Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette

Amazing New Direction for Grace Jones

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R296E92HT5XD92 My name is Jeremy Gloff. I am a musician (check me out on Amazon!) and retro music enthusiast. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out my Amazon user profile to check out my other reviews. I am always up for making new friends and discussing the music I love!!! (featuring a guest appearance by my friend Peter Botti, who is a huge Grace Jones fanatic.) October 30, 2008

One of the best albums of 1980

What great albums were released in 1980? This and maybe Pink Floyd's The Wall (and that isn't even the best of Pink Floyd).

This CD is 46 minutes long (I have seen reports that the original LP and CD were shorter, but I don't think that is true). The sound quality is very good to excellent.

Before this, Grace Jones was doing disco and lavish pop songs. (Unlike what someone said, her first 3 albums have been available on CD). These did not suit her voice well at all and were not very successful.....except amoung the Gay community where she became known as the Queen of the Gay Discos.

On Warm Leatherette, Grace transforms to a electronica/new wave style. At the time it was released, it was underground, edgy and subversive. It was at the forefront of the video rock era, being supported with music videos on "underground" TV programs, about a year before MTV was launched. I think that the music still holds up today.

She covers a lot of hits from the day. Her versions are much better than the orignals, and the originals are pretty good. Her version of Love Is A Drug is much better than Roxy Music, which could get to be tedious. She also greatly improves on Tom Petty's Breakout. I am even amazed that she could make Private Life into an even better song than what the Pretenders did with it.

This CD was coproduced by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare who were big in the raggae scene, along with Chris Blackwell who cofounded Virgin and was big in Progressive and early New Wave
Sound. The music comes off as an electronic hybrid, with lush sounds of progressive rock along with staccato rhythms of raggae. But the music sounds like neither.

There are some lesser parts, like Rolling Stone and Hunter, where the music trends more to her pop days. But, these songs are still fairly good.

As good as the covers are, the really powerhouse is the title track, Warm Leatherette. At the time, 26 years ago, it was so shocking it may have offended some. Today, it may seem tame, but I still think the music and rhythm are explosive.

After this, Jones would continue putting on several very good New Wave/disco dance type albums. But, I still think this is her best. July 1, 2006

Warrrrm Leatherette!

This album is a dramatic transition from Grace's disco diva days. Warm leatherette is an amazing arrangement. It's what I'd call an s&m classic. Her music video from a One Man Show performing Warm Leatherette was very industrial, mechanical, and yet sexual. This album, in addition to Nightclubbing, is timeless. Her sound was and still is very much ahead of its time. The only songs that were not particularly interesting for me were Breakdown and Pars. Nevertheless, they're still great songs. Collectively, this album is her best or at least a close tie to Nightclubbing. Nightclubbing probably gets more attention because it contains her epic classics Pull Up to the Bumper, I've Seen that Face Before, and Walking in the Rain. Like I have said before, the artwork is just as important as the music itself when it comes to Grace Jones. Love is the Drug was also a clever arrangement but the Island Life edition was superb. I would highly recommended this CD. Enjoy. June 24, 2006

THE REINVENTION TOUR DE FORCE

WARM LEATHERETTE is Grace Jones career defining moment. This one album single-handly transformed her into ICON status. No other album since the 26 years it has been released combined effortlessly R&B, Rock, Funk and Reggae that was rounded off with a splash of New Wave. From the intense energy of LOVE IS THE DRUG (MY FAVORITE GJ TRACK), to the Caribbean-Parisian flavor of PARS, the conviction of songs PRIVATE LIFE and the title track WARM LEATHERETTE, this album proves that image and music do go hand in hand. We are so right now dying for a Grace Jones truimph return! We need her more than ever now in today's boring-one dimensional popular music landscape. March 17, 2006

mmmmh

still waiting for the FAME and MUSE albums in cd format December 28, 2005

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