Customer Rating: 
Summary: Nice But Skimpy Collection
Comment: 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 though blatantly weird and off-the-wall artist.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best of Jones
Comment: Legendary for her looks, attitude and amazing talents. Grace Jones took the universe by storm in 1977 with her musical debut "Portfolio" which included her gold selling single "La Vie En Rose." After three disco albums she changed her image with a little help from her then-husband Jean Paul Goude. The first result came in 1980, titled "Warm Leatherette" and it was a hit. Finally, Grace got the acclaim that she so richly deserved. Her amazing covers hit right between the eyes, "Private Life" is a perfect odd couple tune that Grace mastered with full capability and her rendition of the Normals "Warm Leatherette" was something comepletely new. A great addition to this "Best of" CD is the "Thorngren Remix" of "Love Is the Drug" which has not been available elsewhere. Her perhaps biggest hit album came in 1981, titled "Nightclubbing." A compilation of various of covers, everything from David Bowie to Sting. Despite Grace's amazing talent as an inpreter, her own stuff was just as stunning, an example of this can be heard in her biggest chart success "Pull Up to the Bumper." The third Sly and Robbie collaboration arrived in 1983 dubbed "Living My Life," which turned out to be last collaboration bewteen the rhythm couple and Grace. This time around, Grace was fully involved with everything; writing and even eventually co-producing each song on the album. "Living My Life" stapled Grace as a fully grown-up star; "My Jamaican Guy" is closer to Reggae than any other of her previous work and the 7" single of "Living My Life" helped Grace to become the ultimate star of music videos. After three years of playing movie parts, Grace and Trevor Horn put together a biography titled "Slave to the Rhythm" which still sounds as freash as it did back then. Legendary for her looks, attitude and amazing talents.
Customer Rating:
Summary: PLEASANT
Comment: As compilation albums go, this is a good offering. I'm not a big Grace Jones fan, and mainly bought this album for the two songs that bookend it - 'La Vie En Rose' and 'Slave To The Rhythm', two excellent songs. In between there is some vintage disco floor filler stuff, and the tongue-in-cheek 'Pull Up To The Bumper'. In summary, a worthy addition to any CD collection
Customer Rating:
Summary: Huh? wha? Confused ?
Comment: Even though this compilation does cover some of Grace Jones' career it lacks lots of it ass well. Her early disco years were exiting, fun and a bit quirky, she scored her first #1 club hit with her early theme song I Need A Man. Three tracks are included from her disco era (Portfolio 1977) I Need a Man, La Vie En Rose (Fame 1978) Do or Die. The last mentioned song is on this compilation yes, but it's cut short and changed for some reason I can't figure out. 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A skimpy collection
Comment: 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!
