Warm Leatherette

Grace Jones shifted musical direction for the Warm Leatherette (1980) project, divulging into a diverse blend of sounds and styles ranging from Reggae, Rock, New Wave, Funk and Soul. The finished results were some of Jones most compelling recording work.

This album was not least aided by the excellent production skills of Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin as well as the startling muscians behind her with Sly Dunbar on drums, Robbie Shakespeare on bass guirtars, Barry Reynolds and Michael Chung alternating on guirtars, Wally Badarou assuming keyboard duties and Uzziah Thompson jamming away on that pounding percussion. Jones inserts effectively through all eight of these inventive recordings as well as providing her own backing vocals.

The title track Warm Leatherette is an electric affair combining a striking mixture of Rock, New Wave and Reggae. Jones sounds even a little playful on the tracks chrous consisting of thrashing guirtar riffages.

Jones fantastic cover version of The Pretenders, Private Life is given a more definitive and unique working over where Jones seemingly scowls through the duration of each verse whilst then singing gently in that raw (though narrow) vocal style she became accustomed to on her next pair of albums. Private Life, encapsulating Reggae and New Wave vibes, deservedly became one of Jones' biggest hit singles in the U.K where it climbed its way to No.17 on the main U.K Top 40 Charts.

The bouncy, Funk-driven A Rolling Stone (which Jones co-wrote) featured Jones delivering a surprisingly more soulful performance whilst her rocking interpretation of Bryan Ferrys' Love Is The Drug is masterful with Jones delivery strong and assertive.

Jones' cover of an old Motown track The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game is instantly infectious with a sturdy lead by Jones and contagious musical arrangements that makes this one of the projects highlights.

Bulls*** is a little bland and silly and is the only real let down of the album though Jones does manage to slightly redeem it by delivering a spirited performance though of far stronger musical merit was the mellower tone of Breakdown, where Jones delivery is seemingly cradled with mixed emotions shifting from shining self-assurance to points of dispair and moments of vulnreability.

Pars conveys the more breathy, seamless quality in Jones voice that rarely surfaced on a lot of her earlier work at Island Records. The mood is more mellow and atmospheric with Jones becoming immersed into the swirling orchestrations.

Warm Leatherette (1980) alongside her subsequent release Nightclubbing (1981) contains some of her the very best tracks Jones ever recorded in her relatively short and somewhat erratic recording career and incidentally also became one of her biggest sellers. Without doubt, essential Grace Jones to fans of this extraordinary and off-the-wall Diva.

Ian Phillips


amazing!   March 4, 2006
Dario Liker
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

this is the 1st cd that i bought from grace and i was blown away immediately. this album rocks me from it's szart to the end. all songs are great, my fav is breakdown
recomanded to everybody
:-)


Grace goes punk   October 18, 2002
Pieter (Johannesburg)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

This was a bit of a shock when I first heard it way back because I loved her disco albums like Portfolio, Fame and Muse. But I soon learnt to appreciate it, since I liked punk too. She couldn't have done a more radical departure and so also gained critical respectability amongst the rock crowd with this album. Warm Leatherette is a most ominous song [I tracked down the original 7" single by The Normal on Mute Records, with TVOD on the B-side], with its climax line of "let's make LUURVE/before we die," Private Life (written by Chrissie Hynde) rolls along nicely, and The Hunter ... is a chilling ballad. Pars continues a tradition from her earlier work of having one French song on every album, another slow ballad. Every track is different and enjoyable and she deserved the accolades for this album. It's in the songs, her voice and the menacing delivery. It's a classic.