Goude to remark:

“Grace likes to party. In the end I lost her to it. She won’t work. She’ll show up whenever she feels like it. She has an entourage that encourages it…. Ironically, the fact that she’s fucked up her career only proves how genuine she really is.”

Goude’s remarks may partly explain why it has taken nearly 20 years for her to show up with her latest album, “Hurricane” (2008, Wall Of Sound). With all the false starts and delays that have surrounded the release of a new Grace Jones album these past 19 years, this is practically Grace’s own “Chinese Democracy,” except of course, Grace’s hype is much less overwhelming, and the reception much more positive and rightfully so. “Hurricane” may not replace “Nightclubbing” (1981, Island) at the top of critics’ lists, but it will probably go down as one of the finest albums of her career. For a woman who, depending on whichever birth date (1948 or 1952) you believe, is at or nearing 60, pulling off a sound like the one she has on this album, at her age and after such a lengthy absence, seems rightly triumphant. For a survivor of the disco era, it’s certainly not the first time she’s had to pull this off. A model-turned-recording artist (not always a guaranteed career move, just ask Naomi) with an undeniable presence and personality, she also had the unconventional (some have even said limited) voice to match, which seemed to be both an advantage and a challenge. For her then producer Tom Moulton who was initially reluctant to take the job and who had once remarked that her voice reminded him of Bela Lugosi, it was perhaps more of the latter.. Yet, as much of a disco icon as she was, after 1979 whatever disco cachet she carried would have likely meant next to nothing; contemporaries like Sylvester, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor had it hard enough, and even then, never quite eclipsed their disco success. If it weren’t for the vision of Island founder Chris Blackwell and his idea of pairing Grace with the team of Sly & Robbie, Alex Sadkin and The Compass Point All-Stars, Grace Jones the singer seemed destined to become yet another casualty of the times. The release of “Warm Leatherette” (1980, Island), however, proved to be the turning point. With it and the three albums that followed, the true potential of her distinctive voice, personality and presence were harnessed and showcased like never before. Emerging more artistically distinctive and relevant than ever, it was possibly the most successful reinvention of a disco act ever executed.

On a more personal note, and at the risk of sounding a tad fan-boyish, I’d have to say that discovering Grace Jones in my mid teens is probably one of those things that saved my life. Looking at her and listening to her felt like a portal to another place, another realm of possibility - into an urbane world of fashion, music, art and individuality that couldn’t have been further removed from the insipid oil money of the Calgary suburbs, the juvenile teenage punk of my peers, or the vulnerability of those early teenage years. While others may have found her cold, unrestrained gender ambiguity intimidating and threatening, to me there was something about her that felt incredibly, even radically liberating and inspiring at the time. I suppose the seemingly innate predilection of gay men toward iconic female diva figures (be them triumphant, tragic or both) likely goes a long way in explaining why myself and legions of gay men before me were drawn to her.. Cornering Grace's appeal among gay audiences and her symbolic stature in disco culture, the late Mel Cheren nailed it down pretty well in his autobiography (pgs 282-3):

"If there is anyone who, for me, epitomized the untamable, anything-goes atmosphere of those last disco days before AIDS, it was Grace Jones.... Although not a really a singer, at least not at first, she somehow convinced people to take a chance. Her first single, 'That's The Trouble,' quickly climbed the charts in the U.S. and became a smash. And Grace just as quickly became an icon for gay men... One time, early in her career, he [Tom Moulton] asked her about her direction, 'I want to be a star, darling,' she growled, which was honest enough. But she wanted stardom on her own terms, in a way that constantly raised eyebrows. People were shocked when she physically attacked London TV host Russell Harty on the air... They were shocked again when she posed nude in Hustler, entangled with another woman over the banner 'I have a lot of man in me.' They were shocked when she was simply being Grace... I adored her, but then, so did most gay men. It's hard to put your finger on exactly why. Perhaps because she, like we, defied convention at every turn. Perhaps because she rose above her roots. Because she turned the tables on society, using it's own techniques and methods to transform herself into a star. Whatever the reason, when someone asks me what or who best epitomizes those wild, wacky, sexy, wonderful days, I usually think of those animal eyes, that growl and say, if you want to know what it was like, look at Grace.”

If I recall correctly, my first exposure to Grace Jones came through a little review in XY Magazine (a gay teen magazine which I used to devour in those days) for the then recently released "Private Life: Compass Point Sessions" (1998, Island/PolyGram) 2 CD set. It was enough to get me to borrow a copy from the public library. Listening to the post-disco groove fused with cold renderings of Reggae and New Wave and just the overall clash of madness and elegance, it was nothing like I’d ever heard before - not even the Reggae I used to hear Saturday afternoons on the local University radio station, which came close but still didn't quite cut it. Getting past my initial perplexion after a few listens, I was hooked. It was one of those things that rarely left my CD player in those days and still remains a frequent player for me today. A year after I'd bought it, those discs were pretty well scratched up and worn out..

If my appreciation wasn’t solidified by then, it was irreversibly so by the time I saw her One Man Show on video. I remember special ordering the VHS from the downtown HMV here in Calgary and really making an event of the day it finally came in. Skipping class one Friday afternoon in November '99 just to go pick it up, upon taking it home and playing it, I was transfixed. While her visual impact was certainly not lost on me before, One Man Show seemed to immortalize it on another level altogether. Seeing her perform “Warm Leatherette,” impeccably staged, contemptibly spitting out the song's lyrics, looking for all the world like the coldest, most ferocious, Amazonian bitch to ever live pretty much sealed it for me. At the time, for most of the gay guys I had come across, their default diva seemed to be Madonna, but for me, from that moment on, Grace was it.

Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette (from 'A One Man Show')
Uploaded by Grace Jones Brasil

I suppose, given the cold, aggressive image she has, Grace has always been something of an enigma. Having discovered her in the late 90’s during what will probably go down as her ‘wilderness years,' her enigmatic persona seemed that much more magnified at the time. For someone so distinctive, she seemed practically off the map for much of that time, having ‘gone underground,’ as she puts it. Aside from Compass Point Sessions, which seems to have gone a long way into reintroducing her iconic back catalogue to the public, the 90’s and early 2000’s seemed to be a mess of speculation, shelved album projects, sporadic single releases, botched deals, minor movie roles, punctuated by the occasional high profile appearance now and then. Although still performing quite regularly (three times a month, she claimed in 2000), little was reported in the press, aside from the occasional bout of air/train rage, rumours about her drug habits, gossip inches about her love life and occasional festival or fashion show appearance. Amidst all of that however, talk of a new Grace Jones album, although relatively low-key, never really seemed to die.

A return to the Island label, her 1993 single, the #1 Billboard Club Hit “Sex Drive” (a cover of Industrial duo Sheep on Drugs' “Track X”) produced by Mark Pistel and Philip Steir, two-thirds of activist rap/industrial group Consolidated was a blistering, snarling return to form, especially after her largely disappointing major label liason in the late 80's. Notably, the B-side of “Sex Drive,” “Typical Male,” a cover of a track which Consolidated originally did themselves, was my personal favourite of the two tracks. A searing feminist indictment of patriarchy, who better to deliver such a statement than one of the most feared women in pop culture, herself? Needless to say, Grace's version, backed with an aggressive aural clash of beats and samples and fronted by her combative delivery, was far more effective than Consolidated's original. Although this may have come some fifteen years earlier, it is perhaps the most direct precursor to the direction she would take, using her persona as a vehicle for social commentary, upon her re-emergence earlier this year with “Corporate Cannibal.”

Listen: Grace Jones - Typical Male (1993, Island Red Label)

Despite the positive reception to the "Sex Drive" single, the 1994 album project that was to supposed to follow, said to have been entitled “Black Marilyn” would eventually end up on the shelf. Grace briefly spoke about it in her interview from the December 2008 issue of Mojo Magazine:

“We had the whole album. Consolidated came in and ended up producing the whole record and I couldn't stand listening to it. I ended up crying. I just got like ‘Whaaaaaa!’ Then I started taking drugs. I think I was mixing everything. Just whatever I could find to kill the pain. Downers and uppers and whatever was new on the market.”

After the aborted “Black Marilyn” project, she seemed set to return once again with her much touted collaboration with Tricky and his Durban Poison label, reported in 1996 and plugged further a couple of years later by Brian Chin for his liner notes on the Compass Point Sessions set. Yet by the end of the 90’s that collaboration seems to have effectively collapsed amid rumours of creative differences and irreconcilable demands. To date, the only track to ever surface of the three or four that they had apparently finished (Grace once said three, Tricky reportedly alleged four) from their sessions was “Hurricane”. Apparently re-recorded and included as the title track for her current album, at the time, alternatively titled “Cradle To The Grave” by some, it ended up leaking in the late 90's via a bootleg white label with two versions said to have been remixed by DJ Emily, which are still widely available on the Internet. Tricky himself had also previewed another version – one which he had remixed himself on a radio show that he hosted in September 1999.. Given Tricky's involvement in this mix, of all the versions to have surfaced, this is probably the closest to the final version recorded by Grace and Tricky.

Listen: Grace Jones - Hurricane (Cradle To The Grave) (Tricky Remix) (Unreleased)
Listen: Grace Jones - Hurricane (Cradle To The Grave) (White Label Mix 1)

Despite the apparent demise of her partnership with Tricky, there still seems to have been some resurgent interest at the turn of the millennium - a collaboration with Lil’ Kim - “Revolution” from her album ”Notorious K.I.M” (2000, Atlantic), a remix of “Pull Up To The Bumper” by Funkstar De Luxe (top 5 on the Billboard Club Charts in November 2000). Of all the one offs she did during this time, her finest would have to have been “Storm” from the soundtrack of the ill-received 1998 Avengers movie. Co-credited to frequent collaborator Bruce Wooley's Radio Science Orchestra and produced by Marius De Vries (U2, Madonna, Björk); with it's epic orchestration and Grace's larger-than-life cinematic presence, "Storm" sounded like the the Bond theme that she had never been given. With reports surfacing of yet another planned album project said to be entitled (appropriately enough) "Force Of Nature,” that track effectively seemed like an exciting preview for things to come..

Listen: Grace Jones & The Radio Science Orchestra - Storm (1998, Atlantic)

Having signed a record deal in 2000 with an emerging web-based company, MCY.com (with planned distribution by EMI) - an early proponent of digital music distribution and one of the many short lived, ill-fated dot-com enterprises of the time, things seemed to be looking hopeful once again. A prominent press interview with The Independent (her first major press interview in 8 years, they claimed) and a less high profile one the year before for Australian webzine Seven Magazine both gave hints to an imminent album release, with the latter interview ambitiously citing the likes of Roni Size, Stevie Wonder, and P. Diddy (or Puff Daddy, as he was known then) as prospective collaborators. Around mid-2001, there were also some reports mentioning that "Storm" producer, Marius De Vries had been enlisted as a co-producer on the project. Not long after however, whatever hopes of an imminent album release seemed to be dashed with the project appearing to be all but scrapped, or as MCY reps claimed ‘indefinitely on hold.’ It would be another three years before anything more was heard from Grace on the studio front..

To be continued in Part Two..

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
DEAR SANTA.. (WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 24, 2008)
THE RETURN OF GRACE JONES? (FRIDAY JUNE 20, 2008)
RÓISÍN MURPHY AND SOME OTHER NEWER SHIT THAT GETS ME ALL EXCITED.. (THURSDAY APRIL 17, 2008)
NO HITTIN' BELOW THE BELT.. (THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2006)
DISCO REISSUES UPDATE (MARCH 17TH - APRIL 12TH (THURSDAY MARCH 16, 2006)

LINKS:
THE WORLD OF GRACE JONES
GRACE JONES - OFFICIAL MYSPACE
YAHOO! MUSIC GROUPS - GRACE JONES MAILING LIST
THE BLITZ KIDS - GRACE JONES
GRACE JONES @ WIKIPEDIA
GRACE JONES @ DISCOGS
GRACE JONES HOMEPAGE
THE INDEPENDENT - GRACE IN FAVOUR (MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 2000)
BILLBOARD BULLETIN - GRACE JONES TO MCY (TAKEN FROM ALLBUSINESS.COM) (TUESDAY JUNE 20, 2000)
SEVEN MAGAZINE - FEATURE: GRACE JONES (BY MICHAEL DANIELS) (APRIL 1999)
ALT.GOSSIP.CELEBRITIES - CYBERSLEAZE (11/03) (NOVEMBER 5, 1998)
UNOFFICIAL TRICKY FAN PAGE - COLLABORATIONS DISCOGRAPHY

CATEGORIES: ARTICLES & RAMBLINGS, SIDE DELIVERIES, VISUAL DISCO, DISCO NEWS

Dear Santa...

Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer in acknowledging this Christmas season. I've got some re-uploads and at least one new Disco Delivery that I want to post before the end of the year. Also, I've got a little two part feature on Grace Jones that's been a long time coming.

Anyway, instead of skipping it altogether this year, hopefully you enjoy this video of the Weather Girls' "Dear Santa (Bring Me A Man This Christmas)" that I was sent via Facebook.. Gotta love these ladies - go on and blow, Miss Izora (rest in peace).. If nothing else, Paul Jabara (rest in peace) was a camp genius!

And while we're on the subject, here's Grace Jones performance from Pee Wee Herman's deliciously twisted 1988 Christmas Special..

Anyway, with that, Merry Christmas everyone..

Saturday, November 15, 2008

First we shake, then we break..

Listen:
Chic - Hangin' (1982, Atlantic)

While we're on the subject of Chic, I thought I might as well post the audio and video for "Hangin' " which I've always thought was one of the best singles from their latter period in the 1980's. Although I'd say "Take It Off" (1981, Atlantic) was Chic's best album of the 80's, I always thought this song and the "Tongue In Chic" (1982, Atlantic) album which it came from really showed them hitting their stride with their updated sound.. With a killer hook, horns centre stage and the cool, yet lively vocals from Bernard and the ladies; with Chic giving off just a little more 'street' and still maintaing their dance-appeal, this is definitely Chic at their funkiest. If I had my way, this would have been to the early 80's what "Le Freak" was to the late 70's.

As far as the video goes, I never in a million years expected to find one, but one day while poking around on YouTube, there it was.

Chic - Hangin'
Uploaded by PaulJD2006
Posted by the video's director himself, New York filmmaker and Emmy Award winning editor Paul Dougherty, the video is as much of a gem as the song is. With the Chic guys playing DJ, Luci and Alfa looking fly on the dancefloor, along with kids, club scenes, art groupies, and a little requisite pop-locking; it feels like a time capsule of New York and of Chic themselves in the early 80's. Director Paul Dougherty elaborates on the video in the directors notes from his YouTube page:

Though a little overwhelmed by this gig, I'm proud and lucky to have featured an early incarnation of hip-hop in this November 1982 production. I might add to this description but for now I'll just say that I met some of the players in the cast at New York's Fun Gallery. This scene was a hotbed of graffiti and hip-hop and because it was in the East Village, there was a lot a crossover, art meets the street, etc. There I met the guy I cast as the messenger, the legendary Kano and his young pal "On" aka On-ski (doing the ET dance in the tan outfit and ski hat). Also noteworthy is the disco setting which was the storied Roxy (roller-rink & disco) where c/o the nights that Kool Lady Blue organized there, white folks got some of their earliest exposure to hip-hop Chic was a pleasure to work with. I wish I could have hit one out of the park for them on this video but at least it's a fun time capsule that further ties them to the hip-hop sound they helped invent..

Whatever his reservations, as it is, this looks like one of the best visual documents of Chic's classic lineup out there, in one of the more overlooked phases of their career, no less. Aside from this video, Dougherty had directed or edited videos for the likes of Public Image Limited, Afrika Bambaataa, Whodini and The Beastie Boys, some of whch are listed on his YouTube playlists as well as his own website. Like Dougherty had alluded to at the end of his directors notes, this is one of those songs (and videos) in Chic's catalogue which perfectly situated them in between their disco heritage and the hip-hop movement which they, in part, had influenced. One of their underrated classics, in my opinion. In a little bit of side trivia: "Hangin'" was also covered in 1990 by the 'other guy' in Wham!, Andrew Ridgeley for his first and only solo album, "Son Of Albert" (1990, Epic), which I haven't heard, though I'm not expecting much. To add one more video treat before I finish off this post, evidently there was also a video for "Give Me The Lovin," one of the singles from their final album of the 80's (and witht heir classic lineup), Believer" (1983, Atlantic). Looking at this video, it seems obvious that the end was near, since Chic themselves aren't even in this one, having been stood-in for by a bunch of kids playing dress-up. One of the comments on YouTube suggests that the kids were a bit of a trend at the time, though given the waning status of the group, a fairly convenient one, it seems. That aside, still a cute little video.

Chic - Give Me The Lovin'
Uploaded by TheRedCarChannel

PURCHASE:

CHIC - REAL PEOPLE/TONGUE IN CHIC CD
AMAZON.COM | AMAZON.CO.UK | DUSTY GROOVE | CD UNIVERSE

CHIC - BELIEVER CD
AMAZON.COM | AMAZON.CO.UK | CD UNIVERSE

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
CHIC & JOHNNY MATHIS COLLABORATIONS TO FINALLY BE RELEASED? (TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2008)
UPCOMING SISTER SLEDGE REISSUES (FRIDAY AUGUST 10, 2007)
BBC RADIO 2 - THE RECORD PRODUCERS: NILE RODGERS (SATURDAY JANUARY 6, 2007)
UPCOMING REISSUES & RELEASES (CHIC AND MORE!): (DECEMBER 1, 2006 - JANUARY 22, 2007) (SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2006)
UPCOMING REISSUES & RELEASES (APRIL 25 - MAY 30) (FRIDAY APRIL 21, 2006)
DISCO DELIVERY #2: NORMA JEAN WRIGHT - NORMA JEAN (1978, BEARSVILLE) (SATURDAY JANUARY 14, 2006)

LINKS:
CHIC TRIBUTE
CHIC @ DISCOGS
CHIC - REAL PEOPLE/TONGUE IN CHIC CD REVIEW @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
ALL MUSIC GUIDE: CHIC - TONGUE IN CHIC (REVIEW)
ALL MUSIC GUIDE: CHIC - BELIEVER (REVIEW)
PAUL DOUGHERTY - TV NOOK
PAUL DOUGHERTY ON YOUTUBE
ROXY NYC @ WIKIPEDIA
THE ROXY, NYC @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
THE ROXY, NEW YORK @ HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT

CATEGORIES: MINI DELIVERIES, VISUAL DISCO

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Chic & Johnny Mathis collaborations to finally be released?

Updated 02/03/09

Those familiar with Chic and Nile and Bernard's more obscure productions are likely familiar with the unreleased album they had produced for Johnny Mathis in 1981, entitled "I Love My Lady." Even moreso than the reported Aretha Franklin sessions, which it seems were aborted even before they had began, this album, apparently an actual finished project, has become the undisputed holy grail of Chic Organization productions. Given that people in the Chic camp like Rob Sabino, the late Tony Thompson and Nile Rodgers himself have undyingly vouched for it's excellence, no one seems to have an official explanation as to why it continues to remain unreleased. It's been suspected that Chic's production was a much too radical change in direction for Mathis. In Daryl Easlea's excellent book, "Everybody Dance: Chic & The Politics of Disco," there are a few pages dedicated to the unreleased Mathis album. At the time, Mathis had just come off a very successful collaboration with Deniece Williams, with Rodgers and Edwards apparently drawing inspiration from the aftermath of his comeback. In Easlea's book Nile Rodgers explained the inspiration and his theory as to why the album was pulled:

"He had been this big superstar, then his light dimmed a little, and then he came back after that massive record with Deniece Williams. His popularity rekindled, he went on this reckless tear - partying and hanging out; it really frightened the people closest to him. When we did this record, it was so exciting and youth oriented. All his people went 'oh my god.'... The Johnny Mathis record to me sounded like Al Jarreau meets Chic. It didn't sound like Johnny Mathis to me - it was even more edgy than I'd ever heard him.. That's why it was pulled. His audience at the time was like middle-aged women who would go out to Vegas, and this was pushing his envelope." (pgs. 191-2)

Apparently the shelving of the album project didn't stop Mathis from breaking out somewhat. The apparent 'reckless tear,' that Rodgers talks about possibly gives some context to him coming out as a gay man the following year..

However, as elusive as the album is, apparently there are some out there with copies of the recordings, one of them being Ralph Tee of Jazz FM in the UK, who recently played the title track on his radio show this past Sunday (November 9th). I recently came across a post on the discomusic.com forums by a mystery poster from the UK who had put up a link to a rip of the radio stream. Listen for yourselves..

Johnny Mathis - I Love My Lady (unreleased) (link updated)

At the end of the clip, Ralph Tee says that this and two more tracks from Chic's Johnny Mathis album will be given an official release on a Chic box set, supposedly planned for next year. I haven't been able to find any further details so far, so hopefully those will be forthcoming...

As it is though, this track sounds like one of the finest things Chic did in the 80's, like a slightly Brazilian flavoured, sparer version of the classic Chic sound.. Despite the breezy, laid-back arrangement, the Chic groove and elegance is unmistakable. While the 80's had seen Chic moving with the times, ditching the ever present Chic strings (which appear here in their understated spendour) in favour of synths, horns and a generally more funk-centred sound; this track instead echoes both the classic Chic disco sound of the 70's and some of their more adventurous acoustic efforts in the 80s ("You Can't Do It Alone," "Tavern On The Green" and some of the other tracks off the Soup For One Soundtrack to name some examples). Although I can't help but wonder how this could have sounded with a full "I Want Your Love" or "Upside Down" type of treatment, this song occupies a wonderful middle ground between the two acts. With Johnny Mathis adopting a bit of Chic's urbane edge, and at the same time giving the Chic Organization an opportunity to further expand, experiment and redefine their sound in the post-disco landscape, this is ultimately a welcome revelation. Hopefully we'll be hearing more soon..

UPDATE 02/03/09: And apparently we are hearing more.. Courtesy of the Chic Tribute site, another track, entitled "Sing" has just leaked. Unfortunately it's only a one minute snippet this time, but a pretty promising one nonetheless.. Go to the Chic Tribute News page to hear the sample.

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
BBC RADIO 2 - THE RECORD PRODUCERS: NILE RODGERS (SATURDAY JANUARY 6, 2007)
DISCO DELIVERY #2: NORMA JEAN WRIGHT - NORMA JEAN (1978, BEARSVILLE) (SATURDAY JANUARY 14, 2006)
UPCOMING SISTER SLEDGE REISSUES (FRIDAY AUGUST 10, 2007)
UPCOMING REISSUES & RELEASES (CHIC AND MORE!): (DECEMBER 1, 2006 - JANUARY 22, 2007) (SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2006)
UPCOMING REISSUES & RELEASES (APRIL 25 - MAY 30) (FRIDAY APRIL 21, 2006)

LINKS:
JOHNNY MATHIS - I LOVE MY LADY @ CHIC TRIBUTE
CHIC TRIBUTE NEWS: NEW MATHIS TRACK (FEBRUARY 2, 2009)
DARYL EASLEA INTERVIEW @ CHIC TRIBUTE
TONY THOMPSON - THE MAN WHO PUT THE BACKBONE IN CHIC (ECHOES MAGAZINE INTERVIEW) @ CHIC TRIBUTE
EVERYBODY DANCE: CHIC & THE POLITICS OF DISCO (BY DARYL EASLEA) @ AMAZON.CO.UK | AMAZON.COM
CHIC @ ALL MUSIC GUIDE
CHIC @ DISCO-DISCO
CHIC @ DISCOGS

CATEGORIES: DISCO NEWS, MINI DELIVERIES

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Fascination Movement v. 0.5 (beta)

Earlier in the year, I did a little post about The Fascination Movement's awesome remix of Starcluster's Smoke & Mirrors (feat. Marc Almond). Fascination Movement member and fellow blogger Sean Wolcott of The Red Room (an awesome blog, btw) recently sent me a little teaser of their upcoming debut EP, "0.5," which is due for release in early December on the Aube label. From what I've heard so far, the EP as well as the single, "Radio" are nothing less than brilliant.. Melancholy vocals + shiny, supple synth textures = awesome!

The Fascination Movement - Radio
Uploaded by fascinationmovement

If you like Moroder, New Order, OMD, or even Cut Copy this'll likely be right up your alley.. There's a genuine feeling and appreciation for the sound that I love about this, which, despite the 80's influences, give it a lasting sort of freshness and currency.. A nice change from the sort of ironic pastiche that used to pass for this sort of thing.

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
FEELING FASCINATION (MONDAY JANUARY 14, 2008)
BBC RADIO 2: CLASSIC SINGLES - I FEEL LOVE (SUNDAY DECEMBER 30, 2007)
DISCO DELIVERY #40: MUNICH MACHINE - A WHITER SHADE OF PALE (1978, CASABLANCA) (SUNDAY APRIL 29, 2007)
DISCO DELIVERY #14: SUZI LANE - OOH LA LA (1979, ELEKTRA) (SATURDAY APRIL 8, 2006)
DISCO DELIVERY #5: GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1977, OASIS/CASABLANCA) (FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2006)

LINKS:
MYSPACE - THE FASCINATION MOVEMENT
THE FASCINATION MOVEMENT @ DISCOGS
MYSPACE - AUBE RECORDS
THE RED ROOM

CATEGORIES: NUDISCO

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