Customer Rating:  
Summary: Grace!
Comment: I remember listening to this LP when I was a teenager and as soon I could, I purchased this on CD as a must have in my collection. The production of this CD is nothing short of greatness. From start to finish, Grace's strong vocals over those hypnotic reggae/island tinged beats make this one of the best LPs of the 80s. The theme here is Nightclubbing and this will definitely have you shaking your bon-bon and bobbing your head. While Pull Up To The Bumper was the big hit, Walking In The Rain, Use Me, and I've Seen That Face Before are winners in their own right. No need to skip any tracks on this one, just pop it in and let it play. And that CD cover is to die for!
Customer Rating:
Summary: AMAZING GRACE
Comment: Sexy Jamaican French accent, Beautiful Glamazon, Warhol worshiped her, people fear her! She kills conversation when she walks into a room.
This is perhaps my favorite cd by Grace though "La Ve En Rose" is my fav song by her. Avant-Garde,Very hip New York underground late seventies (when poseurs were to cool to dance) feel to this. This is a perfect cd for lowridding or a runway fashion show.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Grace Jones at the top of her game!
Comment: This is an excellent example of the 80's disco scene! Love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Never Heard Anything Like This Before
Comment: Grace Jones is a very unique artist-and I used the term art because I cannot think of another word to describe the sound she achieved in Nassau in the early 80's with Sly & Robbie in the recording studio.It's a tough,stripped down sound-based loosley in reggae and caribbean styles but spice up with modern electronics,some light drum programming and very chilly atmospherics.Her menacing title cover of Iggy Pop is just that-creepy with no warmth or sentimentality.The albums basic sound is based summed up in "Walking In The Rain" in which Grace talk sings the lyrics.The hit here is "Pull Up To The Bumper" and that is a catchy contemporary funk tune with an interesting rigid beat."Libertango" is another highlite because it's partically sung in French (a Jones trademark by this time) and the music defies classification.She then tackles "Use Me" and "Demolition Man"-channeling more the aggression in the songs vocally along along with the rhythm section's attack."I've Done It Again" is another crowning achievment-a ballad featuring her best vocals (and that is saying A LOT) and another great poignant,unsentimentalized lyric.Grace Jones is just a musical artist and vocal painter with a lot of flair and a rebellious temperment.In the case of 'Nightclubbing' she is also more then willing to let everyone come along for the ride.And it certainly is a ride worth taking.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Grace Jones
Comment: Following the excellent Warm Leatherette (1980) album, her debut on the Island Records label which saw her rewarded with more commercial acceptance, the outrageous and off-the-wall diva, Grace Jones returned to the recording studios in early 1981 for the unforgetable Nightclubbing project.
Grace Jones second album on Island Records is possibly the greatest of her considerably short recording career and captured Jones at her artistic peak. It features a series of remarkable recordings, encapsulating a multitude of styles such as New Wave, Reggae, Funk, Jazz and Soul. She was again aided by the fabulous production skills of those reggae kings, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Nightclubbing (1981)begins with the curiously compelling, Walking In The Rain, which sets a dark, atmospheric tone for the duration of the project. The hypnotic, trancey arrangements are ignited by a compelling performance from Jones who literally inteprets the lyrics into an interesting spoken interlude. This is one of her most bizarre and off the wall recordings, yet there is something fascinating about this recording despite its blatant weirdness.
Jones then delivers what's possibly her very, very best recording ever - Pull Up To The Bumper. This funk-driven track, complete with spiralling rythms, is totally infectious. The lyrics are scattered with double entendres . In the U.S, Pull Up To The Bumper catapulted to No.5 on the Black music singles whilst shooting to No.2 on the Club Play listings. In the U.K Pull Up To The Bumper fell just outisde the top 50 charts though on its re-issue in 1986 zoomed in at No.12.
Her cover of Bill Withers ,Use Me has a striking musical arrangement and holds a surprisingly strong and assertive vocal performance from Grace. Her unique version of Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing is a total contrast to the original, flowing with strange, synchronized sounds that was way ahead of its time.
The New Wave sounds of Art Groupie is another interesting concoction, but the music steadily steers direction, driving into jazz on the eccentric but undeniably brilliant, I've Seen That Face Before in which Grace delivers both English and French spoken passages.
The disappointment of the album comes in the lacklustre version of Feel Up - the reason being was that she did a far better version in her A One Man Show (1982).
However the album soon gets back on track with the stomping rock track, Demolition Man which is ignited by tough, thrashing musical arrangements and a red blooded, ferocious performance from Jones who conveys a lot of spirit and fire.
The album gradually winds down with a surprise in the jazz-soul number I've Done It Again. This number allows you to appreciate the surprisingly soothing qualities of her voice. Never have I heard her sound so effeminate as she does on this track.
Nightclubbing is an ESSENTIAL Grace Jones album. It raced to No.9 on the black music album charts, whilst gliding into the U.K and U.S Top 40 album Charts. It was also voted album of the year by New Musical Express magazine.
Ian Phillips
June 2006
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